Lucknowi Tehzeeb

Lucknow, the ‘golden city of the east’ retains an old world charm that fascinates one and all. Regarded as one of the finest cities of India, Lucknow emanates a culture that combines emotional warmth, a high degree of sophistication, courtesy and a love for gracious living. This sublime cultural richness famous as ‘Lucknowi Tehzeeb’ blends the cultures of two communities living side by side for centuries, sharing similar interests, speaking a common language – Urdu.

Tehzeeb means to be orderly and dedicated to building ones lives on a solid foundation of order and service. Many of the cultural traits and customs peculiar to Lucknow have become living legends today. The credit for this goes to the Nawabs of Awadh, who took keen interest in every walk of life and encouraged everyone to attain a rare degree of perfection.

During olden days, male children of Nawabs used to be sent to learn Tehzeeb to the Dancing girls of Chowk, i.e. inside Akbari Darwaza in Nakhas area. The language spoken by these Nawabs was Urdu, perhaps the sweetest sounding language in India. It is also said that since the time of Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, it was a social prevalence to be extra courteous and soft-spoken using chosen lingua; interacting with each other and going to the Nawab’s palace which was open to all. This free access to approach the Nawab made his ‘riyaya’ so ‘tehzeebzada’ that it became a tradition and was carried through generations.

Sample this funny story (chances are you might have heard it before already in some form):
Two Nawabs of Awadh wait to board a train. When they find they are both making to enter, they step aside and the first immediately makes way for the second saying, ‘Pehle aap’. But the second will have none of it and likewise insists, ‘Pehle aap’. The first Nawab however will not budge from his position and neither will the second, both insisting that the other must board first. The polite impasse continues until the train departs.

Maybe they were carrying politeness a bit too far, but history tells us that the tehzeeb of Awadh really was something else. It showed in the care even ordinary citizens took in dressing themselves, in adornment, in speech, and manner, in their appreciation of art and music and especially in developing a refined culinary standard.

Indian cooking styles

Indian cooking has its own set of cooking techniques, methods, and equipments, like any other cuisine of the world, and these also differ from region to region. The cooking methods here are as versatile as our language. In general terms, cookery is the art of preparing food by the application of heat. The methods of cookery involve gentle to intense heat, wet or dry, and vary in application from natural fires to complicated technological instruments.

A variety of food items are cooked, such as tough meats and starchy vegetables, which makes them easier to eat and also improves the taste. There are various reasons why we cook our food. The basic ones are:

• Cooking makes food easy to digest.
• Cooking improves the appearance in flavour, texture and colour
• Cooking helps in preserving the food, by making the food safe and sterile

The choice of the most suitable method of cooking is fundamental to achieving the most palatable results. The methods of cooking can be classified according to the method of heat transfer to the food: conduction, convection, or radiation. I have some listed some popular and common Indian Cooking techniques; however cooking techniques differ by region.

Tandoor:

Tandoori cooking is one of the highlights of Indian cuisine. The Indian tandoor is a clay oven that can reach temperatures as high as 550⁰F. It looks like a rounded bee-hive. Tandoori is a hotter and quicker form of cooking than the western barbecue. It is used to make naan breads, kebabs, tandoori meats and stuffed rotis and paranthas.

A traditional tandoori oven must be seasoned. A paste is made of spinach and applied to the inner surface and left to dry. Paste of mustard oil, buttermilk, jaggery and salt is applied over the spinach. A small fire is lit and the temperature allowed to rise gradually until the emulsion peels away from the walls of the tandoor. Repeat for a few times. A brine solution is sprinkled on the inner walls to facilitate the sticking of breads like naans to the sides. To know if the oven temperature is optimum, try and stick a naan to the sides, if it falls off, the oven is not hot enough. Meats and Paneer are marinated; the kebabs are seasoned with herbs and spices. They are also basted with ghee to withstand the drying of meats which happens at such high temperatures. Meats, Kebabs and Naan come out perfect in a Tandoor.

Dum (Steaming):

This process reflects the ingenuity of the Indian chefs. They virtually created a baking oven and a pressure cooker with very simple ideas. Food was partially cooked beforehand. They then put this in a pot and sealed the cover with atta (dough) to capture the moisture within the food as it cooked tenderly and slowly over a charcoal fire. Coals were also placed on the lid to ensure even cooking.

They then added their main ingredients like rice or vegetables or meats or all three with spices, herbs, seasonin

gs, saffron, and tomato and let the food continue to cook in its own steam. The entire dish retained all its flavour and aroma and the slow cooking created perfect foods fit for their emperors and kings.

 

The Indian Biryani is one of the most popular Dum dishes. Dum means “to steam”.

Frying: Frying is the process of cooking food in hot fat or oil. Food can be fried in two ways.

a)      Shallow frying    &     b)      Deep frying

 

 

Baghar/Tadka/Chonk (Instant seasonings/Tempering):

The goal of this technique is to add flavour to a dish very quickly. Spices and herbs are added to hot oil/ghee. Hot oil extracts and retains the aroma, essence and flavour of the spices and herbs. This tempering is done in two ways.

1. As the first step in the cooking process, before adding the rice, vegetables or lentils.
   
2. Pouring the tempered oil over dal. Spices and herbs cooked this way retain and enhance their flavours.

A common recipe for baghar is to add either cumin or mustard seeds in hot oil and let them sizzle for a few seconds then add a pinch of asafoetida and red chilli powder.

Uses – Pour over cooked lentils that have already been boiled with ginger and turmeric, over steamed vegetables and over yogurt raitas and rice

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Grilling:

Grilling is cooking over glowing fire. The food is supported on an iron grid over the fire, or between electrically heated grill bars. The grill bars are brushed with oil to prevent food sticking and can be heated by charcoal, coke, gas or electricity. The food is cooked on both sides to give the distinctive flavour of grilling.

Roasting:

Another method of cooking food by dry heat is called roasting. Roasting is cooking on a glowing fire. While roasting, the food is put directly on the hot tava, hot stand or hot fire and cooked. For e.g., brinjals, potatoes, maize etc.

 

 Baking:

Baking is a method in which food is placed inside a closed box called an oven. The inside the oven is made hot by fire or electricity. The food gets cooked by hot air. This is among the lesser used methods in Indian kitchens.

 

 

 

 

Dhuanaar (Smoke Seasoning):

Glowing charcoal is placed in a small pot, which is ten put in a bigger pot. Cooked meats are placed around this. Dry spices and ghee are poured on top of the coals and a lid is quickly placed over the larger pot. These meats imbibe the fresh smoke taste of ghee and cumin. It is very popular in the cold months of North India, especially in the desert areas.