Moghul Thali

10 Sharbat families

One Page Cookbooks 10 Sharbat families All recipes copyrighted. No reproduction / commercial use without permission. Siramki@Gmail.com
Master Recipe : Bring a cup ( 200 ml) of water to a boil. Gradually add two cups of sugar and keep stirring till all sugar is dissolved. Mix in the juice of a lemon.Remove from fire. Mix in a base ( or a mix of bases) from the column below. Bottle. Serving Suggestion : 1. Mix one part of sharbat with three parts of water / soda/ milk add ice cubes and serve. 2. Take a handful of grated ice. Press to form a tomato sized ball, pour a spoon of Sharbat over it and serve as Ice gola. 3. Mix one part of sharbat with three parts of water, pour into popsicle moulds and freeze until it is a soft slush or hard ice. Serve as slush / popsicles.
1 .: Fresh flower Sharbats Sample recipe : Gulab Sharbat : Take four handfuls of rose petals. Crush them . Add a cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.( Use Rose, saffron, hibiscus, Kewra/ screwpine etc)	Sharbat – A Primer: Sharbat ( Persian / Turkish) from Arabic Sarba:drink denotes a sweetened, diluted liquid. The French sorbet / Italian Sorbetto arise from the same root, but now refer to a frozen version of the Sharbat. The moguls loved Sherbet and brought it with them to India, where it was accepted with a small twist. Unlike the Persian version which often uses egg, Indian versions skip egg completely. During the Mogul reign, huge loads of ice were shipped daily from Himalayas to cool Sharbats. Baburnama records Babar’s love for Sharbat. It was a favourite of the later mogul emperors too. The logic behind Sherbats is simple - Steep aromatic compounds in hot water to extract their flavouring. Mix this flavoured liquid with sugar syrup which acts as a preservative. .A shortcut is to skip the steeping process altogether and mix in an essence directly with sugar syrup to create an instant sharbat. Hydrodistillation is the scientific name of the Sherbat making process, where water is used to extract aroma. This process works best for dried aromatics like dried flowers, roots and spices. Use alcohol as a steeping liquid in place of water and the Sherbet becomes a liquer. This process is even easier as alcohol is a better solvent and so need not be boiled like water. A variety of aromatic flowers, grasses, spices, fruit, wood, roots, resins, barks and seeds, leaves & gums can be used in Sherbet / liquer making. Though the same principle can be used to extract flavour from animal secretions (castor, musk, ambergris etc), they are not very common Sharbat Additives : To add some texture to a sharbat, it is usually served with one of these additives. 1. Soak a spoon of Basil seeds (Tukmaria seeds,/ Subza seeds) in water overnight. Drain, Mix into Sherbat and serve. 2. Mix in a spoon or two of falooda (thin corn starch / rice / wheat noodles). Sharbat with falooda and ice cream is a Persian delicacy and a favourite of the emperor Shah Jahan. www.ramkicooks.blogspot.com
2 .: Herb Sharbats Sample recipe :Pudina Sharbat Take four handfuls of mint leaves. Crush them. Add a cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.(Use basil, oregano, rosemary etc)
3 .: Root Sharbats Sample recipe : Khus Sharbat Take four spoons of khus syrup ( or simmer half a handful of root in a cup boiling water for 30 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids. (Use Liquorice, Khus (Vettiver), Ginger, Young turmeric etc)
4 .: Seed Sharbats Sample recipe: Elachi Sharbat Take a spoon of cardamom seeds. Crush them Add a cup of boiling water. Let sit overnight and strain out solids. (Use aniseeed, large cardamom etc),
5 .: Bark Sharbats Sample recipe : Cinnamon Sharbat Take half a handful of crushed cinnamon sticks .. Add to a cup of boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.
6 .: Dried flower Sharbats Sample recipe : Saffron Sharbat Take 8 - 10 cloves .. Add to a cup of boiling water. Simmer for 30 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids.( Use clove, saffron etc)
7 .: Fruit zest Sharbats Sample recipe : Orange Sharbat With a grater, gently grate the skin of an orange till you get half a handful of zest. Add to a cup of boiling water. Simmer for 5 minutes. Let sit overnight and strain out solids. ( Use lime zest, citrus zest etc)
8 .: Nut Sharbats Sample recipe : Badam Sharbat Take a handful of almonds. Soak in a cup of boiling water. Peel off skin and blend to a paste and strain through a muslin cloth. ( Use Almond/ Pistachio/ cashew/ walnuts etc)
9 .: Fruit Sharbats Sample recipe :Jamoon Sharbat Take two spoons of fruit syrup ( or simmer two handfuls / dry fruits in a cup of boiling water for 5 – 10 minutes, blend to a paste and strain out solids. ( Use Bel, Jamoon, Tamarind, Lemon, Mango, Plums, Grapes etc)
10 .: Other Sharbats Sample recipe : Chandan Sharbat. Take a spoon of sandalwood powder tied up in a cloth as a small bundle. Steep in half a cup of boiling water overnight. Remove bundle. Use ( Sandalwood, Vanilla, mace, etc)

