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Awadhi Cuisine (Hindi: अवधी खाना, Urdu: اودھی کھانا) is from the city of Lucknow which is the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh located in Central-South Asia and Northern India, and the cooking patterns of the city are similar to those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Northern India as well. The cuisine consists of both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. Awadh has been greatly influenced by Mughal cooking techniques, and the cuisine of Lucknow bears similarities to those of Persia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad; and the city is famous for its Nawabi foods.
The bawarchis and rakabdars of Awadh gave birth to the dum style of cooking or the art of cooking over a slow fire, which has become synonymous with Lucknow today.[1] Their spread would consist of elaborate dishes like kebabs, kormas, biryani, kaliya, nahari-kulchas, zarda, sheermal, roomali rotis and warqi parathas. The richness of Awadh cuisine lies not only in the variety of cuisine but also in the ingredients used like mutton, paneer, and rich spices including cardamom and saffron.
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Dastarkhwan, a Persian term, literally means a meticulously laid-out ceremonial dining spread. It is customary in Awadh to sit around and share the Dastarkhwan. Laden with the finest and the most varied repertoire of the khansamas (chefs), the Dastarkhwan of the raeis (the rich) were called Khasa (special).
The richness of Awadhi cuisine lies not only in the variety of cuisine but also is the ingredients used in creating such a variety. The Chefs of Awadhi transformed the traditional dastarkhwan with elaborate dishes like kababs, kormas, kaliya, nahari-kulchas, zarda, sheermal, roomali rotis and parathas.
The Awadhi/Lucknow dastarkhwan would not be complete unless it had the following dishes.
The menu changes with the seasons and with the festival which mark the month. The severity of winters is fought with rich food. Paye (trotters) are cooked overnight over a slow fire and the shorba (thick gravy) eaten with naans. Turnips are also cooked overnight with meat koftas and kidneys and had for lunch. This dish is called shab degh and a very popular in Lucknow. The former Taluqdar of Jehangirabad would serve it to his friends on several occasions during winter.
Birds like partridge and quail are had from the advent of winter since they are heat giving meats. Fish is relished from the advent of winter till spring. It is avoided in the rainy season. In Awadh river fish are preferred particularly rahu (carp), fish kababs (cooked in mustard oil) are preferred.
Peas are the most sought after vegetable in Awadh. One can spot peas in salan, qeema, pulao or just fried plain.
Spring (Sawan) is celebrated with pakwan (crisp snacks), phulkis (besan pakoras in salan), puri-kababs and birahis (paratha stuffed with mashed dal) khandoi (steamed balls of dal in a salan), laute paute (gram flour pancakes, rolled and sliced and served in a salan) and colocasia-leaf cutlets served with salan add variety. Raw mangoes cooked in semolina and jaggery or sugar, makes a delicious dessert called curamba, in summer. These dishes come from the rural Hindu population of Awadh.
Activity in the kitchen increases with the approach of festivals. During Ramzan, the month of fasting, the cooks and the ladies of the house are busy throughout the day preparing the iftari (the meal eaten at the end of the day’s fast), not only for the family but for the friends and the poor. Id is celebrated with varieties of siwaiyan (vermicelli) – Muzzaffar is a favourite in Lucknow. Shab-e-barat is looked forward to for its halwas particularly of semolina and gram flour. Khichra or haleem , a delicious mixture of dals, wheat and meat, cooked together, is had during Muharram, since it signifies a sad state of mind.
There are dishes which appear and disappear from the Lucknow dastarkhwan with the season and there are those which are a permanent feature, like the qorma, the chapatti and the roomali roti. The test of a good chapatti is that you should be able to see the sky through it. The dough should be very loose and is left in a lagan (deep broad vessel) filled with water for half an hour before the chapattis are made.
Sheermals were invented by mamdoo bawarchi more than one and a half century ago. They are saffron covered parathas made from a dough of flour mixed with milk and ghee and baked in iron tandoors. No other city produces sheermals like Lucknow does and the festive dastarkhwan is not complete without it. Saffron is used to flavour sweets too.
