Written by: Sadaf Shahzad
Posted on: January 07, 2021 | 
| 中文
Mughals Having a Feast to Celebrate Nauroz
Around the world, South Asian Mughali (Mughal) food is known for its richness and flavor. It encompasses a range of ingredients and spice levels, from mildly sweet to extremely hot. Mughal cuisine is the amalgamation of Indian, Persian and Middle Eastern influences, which reflected the breadth and diversity of the empire. The dishes of each historical era of the empire is colored with the need of the time, and the legacy of its respective emperor. Because the official court language of the Mughals was Persian, many of the dishes will have Persian or Turkic-origin names.
A Royal Feast for the Uzbeks in Mughal Court
Before the arrivals of the Mughals, food in the Indian Subcontinent consisted mostly of grains with light seasoning, while the affluent had roasted or boiled meat. Through interactions with Greek, Roman and Arab traders, the Subcontinent was introduced to different herbs and spices, most importantly saffron. However, it was the arrival of the Mughals, which revolutionized the flavors and food combinations of the region, by introducing lavish and flavorsome food. Mughals took food very seriously, as sharing and giving were intrinsically tied to gift-giving and diplomatic etiquette. It was also used to symbolize key moments, occasions and socio-political moods, which needed attention to detail and a fondness for the extravagant.
The story of Mughal food starts with Emperor Babur, who could not bear to eat Indian cuisine, and often longed for the food he found in Samarkand or Ferghana. As the historical accounts explain, Babur’s cooks were accustomed to war/campaign diets that often only involved basic grilling and cooking in earthenware pots. Things began to change during Emperor Humayun’s rule, as more Persian culinary influences started appearing in India. For instance, Humayun’s Iranian wife Hamida, introduced saffron and dried fruits in royal kitchens in the early 16th century.
A Mural of Shah Tahmasp I and Mughal Emperor Humayun Having a Feast
However, Mughal cuisine really evolved during the reign of Akbar, as a result of the many marital alliances which brought people together from different parts of the empire. This merging of influences resulted in a plethora of delicious dishes. Akbar, who was a vegetarian three times a week, even cultivated a personal garden where the vegetables were watered with rosewater, so that the prepared food would have a sweet fragrance. Other examples of popular foods during Akbar’s time were, the Murgh Musallam (a slow-cooked, spicy marinated chicken with minced meat and boiled egg stuffed inside it) and panchmel daal (a five lentil soup).
By the time the Empire began to open to the outside world, traders from European empires like France and the Netherlands would send food as gifts to Jehangir’s court. Current South Asian staples like tomato, chili and potatoes, as well as refined sugar, were first introduced by Portuguese traders, who wished to establish relations with Jehangir through food trade. His powerful and ambitious wife Nur Jehan, would often incorporate these foreign foods to make candied fruits and yogurt.
(Left) Nur Jehan and (Right) Nur Jehan's Plate Adorned with Rubies and Gold
Mughal cuisine reached its apogee at the time of Shah Jehan in the 17th Century. As someone who enjoyed pomp and circumstance, he pushed for dishes with more spices and more medicinal properties in court. This era also includes the famous story of Queen Mumtaz Mahal ordering chefs to create the dish now known as biryani, as a way to feed undernourished soldiers.
In comparison, Aurangzeb who was said to be the most conservative of the Mughals, largely remained vegetarian most of his life. However, he did have a penchant for a special biryani with dried apricots, almonds and curd. As the fissures in the Mughal empire began to grow, the culinary focus shifted from Dehli and Lahore to Hyderabad and Lucknow. The kitchen often moved with the emperor during campaigns, and that resulted in the rise of Deccan and Mughal hybrid cuisines as the new culinary trend.
An Image of a 15th Century Kitchen in Ni’matnama (The Book of Delights)
Much of the information historians have about Mughal cuisine comes from the royal recipe books, with a new one prepared for each era. The earliest Mughal era cookbook is the 15th-century manuscript Ni’matnama (The Book of Delights), which included a number of dishes and remedies, including the samosa and marinated kebabs. Besides this, other sources of Mughal culinary traditions are specific to emperors. For instance, in Ain-i-Akbari (The Administration of Akbar), the writer Abu Fazl mentions the position of a Minister of Kitchen, who had an army of cooks and tasters under him, and would often consult a head physician before introducing a new dish to the court. Other source materials include the ten-chapter Nuskha-e-Shahjahani (The Mughal Feast: Recipes of Shah Jehan) from the reign of Shah Jehan, and Khulasat-e-Maklat u Mashrubat (the Epitome of Food and Drink), which is most likely from the era of Aurangzeb.
The English Translation of Nuskha-e-Shahjahani
What most of these dishes had in common spanning many historical periods, was that the preparation of the foods would have been painstaking and time-consuming, keeping in mind the dietary restriction of a largely Muslim and Hindu court, which forbad the consumption of pork and avoided beef, instead opting for goat, fowl or venison. Cuisines were known for their extensive use of whole spices and ingredients like milk or butter, which made the food rich and indulgent. Cooking in royal kitchens was seen as a celebration of color, fragrances, experiments and the rich produce of the Indian Subcontinent.
Nowadays people have innovated on the traditional cuisines by making healthier versions or innovating with ingredients and other influences. However, the culinary traditions of the Mughal courts have left long-lasting effects on the way food is consumed in South Asia, by introducing a fondness for rich, flavorsome food. And though, we cannot travel in time to the grandeur of the Mughal courts, we can maybe catch glimpses of the splendor as we take a bite into the dishes they loved to consume the most.
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