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A fateful discovery. Long-forgotten 19th century manuscripts. Conversations with custodians of a fading cuisine. Fragments of articles, memoirs and diaries: How Dr Tarana Husain Khan unravelled the tangled threads of Rampuri cuisine, which she meticulously recreates in her new book — Degh to Dastarkhwan — reads like a historical investigative drama, replete with setbacks and serendipity. The prize at the end of the hunt is a chance to acquaint food lovers with a fabled culinary culture of yore, of which scant vestiges have made it to the present day. A chance to ensure that its stories and its secrets survive several more generations.
“It can only be providence that led to this discovery,” says Dr Khan, recounting how she came across Persian cookbook manuscripts dating to the 19th century, at the Rampur Raza Library. A 15-gun salute princely state in British India established by the Pashtun leader Nawab Faizullah Khan in 1774, Rampur was assimilated into the United Provinces post-Independence. Contrasted with its relatively small territory, Rampur State had an outsize influence on the culture of the Indian subcontinent, notably in the areas of food and music. As chefs from the Mughal courts flocked to Rampur after the Revolt of 1857, the royal kitchens of the Nawabs became the site of an evolving cuisine that encompassed influences from the Awadhi, Hyderabadi and Kashmiri traditions as well. Meat was a vital part of the menu.
As she researched Rampuri cuisine, Dr Khan came upon an anecdote about the Nawab Hamid Ali Khan, the ruler from 1894-1930. At a banquet hosted by the Nawab, a guest couldn’t stop praising a particular dish. The khansama who had prepared it was summoned to receive a reward. “When the guest asked who had taught him the dish, the khansama replied: ‘Nawab sahib’,” says Dr Khan. “This was a surprising answer, but at the time, all knowledge of food belonged to the Nawab.” Cooks weren’t allowed to write down (or have someone else write) and share their recipes — a practice that no doubt contributed to Rampuri cuisine’s decline over time. There were other factors as well: the deprivation the region experienced after the abolition of privy purses; the economic decline of the landed gentry class that had supported the khansamas; time and labour-intensive cooking techniques falling out of favour.
“Dishes and preparations have a way of transforming and amalgamating through time. But not everything survives,” Dr Khan rues. “Intergenerational memories survive in the form of food legends, though the taste, look and feel of a dish is lost. For instance, a sweet called dar e bahisht was a specialty of Rampur. Today, only a few know what it looked or tasted like.”
Dr Tarana Husain Khan
Thus Khan was aware of the significance of her library finds. The very first task was to get her cache of 10 cookbooks translated. Then, she pored over the recipes — about 3,000 of them — attempting to decipher what they entailed, and how they could be categorised. The help of skilled khansamas was essential in order to test the recipes and ensure they could be understood and used in a modern context. Old friends shared a wealth of stories that were critical for filling in missing pieces of the puzzle. And then of course, there was the intense historical research: tazkiras, novels, memoirs, articles — anything that had a reference to Rampuri cuisine. Remembrances of Days Past by Jahanara Habibullah, the only book before Dr Khan’s to cohesively describe the cuisine of Rampur in some detail, was an invaluable resource. Dr Khan connected with Habibullah’s daughter Muneeza Shamsie, and had a revelatory discussion about Rampuri cuisine with her. Timely assistance from the UK’s Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded project, The Forgotten Foods, ensured Dr Khan had the resources needed to carry on her research.
Degh to Dastarkhwan: Qissas and Recipes From Rampur Cuisine is both, cookbook and food memoir. Anecdotes abound about how reputations were made or unmade based on the bhapi kebabs one served at dinners. From its chronicling of pulao made from the now-extinct Hans Raj rice (known for its unparalleled aroma) to taar roti (meat curry served with tandoori rotis) — the star at wedding receptions — to desserts like safeda and Rampuri gulathhi, Dr Khan’s book is a gourmand’s delight. Its final iteration is a testament to her long, winding but ultimately fruitful journey.
“It was not a simple trajectory,” Dr Khan tells Slurrp. “I was not looking for cookbooks because I’m no cook… There were setbacks, kitchen catastrophes, and getting back to the chopping board. I looked at printed cookbooks from Delhi and Lucknow dating to the late 19th century, to make sense of the procedures and the terminology of cooking prevalent at the time.”
Deciding where to begin — or with which of the 3,000 recipes she should commence her practical research — was a challenge. “Most of the dishes were similar with some variation. I decided on a pulao and prepared different styles — pulao Shahjahani, Murgh dumpukht pulao, pulao mahi and so on. Then I went on to qormas and qaliyas.” Some of Rampur cuisine’s signature dishes like dum pukht murgh (chicken or fowl stuffed with mincemeat and raisins); kundan qaliya, a light aromatic meat curry with saffron; and sweet pulaos were a shoo-in. But recipes in which the variations were minor — like an annannas (pineapple) pulao which became an amba (mango) pulao when the main ingredient was swapped — were done away with. The ones that made the cut provide a comprehensive look at Rampuri food: from everyday dishes to those served at iftars, weddings and even during mourning.
Four years and one laudable tome later, Dr Khan says she still doesn’t feel that she’s scratched even the surface of Rampuri cuisine at its zenith, when the Nawab’s banquet featured at least 200 dishes. “I believe food becomes the context of culture in old settlements. At the same time, it is the most fragile aspect of culture. In trying times, we leave off cooking certain foods, and they drop from our menu. But culinary memory survives. That is why my book is not just about food, but the stories around food.”