1001 Easy Biryanis

Almost all experts agree that Biryani is a Persian dish, coming to India with the Moguls / Arabs. However, many wrongly believe that the name Biriyani is derived from Beiryan ( Persian : to fry) which they claim refers to rice being fried in oil before being cooked.

In fact, you can still order Beryani in Esfahan, Central Iran (modern day Persia). But you’ll be served a meat sandwich ! The original Persian Beryani does not have rice at all. It is just chopped up, boiled and fried meat served between two pieces of Persian flatbread. This meat sandwich is the ancestor of our Biriyani. Later, rice came to replace the flatbread. This was made possible by a technique called Dum pukht ( Persian : "steam-cooked") where both rice and meat were steamed together. This technique led to the creation of the Biryani we know and love today. Beriyan ( frying) did not create the Biryani, but Dum Pukht ( steam cooking) did. This is why a Biryani is still called Dum Pukht in Persia and dan pauk in most of South East Asia. (especially Burma).

A Biriyani is in fact a rice sandwich, where layers of meat / veggies served sandwiched between layers of rice. It is interesting to see that many rules for a good sandwich also apply to a biriyani.

1. It should be perfectly cooked, but not soggy.

2. It should have multiple layers

3. It can have vegetable / meat fillings

4. It should be assembled in a colourful, artistic way, with all layers clearly visible - the brilliant white of the rice layer, with splashes of saffron, the brown/ red/ orange meat layer, and the whitish brown layer where these layers mix.

In addition, the golden rule in a biriyani is that no two grains of rice should stick together.

Many confuse between Biryani and another middle eastern rice recipe, the pilaf. Remember that a Biryani is a sandwich at heart, whereas a pilaf ( pulao) is not. A pulao is a one pot dish where rice gets cooked in a meat / vegetable broth. (Interestingly the Spanish paella, is a variation of the pulao and the Cajun / creole Jambalaya is also another version of the pulao) But it does not get assembled in layers like a Biryani.

Like any recipe, when Biryani moved into different regions, it used the rice, flavouring agents and additives much loved in that region. The utensils used, the fuel and the cooking style also changed from region to region, giving us a huge array of Biryanis.

In India, we see two major classes of biryanis – the Pakki biryani of Awadh ( Lucknow) and the Kachi Biryani of Hyderabad. The north Indian Pakki Biryani is closer to the spirit of the original Biryani, as it remains a sandwich at heart. Cooked meat and cooked rice are layered and steamed together to make the pakki ( cooked) Biryani.

The Hyderabadi Kachi ( raw) Biryani is a completely different invention. Here the sandwich is assembled with raw ingredients ( meat and rice) and they are steamed together. This is possible because of the fact that both meat and rice take similar times for getting completely cooked.

