Chicken Korma

Ingredients, ingredients, ingredients! If you can’t source the best, or won’t, then my recipes are not for you! Bog standard just won’t do, I am afraid. So the chicken in this recipe has to be top notch, corn fed, organic (and halal organic meat is now available online). Chicken korma is a creamy, scented dish with the usual culprits: freshly made garam masala, creamy sauce made from yoghurt and double cream, saffron, rose water, cardamoms (2 types – small green ones and the large, dark brown ones). Once everything assembled, the cooking is straight forward.

INGREDIENTS

2 large onions, thinly sliced in half moons

6-8 cloves garlic

2 inch fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon Essential Garam Masala

1/2 teaspoon ‘extra’ whole cloves

2 small sticks of cinnamon

500g fresh yoghurt

250g double cream

100ml rose water

saffron – few thread soaked in a little warm milk

6-8 green cardamom seeds – deseeded

finely chopped fresh coriander

2-3 green chillies thinly sliced lengthways

2 tablespoon ghee

METHOD

1. Fry the thinly sliced onions in ghee till dark brown, but not burnt.

2. Remove fried onions from saucepan and put it in a blender, together with garlic, ginger, Essential Garam Masala, salt, make it into a thick paste with a little warm milk.

3. In the ghee already in the pan, fry the chicken on its own with the ‘extra’ cloves and cinamon until dark, golden brown.

4. Add the yoghurt and fry for a 10-15 minutes till dry.

5. Add the paste of fried onions, garlic, ginger and fry for further 10-15 minutes. Everything should look rich in colour and the paste will have reduced, not dry, but still wet, clinging around the meat. Sprinkle a little water during frying if the chicken becomes too dry. The aim is to fry the chicken in all the ingredients till everything gels.

6. Add just enough water to tenderise the meat – about 2 teacups. Place lid and cook for 30-40 minutes.

7. Using a mortar and pestle (the quantity is too small for a coffee grinder or a blender) make a paste of small green cardamom seeds, saffron and rose water.

8. Once the chicken is cooked, stir in the double cream and add the cardamom, saffron and rose water paste and leave for 5 minutes for the final ‘dum’ (cooking in steam) ensuring lid is secured.

9. Serve in a large tureen; garnish with chopped coriander and sliced green chillies. 

This Chicken Korma can be served with all types of rotis: rumali, paratha, naan, sheer maal, plain everyday roti (all recipes elsewhere in the blog). Of-course, as always, you must also serve other smaller, supporting such as raita, salad, chutney to complete the meal. It could be served with a biryani too for a special dinner party. But remember, the karma in this Chicken Korma will only come with good deeds i.e. sourcing of good ingredients. Compromise on this and your actions will speak through your deeds to your guests, for true karma will come to those with intentions of good deeds!

 

 

 

 

 

Essential Biryani

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Having cooked countless times for friends and family, this recipe has all the flavour of the real thing but has been considerably downsized to make it more feasible for a casual dinner party.  The more labour intensive steps, and time consuming, such as frying the onions till dark brown,  cooking the rice separately in stock, have been removed to cut down on time (and effort!). This basic biryani has my own short cuts yet despite the abridged version, it still comes packed with full flavour.  With quick cooking of the meat and rice, it tastes more ‘alive’ and fresh.  Served with its usual accompanying suspects (coriander chutney, raita, red onions salad), it’s a one dish party meal for a Friday night supper at the end of a working week or an informal Sunday brunch. One thing will bowl your guests over as they arrive: the heady smells of spices and the cooking. No need for a starter or an appetizer, the aromas from the kitchen will have everybody’s mouth watering in anticipation!

FOR THE MARINADE

1 large chicken or 1kg lamb mixed cuts (choose either but not together).

