The royal touch
HYDERABAD : Other than the golden desert, kaleidoscopic clothes, Meenakari jewellery the images that the very mention of Rajasthan evokes are the sandstone palaces, the royals they are home to and the delightful food so painstakingly prepared. While dishes like Laal Maas, Shikari Gosht, and a few others have survived time recipes of delights like Doodh Ke Samose have barely survived mostly as the ghosts of their real self-s. Kunwar Hemendra Singh of Bhainsrorgarh, Mewar rues, “Most of the khansamas of the yesteryears have passed away, but the legacy of the royal cuisine has to be continued.” He does not say it just for the sake of himself.
Like several other royals from the state he has revived several recipes and continues to reincarnate many. But how does a prince do that especially when royals are not known to be anywhere around the cooking area? He smiles sharing, “You don’t have to be a royal to enjoy and cook good food.”He was in the city with his wife Kunwarani Vrinda Kumari Bhainsrorgarh for ‘Royal Fables and Kitchen of the Kings –Hyderabad Chapter’. Continuing the conversation about the food he shares that he re-discovered the Hari Mirch Ka Maas.
“It’s all about the use of green chillies. The purists lament that the tiny green spice doesn’t contain the same heat and flavour it used to in the old days. To cook the same dish now the least we can do is to use chillies that are thick and long.”
He dismisses the hype around Laal Maas saying, “There’s no recipe for it! It’s a basic curry cooked using red chillies and local ingredients,” and after this he along with Kunwarani Vrinda reveals the secret of Safed Maas, “It is cooked just in doodh and dahi, without any spices with a gentle dash of zafran.”
The expertise comes to him since he began cooking at the age of 10. But how did he find his way to the kitchen? “I closely watched the making of Makki Roti discovering it to be quite a crafty piece and prepared it!” He passionately shares the making of Chakki Ke Suley, “The wheat dough is soaked for 12 hours till it becomes rubbery. Spices are added, the mixture is pounded and steamed. It, then, rises like a sponge cake.”
The conversation veers towards Pahaari Dhaam, temple food from Himachal. Says princess Urvashi, “My dadi is of Kashmiri and Himachali lineage. During summers we all used to go to Kullu. Later, my father built a cottage there for me. And there are several royal Rajasthani families in the state. As a child I was deeply impressed by the mountain cuisine. At boarding school Mayo I learnt to bake a cake at the age of eight.” As an adult after she came back graduating from LSE, UK she realised that finding old Himachali recipes was quite a task. “I went to several books shops, libraries but to no avail.
Somehow I stumbled upon Bhavani Singh’s book titled ‘Traditional Recipes of Himachal’, and learnt more about Rajputana Himachali recipes.” That’s how she got acquainted with Pahadi Dhaam. “It has a lot of fusion elements and can’t be classified specifically.” Talking about its history she recalls, “Once a king in Kullu tasted Kashmiri Wazwan and instructed his Boti chef to recreate the cuisine. The challenge was to do it without the non veg items.” ]
Most of this food is served at temples, marriages and religious feasts. That’s how Dhaam cuisine was born. Talking about the famous siddu, steamed dumplings she says, “I use walnuts, peanuts, pine nuts, anardana, ginger, green chilies, coriander and paneer. Most of these ingredients are superfood and used in pahadi cuisines.” That’s how the milk there has a typical smell thanks to the strong scent of the grass the cows feed on. And the menu curatedd by the three royals that we tasted at Club Botanika was as delightful as the stories they shared.