Utensils are made either of iron or copper. Meat kababs are cooked in a mahi tawa (large, round shallow pan), using a kafgir which is a flat, long handled ladle for turning kababs and parathas. Bone china plates and dishes were used in Lucknow since the time of Nawabs. Water was normally sipped from copper or silver kato ras and not glasses. The seating arrangement, while eating was always on the floor where beautifully embroidered dastarkhwans were spread on dares and chandnis (white sheets). Sometimes this arrangement was made on a takht or low, wide wooden table.
Lucknow is proud of its Kebabs. The Kakori Kebabs, Galawat ke Kebabs, Shami Kebabs, Boti Kebabs, Patili-ke-Kebabs, Ghutwa Kebabs and Seekh Kebabs are among the known varieties.
The kebabs of Awadhi cuisine are distinct from the kebabs of Punjab insofar as Awadhi kebabs are grilled on a chula and sometimes in a skillet as opposed to grilled in a tandoor in Punjab. Awadhi kebabs are also called "chula" kebabs whereas the kebabs of Punjab are called "tandoori" kebabs.
The Seekh Kebab has long been considered a piece de resistance in the Awadhi dastarkhwan. Introduced by the Mughals it was originally prepared from beef mince on skewers and cooked on charcoal fire. Now lamb mince is preferred for its soft texture.
The 100-year old Tunde ke Kabab in Chowk is the most famous outlet for choicest Kababs even today.[2] Tunde Kabab is so named because it was a specialty of a one-armed chef. What makes the Tunde Kabab unique is the kabab's masala (home made spices) which is a zealously guarded family secret and prepared by women in the family. It is said to incorporate 160 spices.
Kakori kabab is considered blessed since it was originally made in the place by the same name in the dargah of Hazrat Shah Abi Ahder Sahib with divine blessings. Kakori Kabab is as far as perfection could go. The mince for the kabab is to be obtained from no other part but the raan ki machhli (tendon of the leg of mutton) other ingredients include khoya, white pepper and a mix of powdered spices which remains a closely guarded secret adds to the perfect blend.
The Shami Kabab is the most important of them all. Made from mince meat, with chopped onion and coriander and green chillies usually added to the mixture, the kebabs are round patties filled with spicy surprises and the tangy raw green mango. The best time to have them is May when the fruit of the mango tree is in its infancy. When mangoes are not in season, kamrakh or karonda may be substituted for kairi, as both having a tart flavour reminiscent of the raw mango.
A variant made without any admixture or binding agents and comprising just the minced meat and the spices is the Galawat kabab.
An unusual offering is the Pasanda Kebab, piccata of lamb marinated and then sautéed on a griddle.
Boti kebab is lamb marinated in yoghurt and skewered, then well cooked. Traditionally, Boti Kebab (Lamb) is cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor. You can achieve an authentic tandoor flavor using your own barbecue grill.
Vegetarian kebabs include Dalcha Kebab, Kathal ke Kebab, Arbi ke Kebab, Rajma Galoti Kebab (kidney bean kebab cooked with aromatic herbs), Zamikand ke Kebab (Lucknowi yam kebabs), etc.
Korma is actually the Indian name for the technique of braising meat. It originated in the lavish Moghul cuisine wherein lamb or chicken was braised in velvety, spiced sauces, enriched with ground nuts, cream and butter. While kormas are rich, they are also mild, containing little or no cayenne or chillies.[3] Ther are both vegetarian(navratan korma) and non-vegetarian(chicken, lamb, beef & fish korma) varieties of korma. Murgh Awadhi Korma is a classic from Lucknow.[4]
Kaliya is a mutton preparation with gravy along with the compulsory inclusion of turmeric or saffron.[5]
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Biryani derived from the Persian word 'Birian',which means 'roasted before cooking', biryani is a mixture of rice(basmati), meat/vegetables, yogurt and spices. Lucknow Biryani or Awadh Biryani is a form of Pukki Biryani. Pukki means 'cooked'. Both the meat and rice are cooked separately and then layered and baked. The process also lives up to the name Biryani in Persian meaning 'fry before cooking'.[6]
It basically has three steps. First, the meat is seared in ghee and cooked in water with warm aromatic spices till meat is tender. The meat broth is drained out. Second, the rice is lightly fried in Ghee, and cooked in the meat broth from the previous step. Third, cooked meat and cooked rice are layered in a Handi. Sweet flavors are added. The Handi is sealed and cooked over low heat. The result is a perfectly cooked meat, rice, and a homogenous flavor of aromatic meat broth, aromatic spices and sweet flavors.[7]
If you want to eat the best biryani in the world you’ll need to travel to Lucknow. Haji Wahid Qurash’s Wahid ki Biryani of Aminabad and Idris Biryaniwala's Idrisi Biryani of Patanala Chowk are most famous for delicious biryani in Lucknow.
