During his childhood, he saw the cooks from his gharana travelling to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh to learn about their recipes and vice-versa. He was not a son of a normal Punjabi household, rather he belonged to the family of Patiala princely state. Captain Amarinder Singh, Maharaja of Patiala, carries with him the air of being born into a royal blood. As he chats with Riya Sharma, he proudly shares some of the recipes from his then ‘kingdom’ and how undivided Punjab was influenced not only by Afghanistan but Rampur and Bahadur Shah Zafar’s Delhi durbar
Sitting comfortably on a sofa with folded hands, as Captain Amarinder Singh started to talk about his Patiala gharana, there was a sense of ease and pride in his deep voice. What followed was a flashback to a time in history which one could only imagine and reminisce. As he began, he told us very casually, “You know, Patiala is not a very old state, it is about 300- years -old. The cuisine has three influences — from Afghanistan, Bahadur Shah’s Delhi durbar and Rampur from Uttar Pradesh. The blend of all three is what we know as the Patiala cuisine. My ancestor, Narinder Singh, was a great friend of Bahadur Shah Zafar, and with Rampur we had a very close association,” he shared. The ease with which he explained to us about his ancestors and their connections made us feel as if we were reliving a chapter of history.
He paused and continued, “Right after 1850s, our cooks used to exchange with those of Rampur. They used to work for a couple of months with us and then exchange back. We had a very close relationship with Afghanistan as our title was not from British but from Kabul durbar. I remember Afghan cooks and one of them was Fakir Muhammad. We used to call him Ali Baba. But, they used to cook only Afghan style.”
Invited as a chief guest to inaugurate the newly opened, Indus Express at Vivanta by Taj, Singh did not think twice and donned the chef’s hat to whip up some yummy dishes for the guests. As we entered the restaurant with him, we felt as if we had stepped in the territory of Punjab. Men clad in dhoti paired with long kurtas and women in the same attire with their paranda, dancing on the drum beats of dhol was enough to make us feel the high energy of the land of five rivers. Spices like turmeric and red chillies kept on big thals (plates) on the floor with lassi in matkas gave the guests the right energy and vibe of the colourful, and heartwarming welcome to the land where people have a king sized heart.
We were straightaway taken near the open dining area near the swimming pool where Captain Singh was going to whip up some delectables from the secret kitchen of his royal family. The soiree started with a toast for the restaurant as we grabbed a drink and sat near the pool area where Singh seemed almost ready with his set-up.
As someone asked him to wear an apron, he immediately pointed out, “Tujhe manhoos kahenge Punjab mein, jise khana banana nahi aata (You will be considered a fool in Punjab if you wear an apron while cooking).” The chef in him came out suddenly as soon as he wore an apron. A quick glance at all the ingredients and he was ready to cook shorba chicken for us. As he started cooking, we felt as if we were taken back in time when a head chef in a darbar would cook and others would assist. His numb fingers shivered as he was whipping up the curry, and it was enough for us to know that these hands have not only been part of an important chapter in history but also represent the experiences and insights of the bygone era.
He started off by putting a spoon of ghee and mixed onion and ginger in a paste. Once, he was done with it, he asked others to grind it the traditional way in a mortar and pestle. Meanwhile, he cooked the chicken in another kadai and once he was done, he mixed it well with a lot of cardamom and clove. As we were presented the dish, we could taste the flavour of cardamom and clove prominently as it wasn’t added only to impart an added flavour but was the primary flavour the dish was meant to have. To our surprise, cardamom as well as clove were put without peeling off their skin.
“Ever since I have seen my parents cook, I have been fond of cooking. Whenever our family got together, it was always a cooking party. So it runs in the family. Though I started with making the usual sabzi, later I graduated onto some more delicacies,” he shared.
So, are there any secret recipes that run in his familyIJ “luckily, we haven’t maintained secrecies. There are some families who have their secret recipes and you know masters in the olden days when they used to teach somebody about the recipes, they would deliberately miss out a few details. But, we have been lucky that our masters taught us everything in the right way,” he laughed.
Though he accepts that there are no secret recipes, he agreed that every region has its own taste and flavours. like, you cannot have the same taste as Amritsari machi or kulcha. Reminiscing the good old days, he shared, “I remember the time when lahore as well as Amritsar, both were Ranjit Singh’s cities. They were only 15 miles away, so foodies in those days would eat their breakfast in lahore and lunch in Amritsar.”
He also gifted a book of recipes to the general manager, Anil Malhotra and told everyone that recipes from this book are from 17th and 18th century. But, it was only a year back when they translated it from Farsi to Punjabi and then in English.
For starters, we tried the panner tikka first, which was soft but different to what we usually have. It had a tangy flavour and the size of the paneer cubes were also cut short. The next thing that we tried were the dahi ke kebab which we felt was same as we would find anywhere. Amid our starters tasting, someone recommended us to try golgappe which we were presented in a unique way. Saunth as we call it and chana at the bottom of a shot glass and golgappa placed perfectly on the top gave a twist to the whole idea of our street food.
As more and more people started to buzz in, we really enjoyed the idea of a perfect evening and a buffet organised at the pool side. As far as the décor of the restaurant is concerned, it is a blend of modern as well as traditional elements. The seating area, with an open kitchen in the middle, gives it a modern touch but maps showing the area of undivided Punjab and the railway network gives it a historical background. The outside area near the pool is what we liked the most. It is calm, peaceful and trust us, romantic. It is a perfect setting for a beautiful evening to have a sumptuous meal with an open sky above you. Maybe pair it with a glass of wine.
After having a moment of perfect bliss, we gathered ourselves to try the delectables for the main course. What we saw in front of us was an elaborate buffet ranging from rawa pindi chana to balti wala meat. We began our extravagant dinner with a small portion of chicken biryani, a spoon of jeera onion rice with balti wala meat and prawns curry. The chicken biryani had a flavour which did wonders not only to our tastebuds but to our senses as well. Jeera onion rice, on the other hand, gave a prominent taste of onion than of jeera. The curry of the balti wala meat was light, and meat pieces succulent and tender.
Prawns curry went well with our jeera onion rice as the prawns ruled in our palate. The next dish that we tried was the Indus paneer butter masala and rawa pindi chole. The butter masala was a little sweet for us because of the tomatoes but the rawa pindi chole actually stole the show for us, in a true sense. It had a thick gravy, well cooked chana and a perfect taste which wasn’t too tangy or spicy. Everything, in the menu tasted more like ‘ghar ka khana’ than something cooked in a fine restaurant. This is for the sole reason that they have tried to keep the essence of all the recipes intact and not experimented with anything new.
With a divine evening approaching towards the end, we were delighted to gorge on a few deadly sins in the form of badam halwa, carrot halwa, phirni, kulfi, jalebi and what not! We tried doodhi aur anjeer halwa and rasmalai. Rasmalai was again in a comparitively smaller size to what we usually have and doodhi aur anjeer halwa wasn’t too sweet and complemented well with our rasmalai.
Though we were almost full after eating all of this, but a small counter of traditional kulfi swayed our genuine concern of not eating anymore. The kulfi, traditional ice cream from mughal kitchen made with reduced full fat milk was served in pieces with falooda and syrup of ones own choice. We opted for a rose syrup and added a lot of dry fruits on top. The syrup went well with the kulfi and gave it a refreshing flavour.
As the evening ended, we took back with us not only the secret recipes and flavours from undivided Punjab but tales of an era that has gone by. The taste of a soiree may not remain with us forever but the fables of a royal gharana would surely will!
photos Pankaj Kumar