Little-known veggies

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Whenever someone talks of Mughlai food, images of biryani, chunks of meat floating in rich gravy and kebabs form in our minds. This begs the question, didn’t the badshahs and nawabs ever eat vegetarian food? Maybe they didn’t, but at least someone in the royal households must have got bored of all the meats and creamy gravies once in a while and asked the bawarchi to make a simple veggie dish. Too true. A large part of Mughlai cuisine

actually deals with vegetarian items and though one wishes that the original recipes could have done with a little less oil and ghee, they are simply
delicious and unfortunately, relatively unknown.

Kumbh do pyaaza (mushrooms in onion gravy)

Do pyaaza literally means two types of onions, or rather onions used twice. Lovers of Mughlai cuisine are aware of chicken do pyaaza and the same concept has been used here with mushrooms. The result is surprisingly delicate as mushrooms don’t require garlic or garam masala as that ruins their taste.

Ingredients
500 gm whole mushrooms
300 gm onions, finely sliced
1½ tbsp ghee
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp dried Kashmiri red chillies
Salt to taste
3 green chillies, slit lengthwise
2 inch piece of
ginger, cut into thin matchsticks

Method
Wash the mushrooms thoroughly and keep aside.
Heat the oil and fry around 100 gm of the sliced onions on a low flame for around 5 minutes till they become brown and crispy. Remove and drain on a kitchen paper.
Heat ghee in a heavy-bottomed pan and cook the rest of the onions till translucent. Add the mushrooms and some salt and fry on low heat for 2-3 minutes. When the oil separates, add the red chilli powder and the slit green chillies.
Sprinkle with the ginger matchsticks and browned onions before serving.

Zarda (perfumed sweet rice)

Today we equate zarda with the tobacco many people add to paan, but zarda originally means perfume and the rice dish that takes the name is so fragrant that it can be smelt a mile away.

Ingredients
For the liquid:
800 gm sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
4 litres of water
120 ml milk

Rice:
750 gm basmati rice, washed and soaked for 2 hours
8 cloves
2 cinnamon sticks, about an inch long
16 green cardamoms

You will also need:
150 gm ghee
½ tsp saffron
3 tsp kewda concentrate
1 cup of chopped almonds and pistachios

Method
Add 4 tbsp of water to the kewda essence and soak the saffron in it.
Make the liquid. Boil the water with sugar and lemon juice, and add a little milk at a time. Boil till the liquid is heavy. Strain through a muslin cloth and keep aside.
Boil 10 cups of water with the cardamom and cinnamon and add the rice and cook till it’s halfway done. Drain and spread the rice on a flat surface to dry.
Bring the sugar syrup back to boil in a heavy-bottomed pan. Add the rice and boil for another minute. Seal lid and cook on very low heat for half an hour. Uncover, pour the ghee and the saffron infused kewda water over the rice.
Sprinkle almonds and pistachios on top before serving.