Among various Biryani the Lucknow and Hyderabad style are dominant with a friendly rivalry. Chitrita Banerji a Bengali writer in her book Eating India: exploring a nation’s cuisine in an inevitable comparison between Awadhi and Hyderabadi biriyani , picked the Awadhi version as the winner.[8]
The vegetarian version of biryani might have some Textured vegetable protein based protein balls to present the impression of a meat-based dish for vegetarians.
The difference between biryani and pullao is that while biryani may be made by cooking the items together, pullao, is used to denote a dish where the rice is cooked separately from the other ingredients.
Tehri is the name given to the vegetarian version of the dish and is very popular in Indian homes.
As wheat is the staple food of the state, breads are very significant. Breads are generally flat breads; only a few varieties are raised breads. Tawa roti is bread made on crude iron pans. Improvisations of the roti (or bread) are of different types and made in various ways and include the rumaali roti, tandoori roti, naan (baked in a tandoor), kulcha, lachha paratha, sheermaal and baqarkhani.
Breads made of other grains have descriptive names only, thus we have Makai ki roti, Jowar ki roti (barley flour roti), Bajre ki roti (bajra is a grain only grown in India), chawal-ki-Roti (roti of rice flour).
Chapati: It is the most popular roti in India which is eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
Puri: It is small and are deep fried so they puff like balloons.
Paraatha: A very common variant of roti is the celebrated and immensely popular, cooked in the same way as a regular roti, stuffed with fillings of vegetables, pulses, cottage cheese, and even mince meat and fried in ghee or clarified butter. This obviously heavy and scrumptious round bread finds its way to the breakfast tables of millions.
Rumaali Roti: An elaborately and dexterously prepared ultra thin bread made on a huge and hot convex metal pan from finely ground wheat flour. It is a treat to watch one of these being prepared with great flourish by skilled cooks. The Urdu word rumaali literally means a kerchief.
Tandoori Roti: A relatively thick bread ranging from an elastic to a crispy consistency, baked in a cylindrical earthen oven at a sometimes amazing speed by aggressively fast cooks at roadside restaurants and eateries. The Urdu word tandoor means an oven.
Naan: This is a thick bread, softer and richer in texture and consistency than the tandoori roti. It is made from finely ground wheat flour kneaded into a very elastic mass. The roghni is a special treat for lovers of awadhi cuisine. This extraordinary bread is prepared with a rich mixture of cream, sugar, wheat flour, butter, and essence. The taste is rich and elegant— just perfect for the curries of the awadhi cuisine.
Sheermaal: It is sweet bread that accompany the rich and filling aromatic quorma (gravied chicken or mutton). Sheermal is a sweetened Naan made out of Maida (All-purpose flour), leavened with yeast, baked in Tandoor or oven. In the olden days, it was made just like Roti. The warm water in the recipe for Roti was replaced with warm milk sweetened with sugar and flavored with saffron. Nowadays, the restaurants make it like a Naan and the final product resembles Danish pastry.
Baqarkhani: It is a naan which is an elaborate variation of the sheer-maal except that it is fried on a griddle rather than baked in a tandoor.
