It is said you can make your way through the courses and cuisines present in Purani Dilli from the power of smell alone. With everyone being masked up these days, the internet and food providers will have to do what the nostrils no longer can. And coming to the rescue of your Mughal food woes is Khansaama, named after the master chefs of royal kitchens of yore.
A delivery service, Khansaama serves the myriad foods of Old Delhi, right till your doorstep. The extensive menu of the kitchen includes an array of chicken and mutton specialities, straight from the old city of Shahajanabad, with everything from Nihari to Biryani, Stew, Korma, Achari-soaked, Kebabs and other delicacies. Not wanting to play favourites, we pick from both coop and barn: to wit, a Chicken Korma, a Mutton Nihari, Mutton Biryani, Khameeri Roti, and Shahi Tukda.
The food arrives promptly on time (order ahead), and is pleasingly packaged in earthenware pots, be it the korma or the biryani.
Starting with the former, it’s one of those curries out of an Indophile’s dreams, drenched in oil that floats lazily on top of a thick spice-sputtering gravy among which nestle tender chicken pieces, rawly butchered and expertly cooked.
Of a similar (thickening) vein is the mutton, the nihari gravy far thinner than the korma but equally slick with oil. In this case, the meat isn’t so much tender as it is melt in the mouth, all the better to be chased up with morsels of fat, fluffy Khameeri Roti which has just the right tinge of sweetness to counterbalance the spices. And then there is the biryani.
Shall we mention its lissom rice grains? Each distinct from the other, but all coming together in a symphony of flavours and textures, the falling off the bone meat gloriously juxtaposed against the seeming virginal rice. But, seeming isn’t believing, making the dish into a decadent feast for the senses. Dessert? Oh, it’s just the best Shahi Tukda we have ever had, the sugar, milk, and bread coming together to form a halwa of sweet smoky goodness.
Want the flavour of old Delhi, without risking your sense of taste and smell? Order from Khansaama.
Vegetarians need not apply.
Meal for two: Rs 1,000 (including taxes) Contact: +91 9311611317
Serenaded by Biryani
Shall we mention its lissom rice grains? Each distinct from the other, but all coming together in a symphony of flavours and textures, the falling off the bone meat juxtaposed against the seeming virginal rice.