ROYAL COOKING TALES BY TIKARANI SHAILAJA KATOCH

All of royal cooking tales stem from one state tucked away in the border between Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan: Sailana. Generations of royal food enthusiasts swear by the book ‘Cooking delights of the Maharajas’, penned by Maharaja Digvijay Singh ji of Sailana. Ably carrying that mantle forward his scion, Tikarani Shailaja Katoch of Lambagraon-Kangra goes down memory lane and shares two famed recipes from her grandfather’s recipe book.

Tikarani Shailaja Katoch.

SAILANA DAL

• Preparation time: 30 minutes

• Cooking time: 1 hour

• To serve: 6-8 persons.

½ kg. yellow lentils (toovar dal)

3 gms. turmeric

250 gms. ghee

1½ gms. soda bi-carbonate

18 gms. garlic chopped

12 gms. molasses

a piece of asafoetida the size of pepper corn

25 gms. green chillies whole diluted in water

6 gms. cumin seeds powdered

30 gms. salt

45 mls. (1 ½ ozs.) lime juice

9 gms. red chillies powdered

.2 tbsps. fresh coriander leaves chopped.

• Heat the ghee and fry chopped garlic to a golden brown. Add asafoetida and enough water to cook lentils. When it starts boiling, add lentils along with salt, red chillies, turmeric, soda bi-carbonate, molasses and green chillies. Cover and cook. When cooked, it should be of thick consistency. Add cumin seeds, lime juice and coriander leaves, and stir.

MURGH MUSALLAM SAILANA

• Preparation time: 1 hour

• Cooking time: 1½ hours

• To serve: 4-6 persons.

1 chicken whole weighing 500 gms. To z600 gms. dressed and skinned

25 gms. poppy seeds ground with water

25 gms. coconut grated and ground

25 gms. ghee for frying masala with water

4 cloves whole

6gms. coriander seeds powdered

2 cinnamon sticks 2” length

6 gms. salt

2 black cardamoms whole

12 gms, almonds blanched and chopped

2 bay leaves

12 gms. raisins chopped

1½ gms. mace whole

90 gms. ghee for chicken

60 gms. onions thinly and evenly sliced

6 gms. salt

12 gms. ginger scraped and ground

240 mls. (8 ozs.) milk

12 gms. cashewnuts ground with water

60 gms. curd.

• Preferably, dress the chicken 12 hours before cooking it. Remove the skin. Cut out the oil sac, that little protuberance at the tip of the tail. Clean, wash and dry well. With a string tie neck, wings and legs close to the body. This will be otherwise difficult once the body of the chicken gets stiff.

• Prepare the chicken as above. Heat the ghee and fry separately cloves, cinnamon, black cardamoms, bay leaves and mace lightly. Grind them together with water and keep aside.

• In the same ghee fry sliced onions to a golden brown. Remove, crush coarsely and keep aside.

• In the same ghee add ginger, cashewnuts, poppy seeds, coconut, coriander seeds and salt, and brown them lightly. Add chopped almonds and raisins. Add to it the above fried ground garam masala and fried crushed onions. Mix well.

• Fill the above mixture in the chicken. (If the stuffing is in excess keep it aside to be used later on.) Close the cavity by placing tooth picks across and lacing together with a string.

• Heat the ghee. Add chicken and fry till golden brown. Add salt and milk, and enough water to cook it. Cook covered on a medium fire. When tender and very little liquids remain, add curd. Excess stuffing, if any should be added also. Reduce the heat to the minimum. Put on dum till the gravy thickens and ghee films on the surface of the gravy.