Winters are dedicated to halwas of all kinds which came from Arabia and Persia to stay in India. There are several varieties of these, prepared from different cereals, such as gram flour, sooji, wheat, nuts and eggs. The special halwa or halwa sohan which has four varieties, viz Papadi, Jauzi, Habshi and Dudhiya is prepared especially well in Lucknow.
The Jauzi Halwa Sohan is a hot favorite even today, but the art of preparing it is confined to only a few households. Prepared for the most part from germinated wheat, milk, sugar, saffron, nuts etc., it has love and patience as its vital ingredients.
Awadhi cuisine has drawn a considerable amount of influence from Mughal cooking style and bears resemblance to those of Hyderabad and Kashmir. The cuisine consists of both vegetarian and meat dishes which employs the dum style of cooking or cooking over slow fire which has become synonymous with Lucknow.
Mughlai food is known for its richness. It is famous for the exotic use of spices, dried fruit and nuts. The Mughals did everything in style and splendor. Since they ate very rich food they reduced the number of intake during the day. Mughlai dishes as they are called have lots of milk and cream with spices to make rich and spicy meal that is the reason why Mughlai recipes are rich in fat, carbohydrates and proteins.
As opposed to conventional thought, Awadhi food does not make use of hundred-odd spices to produce each dish but a blend of handful but not so common spices. The truth lies in the manner in which the food is cooked on a slow fire. This process allows the juices to be absorbed well into the solid parts. All nutrients are retained in the food through this process. In addition to the major process of cooking food in Awadhi style, there are also other important processes such as marinating meats in order to produce a delightful taste. This is especially the case with barbecued food that might be cooked in a clay oven of over an open fire.
Fish, red meats, vegetables and cottage cheese may be marinated in curd and spices. This helps to soften the taste and texture of them as well as remove any undesired odors from the fleshy materials. They were often cooked on tawa, the flat iron griddle, as opposed to Mughlai influence and bear a testimony to the local influence and convenience. Some of the tawa preparations are, in fact, equally, if not more, famous like tandoori kebabs and tikkas.
Difference between Awadhi and Mughlai kebabs is that, while the former is usually cooked on the tawa, the latter is grilled in a tandoor. This is gives the difference in flavour.
Broadly, there are three categories of cooks in Lucknow. The bawarchis cook food in large quantities. The rakabdars cook in small gourmet quantities. Rakabdars also specialize in the garnishing and presentation of dishes. The nanfus make a variety of roti, chapattis, naans, sheermals, kulchas and taftans.
Normally, one cook does not prepare the entire meal. There are specialists for different dishes and also a variety of helpers like the degbos who wash the utensils, the masalchis who grind the masala and the mehris who carry the khwan (tray) to be spread on the dastarkhwan. The wealthy always had their kitchens supervised by an officer called daroga-e-bawarchi khana or mohtamim. It was this officer’s seal on the khwan that guaranteed quality control.
This is a quick smoke procedure used to flavour a meat dish, daIs or even raita. The smoke very effectively permeates every grain of the ingredients and imparts a subtle aroma, which enhances the quality of the dish. The procedure may be carried out either at the intermediate or the final stage of cooking. This is a common technique employed while making kababs. The method is as follows. In a shallow utensil or a lagan in which the meat or mince has been marinated, a small bay is made in the center and a katori or onion skin or even a betel leaf (depending on the dish) is placed. In it a piece of live coal is placed and hot ghee, sometimes mixed with aromatic herbs or spices, is poured over it and covered immediately with a lid to prevent the smoke from escaping. The lid is not removed till about 15 minutes, so as to allow the smoke to work on the ingredients inside. The coal is then removed from the utensil and the meat put through further cooking processes.
This is a frequently method used in Awadh cooking. 'Dum' literally means 'breath' and the process involves placing the semi-cooked ingredients in a pot or deg, sealing the utensil with flour dough and applying very slow charcoal fire from top, by placing some live charcoal on the lid, and some below. The Persian influence is most evident in this method though in Awadh it has acquired its own distinct character. The magic of dum' is the excellent aroma, flavor and texture which results from slow cooking. This method is followed for a number of delicacies such as the Shabdeg, Pulao and Biryani. Any dish cooked by this method is 'Dum Pukht' or 'Dum Bakht'.
