Welcome to Lucknow, the city of Nawabs & it’s culinary delights for ages
The gastronomic heritage of Lucknow connects to the history of Awadh (The region it is located in), & its food has roots in the 18th century royalty & kitchens that were indicative of their love for the palatable tastes and its aroma. Lavish feast & recipes were specially created by the trained ‘Khansamas’ (the cooks or chefs of the royal kitchens).
The Awadhi Cuisine reflects refinement, finesse & sophistication involving the wholesome experience in dinning, manners (Tehzeeb) & luxury(shaan-au-shaukat) and the Legacy is carried on and even today, the ‘Aawam” or the public of Lucknow still enjoys the yesteryear’s speciality.
Let us take you through the seven most iconic recipes or Items, which over the years has made Lucknow so famous and is popular world over.(Also referred as Shane-awadh)
1.Tunday Kababs-From the famous tunday kababi shop, indulge into these melt-in- your-mouth kebabs with its secret spices preparation and raw papaya being the meat softener. Normally served with roomali roti
2.Luckhnawi Biryani-Pamper your taste buds with the sumptuous Lakhnawi or Awadhi biryani. Fragrant basmati rice cooked in succulent meat & it’s stalk with saffron, aromatic spices, garnished with mints & onion. Served both in Mutton & chicken
3.Gualouti Kabab-A recipe Crafted for royalty, savour the melt in mouth soft kebabs. These are finely coursed & minced meat blended with aromatic herbs & spices. It is cooked in a tassla & usually served with Ulta tawa ki rotis & paranthas
4.Nihari Kulcha-This is slow cooked meat stew, simmered for a rich, flavourful gravy perfectly offered with fluffy slightly fermented oven fresh kulchas
- Kakori Kababs-These are again finely coursed, soft kind of seekh kabab. Papaya act as a softening agent, giving it a melt in mouth feature & blend of caramelized onions, which makes it brownish in texture. These kababs originated from a place called Kakori, near Lucknow
6.Shahi Tukda- Closing note to this culinary journey is a dessert, called Shahi tukda. It is a deep fried bread soaked in saffron based milk garnished with various dry fruits
- Basket Chaat-Enjoy the chat-patta, tangy delight of multi flavours of papdi, filled with chickpeas, potatoes, yoghurt, tamarind chutney spruced with various salt & spices. All this served in a edible potato & flour basket
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