Food of Kayasthas 02: From kebabs to biryani, a new style emerged from their kitchen.

Since Kayasthas held big and important positions in the courts, they were also invited to Mughalia feasts. In 1526, when Babar laid the foundation of the Mughal dynasty in India, he also brought the Mughal Dastakhwan with him to India. Almost all the Mughal rulers were very fond of food. Jahangir even used to mention food in his diaries. During the time of Akbar, his historian Abul Fazal has extensively mentioned the food habits of that period in Ain-e-Akbari and Akbarnama. Ibn Babuta has also mentioned it in his travelogue.

This was the period when dry fruits, raisins, spices and ghee were used extensively in Mughal cuisine. He had brought it here with him also. That is, it can be said that with the Mughal cuisine, new styles and tastes of food also came. It is not that all these things were not available or used in India, but there were many restrictions and things regarding all these food items.

Kayasthas did fusion of both vegetarianism and non-vegetarianism.
Kayastha took most of the dishes of Mughal Dastarkhwan to their kitchen but with their own style and experiments. The difference was that Kayasthas also did the fusion of vegetarianism very well. Kayasthas did this even with non-vegetarian food. From kebabs to meat and biryani, new styles were found in the kitchens of Kayasthas.

Biryani also has an interesting story
Biryani also has an interesting story. It is said that once Mumtaz went to visit the army barracks. There he found the Mughal soldiers somewhat weak. He asked the cook to prepare a special dish made of rice and meat that would provide adequate nutrition. The dish that appeared was in the form of Biryani.

Gave new look and flavor to biryani
If Mughal Dastarkhwan made new experiments in Biryani, then Kayasthas also changed this form of Biryani in a vegetarian style with vegetables and spices. Rice was roasted with ghee. The vegetables were fried. Then both of these are mixed and cooked with spices, and a wonderful tahari or pulao is ready.

Delicious ground lentil parathas
The parathas that you eat with fondness in your homes. Of course it was the Mughals who brought India to India. In fact, in the Mughal feast, the Kayasthas saw that like a puffed roti, a dish was presented in the Mughal feast, which was filled with roasted meat with spices. These puffed rotis were baked slowly.

It tasted amazing in food. When Kayasthas tried this dish in the kitchen, they filled it with potatoes, peas etc. These were Kayastha only. Those who stuffed boiled potatoes, boiled gram dal, ground green peas inside dough balls, rolled them and baked them in mustard oil, a delicious paratha was ready.

However, it can be a matter of debate whether parathas are the gift of Punjab or not. Because he also claims that stuffed parathas are his gift. But food historians say that a dish like Paratha came during the Mughal era and became popular. Paratha stuffed with ground lentils is said to have originated from the pure Kayastha food tradition.

Since when was oil used in India?
While we are talking about mustard oil and ghee, let me also tell you that both of these were undoubtedly used in Indian food but in a very limited form.

In the book “A Historical Companion Indian Food” by famous food expert KT Acharya, it is said that Charak Samhita suggests that vegetable oil should be used in the rainy season and ghee obtained from animal fat in the spring. However, it was advised to use both of these in very small quantities in food. In ancient India, sesame oil was used extensively in frying and cooking. At that time it was said that non-Aryan kings used ghee and oil extensively.

In ancient times, Sushruta believed that excessive use of ghee and oil causes disturbances in digestion. Among the 16 edible oils that Sushruta had chosen for use, mustard was considered very important. It also had many medical uses.

Added a touch of fusion to Indian food
Food often conjures up old memories. Food connects each other. Food reflects our manners, attitudes and traditions. The food of Kayasthas is also similar. What we eat and drink today is the gift of many cultures. This is considered to be the contribution of foreign traders, travelers and our people who went on foreign trips to Mughalia and the British Raj.

However, historians believe that when the Greeks came to the western frontier areas as invaders, their mines also got merged into India. Every food, spices, vegetables, sweets and drinks has its own stories. It must be said that Kayasthas did a lot to add the flavor of fusion to Indian food.

How did their kitchen prosper?
Kayasthas were the rulers of many states and princely states for a long time. When Mughal and British rule came, they got important positions and positions. His kitchen also became similarly prosperous. He gave a new look to all the food items.

Kayasthas, spread from Rajasthan to North India and Bengal, Assam to Hyderabad, diversified the mines in many ways. When the Mughals came to India, they used to eat stuffed food instead of gravy food. But Kayasthas did the work of mixing their dishes from non-vegetarian to vegetarian with gravy.

Gravy has been made in the country since 2000 BC.
KT Acharya’s book “A Historical Companion to Indian Food” says, “From 1126 to 1138, Raja Someshwar of the princely state of Bidar, 160 km from Hyderabad, was very fond of eating meat.
It was he who started the process of marinating the meat with turmeric and garlic paste. King Someshwar was very learned. He then wrote a book of 100 chapters, in which everything from administration to astrology and cooking was written. Someshwar used to roast fish, crab and sheep (pork too) and fry them in mustard oil. However, let me clarify that the history of spicy curry or gravy in India goes back 2000 years before Christ.

From kofta to indigenization of halwa
I was reading an interview of Anukthi Vishal, who has written a book on Kayastha cuisine, “Mrs. LG Table”, in which she told how Kayasthas associated koftas and other dishes with gravy. Then many ways were adopted to indigenize dishes like biryani, kebab, kofta and halwa. How did their various forms come and go?

Halwa is originally a gift from Persia. When it was first mentioned in the 7th century, it was called Halvan. Then in the 9th century, there is mention of making it by mixing dates and milk. But when it came to India with the Mughals, it was made by mixing flour, semolina, gram flour, moong dal, potato, pumpkin, sweet potato and many types of dry fruits and milk. In which Kayasthas played a special role.

It had a special method of frying the ingredients, mixing balanced amounts of ghee, oil and water and adding milk at the appropriate time. At that time there were no gas stoves like nowadays. At that time wood stoves were generally used. These stoves had their own methods of controlling the temperature. Earthen utensils had their own importance along with brass and bronze utensils. (continued)

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