There was a time when my Sunday afternoons were devoted to Hyderabadi biryanis. Week after week, I would land up at Andhra Bhavan in central Delhi and jostle with the crowd to get some plates of the delicious rice and meat dish packed. It was a practice I followed diligently — for Hyderabadi biryani, those days not as easily available as it is now, was always a particular favourite of mine.
In fact, it’s not just the biryani, but the entire gamut of Hyderabadi cuisine that appeals to me. And that is why I often turned to Pratibha Karan’s A Princely Legacy: Hyderabadi Cuisine , to look for recipes for special occasions. Now a new book on Hyderabadi food has been added to my shelf — Doreen Hassan’s Saffron and Pearls.
It’s also full of anecdotes that add to the food stories. Hassan writes about the diversity of cultures that enriches the kitchen cauldron — with family roots which go back to Goa, U.P., Kolkata, Hyderabad and even Persia.
Funny little stories
She didn’t know how to cook when she married Peter Toghrille Hassan of Hyderabad. She couldn’t make a cup of tea — and confesses that she still doesn’t — but now excels in cooking whole goats for large parties. Once, she writes, her husband told her that Pakistani singer Mehdi Hassan would be coming for dinner, and there would be 100 guests.
“We had to serve a special meal. I decided to make a Salim Bakra, which is an entire goat, stuffed with chicken and eggs and cooked to perfection. It is a difficult dish to make but it is perfect for special occasions,” she writes.
As I have often said, I enjoy reading — and trying out — recipes which have stories behind them. And a cookbook without people is like a comedy movie without humour.
I like the story of Velu. He came to the family when he was a young boy from Tamil Nadu. Soon, he had picked up Amma’s recipes — including dum biryani, pasanda kabab and tomato chutney. Once, when Hassan was out, Velu was asked if he could cook for some guests, among whom was then diplomat and later president K.R. Narayanan. He did, and an impressed Narayanan asked him if he wanted to go with him to Washington, where he had been posted as ambassador. Velu did, worked there even after Narayanan had left, got married and has two children — the daughter is a doctor, while the son is doing a Ph.D in computer sciences.
The book contains several biryani and pulao recipes — of kachchi biryani, pukki biryani, Hyderabadi mutton pulao, Nawabi pulao, safed pulao and so on. And I am sure I put on some weight just by reading the recipes for the meat and chicken dishes (by the way, Hassan is a fish-eating vegetarian).
The book is full of funny little stories, too. The one I enjoyed the most was about a guest who came in very late for dinner, by which time everyone had moved on to dessert. There was biryani on the table, along with raita, and a bowl of melted ice cream. The guest took the biryani with the ice cream, and complimented his hostess about the spicy and sweet mix of flavours. And then he went back for seconds.
The writer grew up on ghee-doused urad dal and roti, and now likes reading and writing about food as much as he enjoys cooking and eating. Well, almost.