Most biryanis use variations of these two major styles. Keeping in mind the spirit of the biryani, we can now mix and match the base, flavouring and additives, giving rise to a countless array of Biryanis.

The base : One cup = 200 ml
The long grained Basmati rice is the most preferred rice as it is aromatic and does not stuck together. But as you travel further south, you’ll see Biryanis made from the shorter Seeraka Samba or even from the hardy Ponni rice. Biryani made from Ponni keeps well and lasts much longer than that made from Basmati. Ensure all rice is well washed and cooked so that no grains stick to each other after cooking. Both raw or parboiled rice can be used. Raw rice cooks faster but par boiled rice is firmer and chewier. To make rice softer, it can be soaked in water for an hour before being cooked. , Stir frying rice also makes it less prone to sticking together. Rice can also be cooked along with a variety of flavouring agents like cinnamon, bay leaf, clove, cardamom etc. but care should be taken to see that the rice does not get coloured by the addition of spices. A Bangladeshi biriyani uses puffed rice instead of rice. Some Srilankan / Arcot Biriyanis use iddiappam ( string hoppers) as a base instead of rice. (I tried cooking a biryani with rice flakes and it was delicious ! I just soaked thick rice flakes in water for five minutes, layered them with cooked meat gravy and steamed it over a slow fire for 10 minutes. There is no reason why you cannot use other grains in cooking biryanis)

The key skill to master:
Cooking rice perfectly is the key to a good Biryani. Cook it anyway you like, but when you assemble the biryani, the rice should be almost ( but not completely) cooked and no two grains should stick together. The easiest way is just to dump rice in lots of boiling water and keep tasting till it is almost done. Then drain water using the colander and use rice for Biryani.

Once you have rice ready, all you need to do is to layer rice and meats in a vessel. close it and bake it or cook it over a slow fire for 15 - 30 minutes, so that the flavours merge. That's it, your Biryani is ready !

The favouring techniques :
These vary from region to region and actually from cook to cook. A variety of whole spices is fried in oil / ghee. Onions are then fried and other ingredients are added. Popular ingredients are cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, saffron and bayleaf are often added. Kewra / saffron water / rose water is sprinkled on top just before serving.

Different regions have their own flavouring. Asafetida and fennel powder is used in Kashmir, green chilies and southern spices like coriander powder, turmeric powder are used in Hyderabadi biryanis, Kalpaasi & Marathi Mokku in Dindigul Biryani, Khus Khus in Malabar biryani, cashew-cumin- fennel paste in Arcot biryani, black cumin and fennel in Awadhi biryani, almonds and cashew ( and sometimes coconut) in Malaysian Nasi biryani, a paste of sesame seeds, black cumin and dry fenugreek leaves in Memoni biryani. Experiment with your favourite flavouring techniques !

Additives :
A whole range of meat / vegetables can be used in a Biryani. Mutton / chicken are most common. In Kerala we find the fish / prawn Biryani, in parts of Tamilnadu we see the Turkey Biryani and in Karachi we bump into the Beef Biryani. Almost any meat can be used for a Biryani. The Nizam of Hyderabad boasted of 49 varieties of Biryani made from quail, deer, hare etc. A variety of vegetables can also be used in to cook up the Tahiri ( Tehri) Biryani. Sindhi & Calcutta Biryanis include potatoes, a combination unthinkable elsewhere.

Utensils :
Different regions cook biryani using their traditional cooking utensils(made of copper / bronze / aluminium / mud etc). Some regions prefer wide, shallow utensils, some prefer cylindrical utensils and some regions prefer the conical vessel with a rounded base – the handi. The biriyani is cooked over different fires - wood fire, charcoal, coconut shell embers etc. Most large scale cooking of Biriyani happens in the open.