1 large onion

1 garlic head, peeled

2 inch ginger

2 fresh green chillies

handful of fresh coriander

500g low fat yoghurt

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon sunflower oil

3 tablespoon Essential Garam Masala

500g basmati rice (washed several times, until the water runs clear and soaked for at least an hour or longer)

METHOD

1. Apart from the meat, put all the ingredients in a blender and blend until you have a smooth, thick paste.

2. Wash and dry the meat.

3. Marinade the chicken or lamb thoroughly ensuring good coverage. Leave in the fridge overnight or at least 2-3 hours. This step can be skipped if time is premium. Instead, just coat the meat in the paste and follow step 4.

4. Heat and fry the marinated meat until a golden, brown colour is achieved (10-15 minutes).

5, Cook for 1/2 hour over medium heat.

6. Wash rice and place on top of the meat. Add one cup of hot water and bring everything to a quick boil and reduce heat. Test the liquid for salt and adjust. Seal the lid with a tea towel and cook over low heat for 45 minutes.

Food made with love and joy and enjoyed with loved ones is all anyone needs. When it is made easy and accessible, there are more opportunities for gathering your friends and loved ones to share simplest of pleasures – eating together.

 

Essential Garam Masala

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Garam masala (‘warm spices’), is made from a selection of whole spices and is an essential part of  many Mughal dishes.  They add an aromatic pungency to the finished dish while giving meat based dishes such as biryani, kofta, kebab, korma, an intense flavour. Commercial, ready made should be avoided  for several reasons: first, the quality of the ingredients is much inferior; then, to bulk it up, manufacturers add a high quantity of coriander seeds (which is not a component of garam masala).  Finally, by the time the packed product reaches the shops, it has lost whatever aroma it may have had. Using shop bought garam masala will certainly give dish a look but little else.

In contrast, making your own garam masala is a completely different experience.  Whenever I make, the whole kitchen is filled with a heady smell of intense aromas.  The roasting of the spices immediately release powerful fragrance, the colour is a vivid hickory/chocolate brown while the texture is grainy.

In this Essential Garam Masala, five key ingredients are used: large, black cardamom pods, cinnamon stick (sometimes called cassia bark), cloves, black peppercorns and cumin seeds. In some versions, coriander seeds are added too but I prefer to use coriander seeds separately according to the dish.  It goes without saying that where possible, buy the best quality of whole spice to do justice both to the effort needed to make it and to obtain masala that is premium quality.  Tips: check for packaged and use by date – it should be recently packed and have a long use by date.

Once made, it should not linger around too long; either make a small quantity for immediate use or make a large quantity, as this recipe is for, but keep it in an air tight container to be used for up to three months.  Ideally, make it fresh for dishes such as biryani, kofta, korma etc.  A good coffee grinder is a necessary requirement as the masala needs to be made into a fine powder.  The effort will be worth it; your reward will be to revel in the beautiful smells of the roasted spices, feast your eyes with fabulous colours but most of all to let each ingredient show off at their very best.

INGREDIENTS

8 tablespoon cumin seeds

4 tablespoon black peppercorns

1 tablespoon cloves

1 tablespoon cinnamon stick, broken up

1/2 tablespoon black cardamom pods (5-6 large pods)

 

METHOD

1. In a heavy bottom, dry, hot frying pan or tawa, roast the whole spices for 1-2 minutes, until aroma is released. Remove and cool.

2. Grind the cooled spices in a coffee grinder until you have a fine powder. This will take several blitzes before you achieve the desired result. It should be a fine powder though having is very slightly grainy can also have its charm and appeal for certain dishes.

3. As the grinder causes the spices to heat up, spread out the spices onto a large platter and let it cool for an hour or so before storing.  Store in a clean, dry, air tight container. The quantity produced here will be roughly around 200g.  By all means, use it straight away, if so desired.

Remember not to let it languish and wither but use it within 3 months.

