Eat like a nawabzada! Celebrating the importance of food in 10 Muslim royal families

Muzaffar Ali (centre) and Meera Ali (standing left) with daughter Sama (seated left), son Shaad, daughter-in-law Aarti Patkar (seated right) and grandson Imaan feature in the just-launched title, Dining with the Nawabs by Meera Ali and Karam Puri

The walls of Anhalwara Palace in the idyllic Kotwara - a village in the Lakhimpur Kheri district of Uttar Pradesh - have lived through a thousand stories. The most amusing, however, tend to be those associated with food. Even today, the family cracks up at the memory of an episode that occurred in their royal kitchen in the spring of 1952. An Urdu daily editor, who had travelled all the way to interview Syed Sajid Husain - the then Raja of Kotwara - couldn't contain himself on seeing the nawab dig into the delicacies at the table. Trying hard not to break away from Lucknowi etiquette, the editor refused to eat a single morsel from dawn to dusk, only to be mistaken for a thief when he hungrily crept into the kitchen later that night.

Muzaffar with his younger filmmaker son Shaad Ali and grandson Imaan Ali Shaad at the Bara Imambara in Lucknow

A new coffee-table book, Dining with the Nawabs (Roli Books) by Meera Ali and Karam Puri, takes you through the rich food histories of Kotwara, the royal household where this incident unfolded, and nine other strongholds. Teaming with vignettes from the kitchens of the erstwhile nobility and centuries-old recipes, the photo-stories, which saw Ali and Puri travel across India and Pakistan over 18 months, offer a meaty escapade into culinary luxury.

Meera Ali with Syed Muzaffar Ali and daughter Sama at their Kotwara palace

For Meera, who is married to filmmaker Muzaffar Ali, the current Raja of Kotwara, visiting these homes and exchanging notes, reminded her of the time she first joined the family and the overhaul it led to in her eating habits. "A Lucknawi takes great pride in his cuisine and in the art of serving it. The art of creating the perfect menu is equally important. Which dish has to accompany which kind of bread is of prime importance. Like a shami kabab tastes best with sheermaal, but a seekh tastes best with a rumali roti," she says, adding, "The condiments are also, always freshly ground. They never come out of readymade packets."

Rasaval (chilled cane juice and rice pudding) are just some of the flavours of Nawabi cuisine

In the book, Meera writes of how Muzaffar's father Raja Sajid Husain, was fond of both the highly refined Lucknawi cuisine and the local delicacies. "Food was always served in courses starting with his favourite almond soup followed by galavat ke kebab served with paper thin rumali roti or murgh mussalam or pasanda. Grilled fish topped with generous dollops of melted butter or a chicken al la kiev and lamb ribs were served next. He loved desserts and wouldn't leave the table without having eaten at least two varieties, his favourite being shahi tukda and rasaaval," she writes.

Terai Pasanda (escalopes of leg of lamb)

Another interesting aspect discussed is dinnerware, which Puri enjoyed capturing. "I got to work with some of the finest China and glassware in the world," says the renowned photographer.

In Kotwara, it was Princess Selma Rauf Sultan, the first wife of Raja Sajid Husain, who revamped the dining experience. "Crested crockery was specially ordered in China and gold-etched glasses in England. Princess Selma brought her own retinue of staff from Beirut including a French chef who often prepared her meals," Meera writes in the book.

Today, in keeping with the nawabi tradition, Meera and Muzaffar, who reside in Delhi, have curated a royal tented dining experience in the gardens of their own home. "It was the desire to share what is a way of life for us, that made us create this space."