Side dishes:
Biryani is eaten with a wide variety of additives.In Sri Lanka it is eaten with a pickle, Mint Sambol ( mint chutney), or scrambled eggs. Indian biriyanis are usually served with Raita. South Indian Biriyanis are served with a sour dish of eggplant (brinjal) or Mirch ka salan, In addition , In Tamilnadu a Muslim biriyani meal is complete only with the serving of a dessert ( sweet sticky rice / bread halwa).

The technique of Dum :
‘Dum’ is a technique where the vessel is sealed and cooked from above and below with gentle heating. This gentle cooking allows the flavors of rice and meat to mix and slightly dries out the rice, making each grain separate. Usually the vessel is placed in a ring of charcoal, the lid is sealed with atta and charcoal is placed on the lid. This gentle cooking may last from 30 minutes to over an hour.

Though it is true that traditional Biriyanis from each region follow a similar recipe, with minor variations, there are no hard and fast rules about what goes into a Biriyani, as long as the spirit of the recipe is followed. Remember that the meats and rice need to be perfectly cooked, layered and the rice grains should not stick to each other. As long as you follow this, you can experiment with a variety of bases, flavouring techniques and additives and will end up with lip smacking biriyanis everytime !

Marination :
The process of soaking the meat in a tenderizing paste is common to North Indian biriyanis. Usually yogurt is mixed with ginger- garlic paste, spice powders and the meat is coated with this mixture and rested for 1 – 2 hours . A variety of tenderising agents like raw papaya paste, lemon juice etc may be added. Though meat is usually marinated for 1-2 hours, some regions follow the overnight marination method where the marinated meat is refrigerated overnight. South Indian Biryanis do not use marinated meats.

Layering :
In a vessel, add a thick layer of rice as the bottom layer. Spread the garnish (fried onions, mint / cilantro leaves, lemon juice) over it. Add a thick layer of meat / vegetables. Spread the garnish and add another thick layer of rice. Sprinkle a couple of spoons of milk in which a few strands of saffron has been soaked. Seal the top of the vessel with a tight fitting lid and bake. Baking can be done over charcoal embers ( placed both on the bottom and top of the vessel), in an oven, or a thick heated steel plate ( to ensure even heating and prevent scorching).

Experiment with a variety of bases, flavouring techniques and additives to create never before cooked Biryanis !

10 flatbreads of the Grand Moghuls

Muglai Cuisine:
Richness defines the royal Mogul (Persian for Mongol) cuisine. Arriving from Central Asia, Moguls ruled most of India for almost 400 years. During this time, their Persian cuisine fused with Indian cuisine and evolved into the Mogul cuisine. Use of Tandoor and the art of leavening flatbreads were Mogul’s gift to Indian cuisine. Unlike traditional Indian flatbreads which are very basic and are cooked on a skillet, Mogul flatbreads are flamboyant- using a variety of rich spices, nuts and cream. They are usually baked in a tandoor or shallow fried in ghee. When cooked on a skillet, they are usually layered. In spite of such rich cuisine, it is interesting to note that Akbar, the greatest Mogul, ate just once a day!

This cookbook lists 10 Mogul breads, greatly simplified, so that a first time cook can easily cook them. The following breads are listed in this cookbook: Click on the links to see more detailed recipes and pictures from my fellow bloggers.

1.:    Naan (Leavened flatbread)  

2.:   Sheermal ( Saffron flavoured flatbread)

3.:   Lachcha Paratha  (Layered flatbread) 

4.:  Warqui Paratha ( Creamy, layered flatbread )

5.:   Mughlai Paratha ( Egg washed layered flatbread ) 

6.:    Badshahi Naan (Deep fried Leavened flatbread) 

7.:   Peshawari Naan (Naan stuffed with nuts & dry fruits)  

8.:   Easy Bakharkhani (Cardamom Flat bread ) 

9.:   Traditional Bakharkhani (Layered creamy flatbread)    

10.:   Cheese Bakharkhani (Sweet layered flatbread)