A few years back an article authored by some Mr. Rahul Varma and published in 'The Telegraph', a Kolkata daily, was photo copied and issued along with a routine Newsletter of Mathur Association Bombay. The opening lines of the said article were as follows:
“The Mathur community created culinary magic by blending the best of Hindu and Muslim cuisines”. In my opinion, Mathur food is one of the finest cuisines that you can get in India. This gentleman’s mutton curry, for instance, was among the best I have ever tasted. Mathur food underscores a harmonious blend of different cultures. The community — north Indian Kayasthas who flourished as professionals from the time of the Mughals — took the best of Muslim food and blended it with Hindu cuisine. The result was Mathur food.
The article (which included recipes of a few Mathur-favorite food items) was well received by Mumbai Mathur community. It became a topic of pleasant discussions in many Mumbai Mathur drawing rooms with people guessing and exploring as to what food could exactly be called 'Mathur Food'. Somehow, the subject crops up off and on even now in stray, informal Mathur gatherings, albeit without any definite answer.
At the outset, it may be stated that in reality there is no “Mathur Food” per se.
There are dozens of books available on Indian cookery but none of them has an item Mathur Food as such. Even the classical book on Indian cookery by Madhur Jaffery (nee Mathur) does not contain anything named as Mathur Food. However, it can be said that in general, all usual food items are Mathur food and in general, all Mathurs are connoisseurs of good food.
But it is also true that the very mention of the word ‘Mathur food’ often creates a feeling of a gentle whiff of aroma wafting through in the air, fondly hinting that isme kuch to baat zaroor hai. So, at best the so called ‘Mathur Food’ can perhaps be better named as ‘Food for Mathurs’ and mentally imagined in two ways, viz:
i) food items particularly favourite and more popular in Mathur homes, compared with other communities.
ii) any special cooking methods in Mathur homes and some subtle differences in ingredients used.
It can be safely said that except for those who, for religious, family traditional or personal reasons may opt to be vegetarians, most Mathurs generally are non-vegetarians. It is therefore natural that whenever Mathur’s food is talked about, the discussion tends to gravitate to non-veg food. Though now Chinese, Thai, Italian etc., varieties of non-veg food are getting Mathur-popular, the Mathur choice invariably gets focused on the taste and cooking of traditional Mughlai dishes.
So, it may first be worthwhile to know what is Mughlai food and then its remote connection with Mathurs.
History:(a) Venturing a bit in the history of meat eating in India, it may have been eaten by some communities and tribes since ancient times. However, its preparation in a professional way and its consumption on a wider scale is said to have come about only after the establishment of Muslim Sultanate in India (1192-1525 AD) with Slave, Khilji, Tughlak, Suri, Lodhi dynasties as its successive rulers. During the said Sultanate period meat was taken rather as a routine, non-descript item prepared on Ottoman-Turkish, Afghani, and Central Asian styles and per recipes generally of their own origin.
It was after the establishment of Mughal Empire in India in year 1526 by Emperor Babar that the cooking of meat in its various varieties gradually started being developed in Mughal royal kitchens at Agra (then the Empire’s capital and known as Akbarabad) as an art by experimenting with local styles of cooking and using a mix of local ingredients, aromatic herbs etc. It is said that when Humayun, the second Mughal Emperor returned back to the Delhi throne after his 15 year (1540-1554 AD) self-exiled stay in Iran, he brought with him Irani cooks and different Irani varieties and styles of meat cooking, notably those using dry fruits, nuts and saffron in meat dishes. This resulted in the emergence of a host of meat dishes of unique Mughal styles and pleasantly different taste.
So, it may not be entirely wrong to say that Agra (U.P.) is not only the birth place where the so called Mughlai food was ‘born’ but also, where it was professionally developed and expertly matured over more than a century till year 1638 when Emperor Shahjahan shifted the Mughal capital from Agra to Delhi. Meat cooking at Agra at that point of time thus had two main, basic styles, viz. the already existing Turko-Afghani style of the Sultanate period and second, the Irani style of the Mughals, as also a mix up of both.
(b) After shifting of the Mughal capital to Delhi and in course of time, items of the two aforesaid styles started getting blended by royal chefs experimenting with use of different ingredients and methods of cooking as they found in practice in Delhi. This blending led to the creation of a yet another (third) style, finally getting the name ‘Mughlai food’ stamped on it, as is known world over today. Not limiting themselves to meat cooking only, the Mughal chefs also developed their bakery items like ‘Naan Khhatai’ (a biscuit like snack item), ‘Baqarkhani’ (a lightly sweetened bread loaf), ‘Roomali roti’ as also some dry fruit based ‘Lauzes’ (pistey ki lauz, for example) and other sweets like ‘Sheer Khurma’ etc. ‘Chhuhaara’ (dried dates) was introduced to many Indian dishes. Incidentally, Samosa and Jalebi claim their origin to Iran while Agra is credited with another first in the name of Pethey ki mithai, all all-time Mathur favourites.
(c) In due course, the amalgamated Delhi brand of the Mughlai food started reaching other parts of India, notably Awadh and Rajasthan where the locals (including the meat eating Hindus), and the master chefs in royal households in different princely states, as also in other Mughal ruled provinces, continued experimenting and developing their own sub-styles by further fine tuning and luxuriating the ingredients, even small details like innovating methods of meat marinating and adjusting the slow or high cooking heat, as also the cooking duration. This evolved further into three main styles of Mughlai food in north India, viz., Delhi style, Rajasthani style and Lucknow (Awadhi) style. Many chefs, keeping their techniques as zealously guarded family secrets would give exotic and new names (like Reshmi kebab, kebab makhmali, Qorma Isfahani, etc.) to their creations, often claiming a sort of patent rights in their names.