Shah Jahani Biryani

OK, this is the big daddy of the biryanis, the ultimate gourmet experience, a recipe for biryani probably very close to the original used by royal kitchens of the Moghuls.  Needless to say, it doesn’t do ‘short cuts’ or ‘cheap’ ingredients.  Everything about it shouts luxury, abundance, over-the-top-glamour, elite and sophistication at its highest. Don’t be put off though!  Achieving the feat is reward itself but more importantly, by creating this biryani, you will be giving yourself a rare experience of what it was like to dine in the royal tent of a nizam or a nawab!

The Mughals had kitchen run by a ministry with each ‘department’ or ‘section’ responsible for producing its own particular ingredient; of-course, there were herb gardens, animals reared on local farms but a vast army of kitchen aides ensured there was home made rose water, saffron, diary produce, best nuts from Afghanistan and it is said the animals were fed rose petals, saffron, mangoes to enhance their flavour!  Back in North London, keeping things in perspective, it is possible to reproduce a similar biryani but planning is essential.  It simple will not be possible to attempt to  do everything on the day of consumption; it is pretty much impossible. To keep sanity, you will need to start a few days ahead to get the preparation in place. Be warned, this recipe will test your will to live! Once done and laid on the table though, every man and woman will crumble under its intoxicating magic of perfumed smells, its alluring beauty, its sheer arrogance to stand pompously like its flaunting master in a Mughal court at whose demands such a dish would have been created.

This is exactly the point of Posh Pakistani Pot; take it easy, break it up in steps, involve others, enjoy the whole experience with family, friends and turn it into an event. Meet up and make a day out of gathering the ingredients from different shops – in London, we do this by visiting The Spice Shop in Notting Hill, then tube to Wembley for fresh cuts of meat, back to a shop behind Euston for saffron and in between a great time has had by all! Again, hand out jobs to all those who will partake in the final consumption; this should be a communal activity, with joys shared by all.

For ease of making this biryani, I have separated each part of the biryani into different sections, thus allowing each component to be prepared individually beforehand. There are 4 parts – each part takes 3-4 hours in preparation and cooking! You will need to spread it over 2-3 days!  Be brave – its a trophy dish and you have to earn it.

PART ONE – MAKING SHAHI KORMA

INGREDIENTS

125ml pure ghee

5 large onions

10 cloves garlic

3 inch ginger

2kg of best lean, boneless lamb taken from leg part of the animal and cut into cubes

1 tsp. paprika

2 fresh green chillies cut up

250g yoghurt

250g double cream

1 tbsp. salt

MOGHUL GARAM MASALA

3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

2 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp. ground mace

4 dessert spoonful of ground, freshly made garam masala (recipe elsewhere in the blog)

METHOD

1. Cut onions into thin slices and fry till dark brown but not burnt.

2. Make a paste of garlic and ginger and add; cook for 2-3 minutes.

3. Wash and dry the meat and put in the pan. Fry rigorously for a few minutes until the meat takes on a dark brown colour. Add salt.

4. Add all the spices: ground cinnamon, ground cumin, ground mace and garam masala. Fry for another few minutes, till all the spices gels into the meat and each cube is coated.

5. Add 1/2 of the yoghurt and 1/2 of double cream; fry for further 5 minutes. If meat becomes too dry, add a little warm water.

6. Reduce heat to its lowest setting and cook for 1 1/2 – 2 hours (until tender).

7. Turn off heat and add the remaining yoghurt and double cream together with the fresh chillies.

PART TWO – MAKE YAKHNI (meat, aromatic stock)

3 litres water

1kg of boned lamb e.g. shoulder, neck, ribs

2 large onions – peeled and roughly cut

1 head of garlic – peeled, no need to cut

3 inch ginger – skinned and cut into slices

whole garam masala: 2 long cinnamon sticks, 8-10 large cardamoms, 2 tsp. cloves, 4 tsp. black pepper corns, 5 tsp. freshly roasted cumin seeds, 5 tsp. freshly roasted coriander seeds.

