Royal taste of India

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From chasing breaking stories for a news channel to exploring culinary delights in royal kitchens for her debut book Dining With The Maharajas, the insatiable curiosity of this author keeps her mojo alive. Meet Neha Prasada, a journalist-turned-author and wife of minister Jitin Prasada, who now freelances for various publications, and in her spare time, spearheads diverse projects related to social issues.

Neha married Jitin three years ago. In 2011, she assisted in setting up the museum shop at the National Museum in Delhi. Speaking of which, she says, “The museum shop was a three-month project. We tried to revamp its look and worked towards making it a world-class souvenir shop highlighting our national handicrafts and handlooms.”
A contributing editor to the Architectural Digest magazine, with a keen interest in world cuisine, Neha reveals how she collaborated with photographer Ashima Narain to pen her first book on India’s traditional royal food. She says, “For the past two-three years, my entire focus was on the research and study of ten different royal families of India, who we featured in our book. I think it’s a secret dream of every journalist to write a book and when I was asked to take up this topic, I was more than happy to do so.”
In this exquisite food guide, the royals share anecdotes about their ancestors’ signature styles of cooking and presenting food — like a well-preserved art form. Neha mentions, “We featured the royal families of Hyderabad, Jammu and Kashmir, Jodhpur, Mahmudabad, Mysore, Patiala, Rampur, Sailana, Tripura and Udaipur. It was a very special feeling when my hosts allowed me inside their kitchen, which is a sanctum sanctorum for most Indian homes. I got the chance to taste some of the most distinct and delicious specialties of each royal family.”
Neha, who herself is fond of cooking, reveals that she is an “experimental” chef, who likes to mix and match ingredients in her kitchen. She says, “I cook all kinds of food at home but am a little biased towards Awadhi cuisine since I grew up in Lucknow. I like eating Japanese food too, although I can’t cook it too well.”