Another one, the Hyderabadi style came up in the South with some of its own method of cooking and as per local taste and liking. Each of the said four styles had in them subtle differences in preparation, method of cooking and taste. The state of Rampur in U.P., for example developed its own style for some items, calling it Rampuri style. Similarly, Kashmiris introduced use of raisins and saffron in some of its meat dishes, calling it Kashmiri style. Yet all of them were generally classified as Mughlai food. Hyderabad also developed their famous Haleem (a concoction of grain and meat of Afghan origin) a light, easily digestible dish, specially for the old or the sick.
(d) It is to be noted that a dish of Mughlai food of a region would often have a subtle difference in taste from the same dish from another region. This is partly due to the difference in the choice and composition of ingredients and methods of preparation and cooking and partly due to the inherent taste of the people of the region. For example, a Delhi and Rajasthani dish is likely to be a bit more spicy (use of red chilies) compared to its Awadhi counterpart. Some Hyderabadi dishes would have hints of tamarind and coconut in them.
It must be added here that all through the above period multiple items and verities of vegetarian food were already existing and further developing into exotic, prized varieties in royal kitchens and Indian homes with their own recipes, cooking styles and tastes as per practice in various regions in the country.
Kayasthas in general and Mathurs in particular have been a literate class since ages and thus patronized by the Mughals for appointment to respectable posts like accountants, clerks, administrators etc., in their empire, as also by grant of Jagir and Zamindari to many noble and favoured ones. Their great sense of honesty, loyalty and wisdom gradually brought them closer to the rulers. This resulted in Mathurs progressively gaining higher and higher status and acceptability in the eyes of the rulers and growing familiarity with the Muslim nobility of the day. In course of time and with increasing interaction and contacts with Muslims the Mathurs started adopting Muslim manners and culture in day to day life, including even the dress style, food habits etc.
And being lovers of good food (specially the non-veg), it did not take much time for them to take to the popular and well developed Mughlai food (now available in numerous styles and varieties) including further innovations in Mathur kitchens from time to time.
Referring to para 2 above and talking about their favourite food, it is known that certain items described below (among a host of others) are comparatively more popular among Mathurs than in other communities, thus qualifying for the name Mathur Food.
Three typical examples of exclusively favoured non-veg items among many, many others are cited as follows:
i) Pasandey (thin slices of lean, gently beaten meat stuffed with finely chopped dry fruits and other exotic fillings, rolled up and tied overall with thread (to prevent opening up during cooking), cooked on medium heat with a ‘thick masala’ finish. Another variety is with flat, unstuffed slices.
ii) Qaliya. The word (spoken almost exclusively in old Mathur households of yesteryears and rarely heard now) is for normal mutton curry, cooked with a different style. The gravy (with normal ingredients) is made rich with onion and ground khaskhas (poppy seed) etc., with sonf (aniseed) added at an appropriate stage of cooking.
Traditionally, Saunf is an essential item for cooking ‘Qaliya’, using meat without any pre-marination. In practice, as I have observed, lightly beaten saunf along with a pinch of some other ingredients is tied up loosely in a cloth pouch and put in the Qaliya in the middle stage of the cooking process and thereafter the pouch is removed and discarded. Mildly soured dahi (curd), (not tomatoes) and coarsely ground white pepper are used as the material for the gravy. These impart the dish the delicate, and distinctly different flavour with saunf aroma and gives the ‘Qaliya’ its separate authenticity.
Note: The above is as per my own observation of Qaliya cooking demonstration and therefore may be taken only as general guidance and not as a formal, professional recipe.
iii) Pulao, rice cooked in meat stock (yakhni) (unlike Biryani which has semi-cooked meat added to rice and then cooked) topped up with thin slices of roasted almond etc.
iv) Baqarkhani (on special occasions) and Roomali roti.
Note: (a) there are many other items like Biryani, Shaami Kebab, Seekh Kabab, Nargisi Koftey, Qeema Kaleji, Gurdey Kapoorey, Fish/Chicken tikka etc., which though great Mathur favourites are also commonly liked by other communities at large and hence can not be exclusively classed as Mathur food.
(b) With passage of time many modern varieties of food like Chinese, Thai, Italian, etc., are now added favourite foods for Mathurs, albeit the Mughlai retaining its own place.
a) Gattey (also known as takey-paise), moong daal kaleji, papad-aloo, all in curry form.
b) Whole vegetables like Tindey, Tomatoes, Capsicum, Kareley, bhindi, etc., hollowed and stuffed with exotic masala, cheese, etc., cooked lightly and usually served dry or with thick gravy.
c) ‘Tahiri’, or Besan kadhi with rice – both a favourite Sunday lunch item in most Mathur homes.
d) Malai Koftey, makhana subzi (with dry fruits), an exclusive dish prepared on special occasions, generally for honoured veg. guests.
e) Paneer with palak or chick peas, etc., variety of ‘chaats’ and snacks – favourite with many other communities also and hence not exclusive to Mathurs alone.