METHOD

1. Put everything in a large stock pot and bring everything to a boil.

2. Cook slowly over low heat for 1 1/2 hours till the liquid has reduced by half.

3. Strain the liquid and decant into another saucepan.

4. With the remain cooked onions, garlic, meat – mash everything to extract as much juices as possible and add this to the stock. Discard the left overs (except the meat, which could be frozen, to be used later for a ready meal). The stock (called yakhni) made should be around 1 1/2 litres.

PART THREE – MAKE YAKHNI CHAWAL (This is rice cooked in meat, aromatic stock).

INGREDIENTS:

1kg best basmati rice – washed several times under running water and soaked for 1/2 hour.

4 tbsp. pure ghee

1 tsp. salt

1 1/2 litres home made yakhni

1 small onion

METHOD

1. Cut onions into thin slices and fry until dark brown.

2. Add yakhi/stock.

3. Add salt.

4. Bring to boil.

5. Add rice and reduce heat.

6. Cook until all yakni has been absorbed – this will take around 15 minutes.

PART FOUR – PREPARE GARNISHES and FINAL ASSEMBLING

INGREDIENTS

100g blanced almonds

100g cashew nuts

50g plum, good quality organic raisins

50g fresh mint leaves

2/3 minced fresh green chillies

2 tsp. saffron thread, soaked in 1/4 cup of walk milk for 15 minutes. Crush all the strands.

4 tbsp. pure ghee

1/2 bottle rose water

5 large onions

pieces of silver or waraq

METHOD

1. Fry lightly almonds, cashew nuts and raisins in 2 tbsp. ghee. Remove these and set aside.

2. Slice onions and fry till dark brown, but not burnt; remove and cool on kitchen paper.

3. In very, very large pan, put 2 tbsp. of ghee and over gentle heat, let it melt.

4. Ensure that both the yakni chawal and shahi korma are hot (and reheated if prepared ahead).

5. Add 1/2 of the korma; sprinkle some chopped mint and chillies

6. Put a layer of yakhni chawal, about 1/2 of the total amount; sprinkle some more mint and chillies.

7. Add rest of the korma, followed by the remaining 1/2 of yakhni chawal.

8. Dribble saffron in long streaks; add rest of the ghee and sprinkle rose water all over.

9. Cover tightly with a lid wrapped in a thick tea towel; put a heavy object on top of the lid to ensure there is no escape for the steam. Cook over low heat for 40 minutes.

10. Spread the biryani across a wide, large rimmed platter. Decorate with almonds, cashews, raisins and brown onions. For the final touch, put carefully waraq, silver, dotted all over. PHEW!

If you’ve managed to read the whole recipe, you’re thinking “Why would I want to put myself through all that?” Why do we swot for hours and days for our exams, why do we need to learn to drive a car, why do we work night and day to save for a holiday – why do we do these things: because they all enhance our lives.

To enrich our lives, be it music, art or food, is to live well, appreciate the abundance of bounty that is to be found all around us and to even salute our extravagant, flamboyant, excessive ways of our forebears. Good food is not just for the rich and famous; by right, it is ours too. You wouldn’t cook this biryani every week, not even every month, but once in a while you can make a tryst with friends or family when you gather to meet a difficult but absolutely gorgeous foe – The Shah Jahani Biryani!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shahi Phirni

Another of Moghul court’s favourite – easy to see why; it has all the pazzaz of high end ingredients plus it’s sweet.  The nawabs loved showing off their capacity to indulge: rose water made from roses grown in the royal kitchen garden, saffron too from royal crocuses and cardamoms.

Fortunately, these ingredients are now widely available.  But it’s important to get the very best you can; cheap ingredients will only end up tasting like cheap Turkish delights.

There is up and down side to this recipe: the good thing is that the ingredients are, as mentioned before, readily available however you do need to be prepared to stand and slave over a boiling pot of milk for an hour and more! As they say, no pain, no gain!

The effort is worth it both in taste and the dish’s lavish, sumptuous look; the added bonus is the perfume that fills the air from cardamoms and rose water. Another positive is that as the phirni is served chilled, it could be made well in advance, for a dinner party, leaving you free to concentrate on other parts of the meal.

INGREDIENTS

4 dessert spoonfuls of basmati rice – washed several times and soaked for couple of hours.

1 1/2 litres of full fat superior quality milk (I’ve used Graham’s Gold Smooth that has cream mixed through)

1 cup of golden caster sugar (around 150g)

10 cardamom pods, deseeded and crushed into fine powder

1/4 bottle rose water

1 small tin evaporated milk

100g whole pistachios

silver or waraq

METHOD

1. In a blender, grid the rice (discard the water it has been soaking in) with a little of the milk until rice appears as tiny grains. Do not turn it into a complete paste as a little grainy texture is desired.

2. Pour milk into a heavy bottom pan. Bring it to boil quickly over high heat then reduce heat.

3. Add the coarse rice; this is where the slave’s work begins. You will need to stay, watch and stir constantly to ensure the milk  and the rice, does not stick to the bottom (otherwise it will burn). Stir slowly with a wooden spoon. This can take an hour and more so get friends and family to take turn!

3. Cook until the mixture has been reduced by 1/2.

4. Add sugar and mix in the evaporate milk and cook for further 15-20 minutes.

5. Just before you remove from heat, add the rose water.

6. Remove from heat – be warned, the phirni will very quickly begin to set, therefore be ready to pour into a dish/dishes as soon as it is removed from heat.

7. Decorate with whole pistachios (I prefer not to chop as the pink and green colours of the pistachios are more vivid when uncut).

8. For the ‘wow’ factor, sprinkle with silver/waraq.

And there you have it, in its finest glory, shahi phiri – to be admired first, then consumed slowly to allow the beguiling aroma of cardamom, rose water to hit the senses before the taste buds go into a dazzling trance!

 

Mughal Biryani

Biryani – the very word conjures a festive feast with air filled with heady exotic aromas; in the days of my childhood, a biryani marked a special occasion such as Eid or pampering the potential visiting suitors who came to check out our many female cousins still awaiting a proposal! No expense was spared. We, as children, loved these events for we knew our bellies will be very full that night!

Of-course, there are countless recipes everywhere; I have even made poorer versions in less than couple of hours for after work dinner parties. But to savour one based on an original recipe is a completely sublime experience; when my mother cooked her biryani, she normally began preparations days ahead: roasting and grinding spices, making stock, producing huge quantity of fried onions (cooking in small batches) and so on.

In this book are several recipes for biryani, as regional influences in India, ranging from Hyderabad, Lucknow to Delhi, made each biryani unique. Also, biryanis can be varied depending on the type of meat and cut used: mixed lamb cuts, lamb shanks, lamb chops and chicken. This recipe is a relatively easy one made from chicken, which cooks faster.

Rice: not all rice are equal – a biryani must have the most superior quality rice that can be found. In the days gone by, a rare rice, Ranbir Singh Pura, grown in the Himalayan mountains around Simla was sought after but regional conflict has made access difficult. Although, Google says that a ban has been uplifted and is now available in some foreign markets. Here in North London, it isn’t. Basmati rice from Dehra Dun has enjoyed a long reputation; but now Pakistan is producing some of the best basmati rice: look for brands such as Badshah, Kohinoor and Laila.

INGREDIENTS

2 large organic chickens cut into pieces

500g of basmati rice (rice must be washed 8-9 times in cold water until the water runs clear; then soaked for 1/2 hour and drained)

6 large onions (cooked in small batches until dark brown but not burnt; leave half on paper towel to cool to be used later for garnishing)

1 whole head of garlic: peeled and made into a paste.

4 inches fresh ginger: peeled and made into a paste.

