Explore the nuances of Rampuri cuisine with Chef Mehfooz Queireshi and Chef Haji Bhoora at Masala Art, Taj Palace. By Saimi Sattar
The city is a little less than 200 km away from Delhi and 300 km from lucknow. But the cuisine of Rampur, though it draws heavily on the two other better known centres of Mughlai food, is distinct in its own right. Rampur’s culinary history dates back to 1774, when Faziullah Khan founded the princely state under the protection of the British. An abundance of cooks and artists from the surrounding area moved to his court as he patronised art and culture. He was particularly indulgent about developing a distinct cuisine, which is heavily influenced by the flavours of Mughlai, Afghani, lucknowi, Kashmiri and Awadhi kitchens.
A Rampuri food festival at Masala Art at the Taj Palace, New Delhi (on till this Sunday, May 14) gives one a sneek peek into some of the best kept secrets of the nawaabi tradition. A team of five chefs, who have honed their skills as khansamas of the nawab through generations, are here to bedazzle the capital and take its denizens on a surreal gustation ride. The festival is an attempt to test waters for a new Indian restaurant that is going to come up in place of Masala Art by March 2018. The hotel wants to introduce a cuisine which is different and new but also relatable to the Delhi palate and Rampuri seems to fit the bill.
One of the chefs, Mehfooz Quereshi, who has been making waves internationally, is attached to the household of Nawab Muhammad Kazim Ali Khan (the titular Nawab of Rampur) and travels with him. “We have been at it since our great grandfather’s time. It is our khandaani work,” he says. But having practically been born with a ladle in hand did not ensure that the chef was entitled to his heritage. “The first thing that you do to break into this profession is to wash utensils. I started when I was 12-13 years. This was followed by learning how to slice onion rings so thin that they are practically transparent. The way onions are sliced in Rampur is special,” says the chef who can slice a 100 kg of onions within 15 minutes! The food logic: If the onions aren’t uniformly thin, they won’t fry uniformily or be crisp.
He went on to learn the signature dishes of Rampuri cuisine and can whip up Baluchi gosht, Kundan qaliya, Kalimirch chicken, Chicken Changezi and Taar tandoori as well as desserts like Muzaafar and Gulathi. But along the way Chef Mehfooz has experimented and come up with unusual dishes like Gosht ke gulab jamun (sweet meatballs ground to perfection), fish gulab jamun (same as the meat) fish halwa, karele ka halwa and mirchi halwa (all protein desserts). “The trick to create sweet dishes from the seemingly bitter or sharp ingredients like onion is to remove the lid and cook them uncovered to rid the dish of the smell and the sharp taste,” says chef Mehfooz.
Chef Haji Bhoora, the seniormost chef in the group who has worked with chef Mehfooz’s father, has a book of recipes which has been passed on from one generation to the next. Yellowing and almost falling apart, the book contains about 150 traditional recipes. But a lot of them have also been passed down by word of mouth or by simply observing. “My grandfather used to temper one curry with a gold coin, which turned to ashes. Of course we cannot replicate these now,” he says.
But what makes the cuisine specialIJ “It is the atmosphere of Rampur. The land has been blessed by many learned men. Earlier, we thought it was the water which gave it a special flavour and even carted a tanker of water to a wedding in Mumbai. But the taste could not be completely replicated. In the end, it is about the atmospherics and the local produce that nature provides,” Chef Bhoora says.
There are other things too which contribute to the taste. There is an emphasis on the use of dry, whole spices rather than overloading the dishes with a paste of dry fruits or cream which many chefs use to enhance flavours. “We never use tomatoes that are common in Delhi,” says Chef Mehfooz. Moreover, most dishes from Rampur are simmered overnight and the slow cooking intensely enhances the flavours and ensures meat pieces that are succulent and practically falling off the bone.
Another factor that makes Rampuri food different is the emphasis not just on the ingredients but also the proportion. “Any alteration in the proportion does not bring out the flavours properly,” says Chef Mehfooz. A popular tale goes that the khansaamaas of the Nawab of Rampur travelled not just with their ingredients but also a box which was slotted to contain the exact spice proportions to be added in each dish. Since the box was never shared, it became that much more difficult to replicate the cuisine outside town.
Most of you may be familiar with the Rampuri kitchen staples by now but we would recommend the gulatthi, a dessert akin to the kheer. A mix of milk, sugar, rice and khoya, it is cooked over a wood-fire and stirred continuously to give it a smooth texture. Despite its rich ingredients, the dessert sits light on the palate, which makes it a winner all the way. We also liked the dohra kebabs, a skewered combination of chicken and lamb mince. Take a bite and the kebabs practically melt in your mouth and release a burst of flavours. The spice mix is so effortlessly blended that it does not feel loaded. If you can’t stop salivating, make a beeline to Masala Art to savour the delicacies.