Culinary memoir: A family gathers for feasts and recalls fond memories of Uttar Pradesh’s fine foods

Shahida Chachi is from Lucknow, the city of nawabs, famous for its elaborate and sumptuous feasts, finesse in speech and manner, and the epitome of refined tastes in food and lifestyles. And Shahida Chachi is true to her provenance. She cooks fabulous meals and is eager to share her culinary creations with us. She is extremely well-spoken, tall, statuesque and elegant, dressed in understated silk saris in muted colours, preferring plain cotton ones with perhaps a contrasting darker shaded border in the summer.

She often hosts a daawat (feast) at her house, with tasteful crockery and lavish-sounding dishes, many of which are unfamiliar to us. She regales all with tales of nawabs attempting to outdo one another in refinement, asking their cooks to peel individual peas and stuff the chhilka, or covering, of each tiny pea with qeema as a re-imagined qeema matar or nargisi koftey made with quail eggs and the finest venison. Our young minds try in vain to comprehend the elaborate preparation of such indulgent and fanciful foods. We wonder at the time and effort it must have taken the poor cooks and kitchen staff to perform such intricate and complex culinary feats on a daily basis.

Shahida Chachi’s children are…

Read more