1 tub yoghurt

2 tsp. leaf saffron, loosely packed, roasted and crumbled according to directions (see Note)

2 tsp. milk

1/2 bottle rose water

 

GARAM MASALA

10 whole cloves
20 whole black peppercorns
8 whole cardamom pods (only the seeds)
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. whole poppy seeds
1/4 tsp. ground mace
1 1/2  tbsp. salt
3 tbsp. lemon juice
8 tbsp. vegetable oil
2 bay leaves
4 lg. black cardamoms

GARNISH

2 tbsp. blanched almonds

2 tbsp. raisins

2 hard boiled eggs sliced lengthwise

1 cup of dark brown fried onions (see above)

METHOD

1. Roast lightly all the spices and grind into a fine powder.

2. Fry onions in small batches until dark brown. This is a lengthy process and patience is required to let it cook and brown slowly (hence, preparing ahead)

3. Remove half of the fried onion and leave it aside to cool.

4. To the remaining fried onions in the pan, add the chicken piece and fry gently until golden brown.

5. Add the garlic and ginger paste and continue to fry.

6. Add yoghurt and garam masala and keep frying until the chicken takes a lovely, rich golden colour!

7. Cook slowly over low heat for 1/2 hour.

8. In a large saucepan, boil half filled with water; add 1/2 tsp. of salt.

9. Once the water comes to a boil, add the rice and cook quickly on a relatively high heat for 5 minutes: it is IMPORTANT that care is taken to ensure that rice is NOT FULLY COOKED. Rice must only be partially cooked – 2/3 of the way.

10. Remove and drain the rice in a colander.

11. Add rice to the chicken – lay it on top and no need to stir; rice at this stage will be very fragile and will break if tempered with. A biryani must have long, unbroken rice!

12. Mix saffron with a little warm milk and pour over the rice in long streaks.

13. To create a special ‘dum’ (steam) environment for the rice to finish cooking, take a clean, dry tea towel, wrap it around the lid and place the lid on the saucepan; if possible, place a heavy object on top to ensure the steam does not escape. Leave it on a very low heat (or preferably place the saucepan on a ‘tawa’, a flat griddle) and let it cook under its own steam for a further 40 minutes.

14. Carefully, decant the rice and chicken on a large platter; garnish with sliced eggs (around the edges), sprinkle raisins, almonds and fried, brown onions. Serve hot.

However, biryani is never served alone; it usually comes with a fanfare of other dishes such as korma, kababs but here in North London, we by pass all that and stick to the holy trinity: a cool cucumber raita, coriander and green chillies chutney and a red onion and lemon salad!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Shahi Shami Kabab

This was a dish reputedly invented for a toothless nawab: it simply melts into the mouth and requires no chewing!  Served as an accompaniment  with either rumali roti or biryani, it is scrumptious and devilishly addictive. Preparation, in the days of my mother, used to be lengthy but now we have technology, we have food processors. The cooking itself is quick but to enjoy in its authenticity, you will need to make several other smaller dishes: mint and coriander chutney, raita, nimbu salad and rumali roti, so called because it is ultra thin and large like a handkerchief.  The pleasure of cooking should be for everyone, not just the cook; draft in as many extra hands as you can, each person delegated to produce one part of the meal. This is when cooking becomes a communal activity; my childhood memory is that of grown ups paying compliments to each other about their particular dish as we all sat together to enjoy.

INGREDIENTS

1 Ib./500g good quality minced lamb

1/4 Ib./100g chana daal that has been soaked for 3 hours

6 garlic cloves

1 1/2 inch fresh ginger

1 medium onion

4 green chillies – according to taste

1/2 cup chopped coriander

a few mint leaves

3/4 tsp. salt

oil for frying

1 beaten egg

whole garam masala: 1/2 tsp. cumin, 1/2 tsp. black pepper, 1/2 tsp. cinnamon, 3 large cardamoms, 1/4 tsp. cloves

 

METHOD

1. Cook over slow heat, ground keema and chana daal in 1/2 cup of water with garlic, ginger, salt, garam masala, until water has dried. Remove from heat and let it cool.

2. Grind everything in a food processor or in a large pestle and mortar (traditional method). The mixture should resemble a smooth paste, much like a pate.

3. Finely chop the fresh ingredients: onion, chillies, coriander, mint and mix these into the meat and daal mixture.

4. Make small round patties, not too thick, about the size of a standard fishcake.

5. Glaze it with the beaten egg (a substitute for egg could be buttermilk) and pan fry very gently in a little oil. This is an important step: these kababs are fragile and will break if assaulted with too many prods – leave to fry for few minutes on one side, then carefully flip over to fry the other side. Remember, the ingredients are already cooked, the only purpose now is to create a crispy outer case.

6. Garnish with fresh coriander and wedges of lemon.

They must be served hot, together with other accompaniments. If friends or family are busy making other things, you should have a delicious meal of shami kabab, chutney, rumali roti, salad and raita. Adorn your table with a glittery sari or dupatta (cheap ones), scatter candles or flower heads and shower compliments to others as you pay homage to the toothless nawab!

 

 

 

 

Sherbat Nelofar

The most important component of this recipe is … the presentation!

It has to look Over-The-Top-Completely-Mad-Decadence-of-The-Moghuls  to pull it off (the recipe itself is simple). You will first need to source an extremely large, wide rimmed, vessel such as a silver punch bowl, preferably on legs or stand, big enough to fill the centre of a table. A pitcher just won’t do!  The point about this recipe is to use it to create a magnificent centrepiece with fresh water lilies, fresh rose petals, floating candles and even shreds of silver!

Sourcing the ingredients will be the most time consuming part of this: aside from raiding the glasshouse at Kew gardens (not recommended!), getting hold of water lilies will be a challenge. The answer is to make friends with a friendly florist! (The Moghuls had a complete ministry to run its kitchen and ingredients were obtained from their own well kept gardens!)  These efforts will be rewarded provided you get the setting right: large silk cushions, in bright colours, on the floor with the Sherbat Nelofar in the middle!

INGREDIENTS

12 nelofar/water lilies flowers

5 litres water

250g sugar

1 bottle of rose water

crushed ice

ice with encased rose petals (make this much like ice cubes with one rose petal in each cube; would be more effective to use a flower shaped mould for the ice!)

 

METHOD

1. Soak 5 of the water lilies for 24 hours

2. After its had 24 hours of soaking, boil for 5 minutes

3. Leave it to cool completely with the flowers still in

4. Make a syrup with sugar and water

5. Remove flowers and add the syrup

6. Mix in all the rose water from the water

7. Decant into a large punch bowl

7. Add crushed ice

8. Gently ‘sit’ the remaining fresh 7 water lilies on the surface

9. Float rose petals frozen in ice

10. Light and place lit floating candles

You may also use other adornments such as pieces of jewellery (not precious of-course) to create a further air of glamour! And don’t forget the silk cushions, on the floor, around a low table.

Sit back and imagine yourself taking a rest in between tiger hunts!

Kashmiri chai with Rose Petals

An opulent tea, usually made from special Kashmiri green tea that gives its famous pink hue. Here, oolong tea is substituted or for a more familiar taste, use good quality loose Ceylon tea; it is a ‘cooked’ tea, served with spices and nuts.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoonful of oolong tea/loose Ceylon tea

5 teaspoonful of sugar

1/2 litre whole milk, 1/2 litre water

4 inch cinnamon stick

6 bruised cardamoms

4 cloves

1 star anise

a pinch of salt

FOR THE GARNISH – according to taste

thinly sliced pistachios

thinly sliced almonds

freshly grounded cardamom

dried rose petals

TO BE SERVED IN WIDE RIMMED CUP

1. Put all the loose tea, sugar, milk, water, cinnamon stick, cardamoms, cloves, star anise and salt in a heavy bottom pan.

2. Bring to boil then lower the heat to its lowest setting; let it simmer and cook slowly for 1/2 hour.

3. Stir regularly until the liquid has reduced by half.

4. Remove from heat and decant into cups.

5. Sprinkle with sliced pistachios, almonds and grounded cardamom.

6. As you serve,  sprinkle dried rose petals to create spectacular colours before your guests’ eyes.

Not your usual builder’s brew!

 

 

 

 

 

Introduction

Dedicated to my mother, with love, whose passion for cooking and bringing pleasure to the table is the inspiration for this book.

 

Her journey from a little girl in India to a young woman in Pakistan and then to a pensioner in England is also the story of the Empire. With the end of the British Empire came the partition of India; millions of Indian Muslims migrated to the new land called Pakistan (then West Pakistan)and one such person was Suriya Begum.

 

Her family left in haste, as many did, with few belongings, to escape the communal pograms and catch a boat that will take them all the way round India until they got to Karachi where they got off.

 

Millions of ‘Muhajir’ migrated to Karachi from different parts of India including Delhi, Lucknow, Hyderabad, Bombay and Suriya Begum and her family migrated from Bihar.

 

These mainly Urdu speaking people were highly literate, having ancestors who had served as technocrats, bureaucrats, poets, artists, architects, traders, soldiers, teachers, scientists, Sufis etc. in the Mughal empire.

 

When they settled in Karachi, their rich heritage in art, culture, architecture, education, cuisine, poetry and writing had a major impact on shaping the city. Rather than remain timid and take a back seat, these new highly educated migrants took over the civil service, held senior posts in the government of Pakistan, ran schools and colleges and set about creating the nation that they forebears had fought for.

 

So too came to Karachi the noble and aristocratic cuisines of the Hyderabad and Delhi sultanates, albeit in their more streamlined versions. My childhood memory is of endless perfumed aromas coming from the kitchen and everyone in the household drafted in to chop, peel, crush, grid, cut, stir, deseed to produce luxurious niharis, biryanis, zarda, haleem, pulao, jungalee murgh etc. which we devoured sitting around a long dastarkhan.

 

Having married, Suriya Begum was once again migrating – this time to England. In the 60s and 70s of Britain, with non-easy access to the ingredients, I marvel as how she was able to reproduce the same meals, starting from scratch – making her own spices!

 

This book is about recreating some of those recipes. Many dishes have their hybrids now and there are countless versions around. Many have been adapted to reduce time and effort to fit in with the modern lifestyle.

 

This book, however, does not. The recipes here are meant to be time consuming, labour intensive and expensive. They are my mother’s recipes and come from a by-gone era and this book is a homage to our heritage, to my mother’s memory and to a new generation to discover the joy of cooking over the top dishes. The names alone evoke opulence, decadence, glamour: ‘Zewar e Bahisht’ (Jewels of the Heaven) is a spectacular biryani of top end lamb shanks, nuts, cherries, saffron, pomegranate, rose petal, orange blossom flower water, top notch basmati rice to name a few of the ingredients.

 

Of-course, you won’t be cooking these dishes everyday! The cost and time alone will prohibit that.

 

But once in a while, you can recapture the glory of the Mughal Empire and indulge your family and friends with a meal fit for a king!

 

Our modern age has forced us all to grab a quick bite on the go, eat lunch while still working, shove something in the microwave, order a Friday takeaway or cook our own Jamie’s 15 minutes meals!

 

This book is about slowing down, making time and cooking for pleasure. It would be mad to attempt to put together a whole 3 course meal from these recipes – that would indeed be no pleasure!

 

Living in North London as I do, and working full time, I usually go for one dish to wow my friends and family. There are three parts to the presentation of any given dish: sourcing the ingredients, preparing/cooking and presenting. The Posh Pakistani Pot is all about savouring the gourmet ingredients and drenching the senses in smells, colours, flavours.

For bringing pleasure to the table, as my mother did, to your loved ones is surely an aim in everyone’s life.

Nusrat Jaan