Refers to the use of softening agents such as papain (from raw papaya) or kalmi shora to tenderise meat.
This is a method of tempering a dish with hot oil / ghee and spices. It may be done either at the beginning of the cooking as in curries, or at the end as for (pulses). In the former, the fat is heated in a vessel to a smoking point and after reducing the flame, spices are added to it. When they begin to crackle. the same process is carried out in a ladle which is immersed in the cooked dish and immediately covered with a lid, so that the essence and the aroma of the spices, drawn out by the hot ghee are retained in the dish giving it their flavour.
Talking of Persian influence on Awadh cuisine one cannot ignore this interesting method adopted for cooking. 'Gil' in Persian is earth or mud and 'Hikmat' implies the procedure of the Hakims. This method is generally followed to prepare 'Kushtas' which are the ash-like residue of substances which cannot be consumed in their natural form as they are toxic, for instance gems or metals. But when adopted for cooking purposes the method is as follows. The meat or vegetable to be cooked is generally taken whole and stuffed with nuts and spices, It is then wrapped in a banana leaf or cloth and covered completely with clay or 'Multani Mitti' (Fuller's Earth) so as to seal it. It is thereafter buried about 4-6 inches deep. Aslow fire is then placed on top for 6–8 hours after which the food is dug out and is ready to be served!
This is a term which refers to the final stage in cooking when the oil used during cooking, rises to the surface. giving the dish a finished appearance, This occurs mostly when slow cooking of gravy dishes is involved.
It is the shortening of dough. In this process fat is rubbed into the flour and made into a dough for kachoris or pooris orparathas. This makes the final product crisp, flaky and crumbly.
The use of perfumes play an important role in Awadh cuisine they are used to enhance the aroma of the dish and make it delicate. Most commonly they are made from musk deer, hunting of which is now banned worldwide.
The cuts for Yakhni are generally bony pieces with flesh on them. These cuts are usually taken from the joints and the ribs of the animal. The basic purpose of mea t in preparing Yakhni is to derive the juice and flavour and hence the shape of the meat does not count much.
This is the process in which small pieces of silver are placed. between two sheets of paper and then patted continuously with a hammer till it becomes papery thin. These are used in decorating the dishes before presentations, e.g. Chandi kaliya, Moti pulao.
This is a style of cooking in which a hole is dug in the ground and the ingredients are placed and covered with mud. Then burning charcoal is placed over it. The cooking process takes about 6 hours.
Or the patili is generally of brass with a lid. It is used when a great deal of 'bhunna' or saute is required. or even for boiling and simmering. It is also used for preparingYakhni or Salan, Korma or Kaliya.
This is a pear-shaped pot with a lid of either brass, copper or aluminium. The shape of this utensil is ideally suited for the 'dum' method and is used for cooking Pulao, Biryani, Nehari or Shab Deg.
Kadhai is a deep, concave utensil made of brass, iron or aluminium and is used far deep frying paoris puri and the like.
Lagan is a Tradition round and shallow copper utensil with a slightly concave bottom. Used for cooking whole or big cuts of meat or poultry especially when heat is applied from both the top and bottom.
Is typically an iron tandoor, distinct from the clay tandoor which is more common in Delhi. It is a dome-shaped iron oven covered with iron sheet, used for cooking a variety of Breads like – Sheermal, Taftan, Bakarkhani etc.
Mahi tawa is the Awadh version of the griddle shaped like a big round, flat bottomed tray with raised edges. used for cooking kababs. Also used for dishes where heat is applied from both ends. when covered.
Seeni is a big thali (round tray) usually used as a lid for the lagan or mahi tawa when heat is to be applied from the top. Live charcoal is placed on it and the heat is transmitted through it to the food. Thus the indirect heat has the desired effect of browning and cooking the ingredients. All the copper and brass utensils are almost always used after 'kalai' or tin plating the insides.
Following is list of few Awadhi recipes[9]: