HYDERABAD: Can you imagine a five-course meal with royal delicacies from the kitchens of the emperors of Chola, Vijayanagara and Kakatiya dynasties, sans the quintessential red and green chillis? Well, fact can be stranger than fiction and that’s what Sri Bala, a Chartered Accountant-turned-chef from Chennai has decided to put together and tell the Hyderabadis that food can indeed be delicious without the usual masalas.
“I have been researching about the evolution of food from 300 AD onwards and it is interesting to see how our original spices did not feature the red and green chillis. The royal kitchens used three kinds of pepper – white, black and pippali. Chef Sri Bala was talking to the press as the host of Rajoupacharam, a royal feast under the Kitchens of India initiative – Royal Repast being held at Hotel ITC Kakatiya, Begumpet. The ongoing food fest is on till September 1 and showcases cuisine that highlights forgotten aspects of the Indian culinary scape.
“Access to varied spices, owing to merchants arriving from various parts of the world on sea trade in those days, made the local cuisine interesting and flavourful. Angaya Podi, for example, was an integral part of the Chola cuisine as a popular appetiser. It is a combination of spices and herbs including dry ginger, pepper, cumin seeds, toor dal, Bengal gram, Black gram and coriander leaves. This is still known today in the form of ‘Deepavali Marunthu,” she explains.
“The pungency in food was derived from Black Pepper and Pippli while Chilies were hardly in use. There were no use of onions and tomatoes too being a few centuries old in our food culture.” From Lotus leaf parcel to Digestive Herbs Concoction, the meal had intriguing food. Did you know that Lotus Leaf Rice Parcel is inspired from Ibn Batuta’s travelogue?
The food has been curated differently for the non-vegetarians (Asaivam), for the Pisceaterans (fish eating, matsyam) and vegetrains (Saivam). “The ancient meal had to have six dimensions of taste, five elements of nature and seven chakras of the body such that it does not provoke the ayurvedic doshas. It revolved around Charaka Samhita, tutored by Lord Athreya. Have you ever wondered how the foreign dignitaries welcomed by these imperial kings were? They were honoured with three fruits called the Mukkani namely Mango, Banana and Jackfruit with honey. Rice pudding, made with cottonseed milk extract, one of the earliest ingredient ever used in ancient cuisine from the south. Says Chef Sakala Shankara of the hotel who went shopping for the ingredients to Monda Market, “It was a challenge to source out six kg of cottonseed for the payasam, but we were surprised to see how light and tasty it is when it is cooked in milk. Definitely a delicacy that needs to be brought back,” he adds.