“Cuisine ~ Crusin' in the city of Nawabs”

I was born and brought up in Kolkata but my roots lies in Lucknow & having spent a greater part of my childhood in this city of minnarets, azans, tehzeeb – and more important of mughlai cuisine & the dumpukht, I have naturally become snobbishly contemptous to what other Indian cities had to offer in terms of ambience & culinary delecacies. Trips to various region in the country had further reinforced what I had known all along – namely, that the all round flavour of Lucknow was par excellence. But all that was before I came to Hyderabad. Once I was here I realised that finally I was in a city which could give my ol' home town a run for its money.

At a first glance, Lucknow & Hyderabad have many things in common. The respective muslim ruler of both the cities have left their marks indelibly on the skyline, and though students of ancient architecture would shudder if I compare the Imambara & Baradari of Wajid Ali Shah to the Charminar & Falaknama palace of the Nizams, they both evoke a nostalgia of a glory past that India may never experience again. The mosques, minnarets, narrow bylanes, the sonoric call to the evening namaz , with the sun setting behind the gumbaj's wouldn't know whether you are in Hyderabad or Lucknow.

But I am rambling. History & architecture are not my fortes – good food is. And here, too, the similarities are striking. The roadside eating joints look quite similar in both the cities – the large blackend metal pots of biriyani, the skewered chickens the sheek kebabs – all look the same. But mughlai & nizami food tastes poles apart. You need to taste both to realise this – and since I am exquisitely qualified in that respect, I will henceforth give you my free & frnak appraisal of the comparitive merits of the two type of cuisine. I must point out however that views expressed below are those of my taste-buds alone.

Firstly, no self respecting Lucknowite would ever invite you to dinner & serve chicken – mughlai dishes are ideally prepared of mutton. Hyderabad on the other hand sits of the richest hatchery belt of the country, and nearly all ceremonial dishes have chicken as their base. Infact, the Hyderabadi fashion statement of the topping a plate of biriyani with boiled eggs will not find many takers in Lucknow – chicken biriyani is considered second-grade fare there!!

The taste of the two schools of biriyani are also poles apart. Bay leaves are an important ingredient of the biriyani in this city – I was thrilled to learn that the leaves are actually called “biriyani patti”here but not in Lucknow. The Lucknavi biriyani is spicy, oily and resplendit with keora water & food colours. It is a meal in itself, and has no accompaniments other than the sour “raita”. The Hyderabadi biriyani, on the other hand, is less oily, gentler on your taste buds, and unlike a Lucknow meal, doesnot necessitate anta-acids after dinner. There are more options regarding accompaniments,too, one of them being the “salan”- prepared of brinjal & chillies – thats is served along with the biriyani. The meat accompanying the biriyani is bland, thus not interfering with the flavour of the biriyani per se. Personally speaking, Hyderabad gets my enthusiastic vote in the biriyani category.

Kebabs, however , are a different ball game. Even the best selling joints in Hyderabad donot offer you much variety in kebabs. Lucknow on the other hand has an awesome 64 possibile types of kebabs, and I have not yet tasted shaami kebab here like they used to make back home. Probably the prediliction to mutton explains this superiority – you just cannot have good kebabs without good mutton. At the polls Lucknow defiantely gets my Kebab vote.

Regarding breads, the honor are even. Lucknavi rumali roti's are better, while Hyderabad scores on the tandoori roti segment. Naan's are comparable, and the multi layered paratha is prepared the exactly the same way and tastes the samein both cities.

As far as various chicken preparation, the scores are again probably tied. Personal opinions would play a much greater role here, though Lucknow's kali mirch chicken & dumpukht, and Hyderabad's Nahari & chicken 65 probably have no counterparts in the rival camp.

Finally, the dessert. The much talked about Lucknavi “Zarda Pulav” is actually quite bland, not that you really need do develop a taste for it to enjoy it. The “khubani ka meetha” here on the other hand, is absolutely divine, and the guy who had first thought of adding a dash of vanilla ice cream to it should receive some kind of civilian honor.

A last word of advise to all ye who have recently landed in this city – the Hyderabadi penchant for green chilies is worth watching out for. Go easy on the gravies till you are used to fire within. And till that time it may be prudent to condition your tounge over “Mirchi-Bhajjies” & order chilli-less food even though that is hardly suited for weak stomachs.


Arghaya Palit April -2003