While this is Ramzan time, hence there can not be better time to discuss the great Muslim cuisines of India. It goes without saying that Muslim rulers brought their elegance of living to India`s culinary scene too. The splendor of the Mughal/Muslim cuisine is reflected in the Muglai Cuisine. Mughlai food is especially preferred in Northern parts of the country. Some of the Mughlai dishes have names such as biryani, pulao, kebabs, kofta. This is suggestive of the strong influence of Muslim cooking style.
The rich preparation of Mughlai food consisting of flavored sauces and butter based curries is so tempting that food lovers are bound to crave for more and more food. Mughlai food offers an amazingly delicious variety of food ranging from hot spicy shorba or soup to ginger based roasted meats to kulfi with rose petals sprinkled on it. Even, the names of the Mughlai food are so attractive that a person gets tempted to try out different dishes.
Historin Feroz Bakhat Ahmed says that though Mughlai food is cooked in all parts of the country, but the best feel of this cuisine can be had only in Delhi. Mughals introduced the exotic spices, nuts and fruits to India. Also, the Indians got an opportunity to learn new techniques of cooking. In the preparation of most of the Mughlai dishes, milk and cream is used liberally. Mughlai Biriyanies, Pasandas, Kormas and Pulao are so enticing and yummy that people usually end up licking their fingers.
It is important to note that the Muslim cuisines of Uttar Pradesh is very different from the Mughlai food.. The Nawabs of Oudh were great gourmets and encouraged their master chefs to create new styles of cooking like the famous ‘Dum Pukht’ where the food is sealed in large pots called ‘handis’, placed over a slow fire and left to cook in its own juices. When opened, these dishes release the most fragrant and delicious aromas. Lucknow and its neighbouring towns were put on the culinary map of India thanks to these rich curries, melt in the mouth kebabs, fragrant rice biryanis and pulaos and an eclectic collection of leavened and unleavened breads.
And generally when food writers write on influence of Muslims influence on Indian food, they tend to write mostly on Mughlai cuisines. They hardly discuss cuisines of Bohra, Kashmiri, Konkani and Memon communities. Of course, one could argue that Muslim cuisines get covered automatically in Mughlai, Hyderabadi and Avadhi (Lucknow) cookbooks. One could also argue that some of the differences from the other food of that region are slight - the food of the Nagercoil Muslims in Tamil Nadu may not differ all that much from that of non-Brahmin communities in that region.
The Mughlai, Hyderabadi and Avadhi books are essentially about court cuisines, with recipes for rich birianis and desserts that would rarely appear on ordinary tables (and there are also Muslim court cuisines, like that of Bhopal, which are still little known).
And if talk about the Kashmiri cuisines,they are essentially meat-based. There is a variation in the different eating habits of the Hindu and Muslim Kashmiris that determines which spices are used and which meats too since beef is prohibited for Hindus. The highlight of Kashmiri cuisine is the formal banquet called "wazawan", which includes a spread of over 36 courses cooked all night long by a team of chefs called ‘wazas’ under the supervision of a ‘Vasta waza’ or master chef, descendants of the cooks of Samarkand.
The food is characterised by thick gravies which use liberal quantities of yoghurt, spices and dried fruits, and is usually cooked in ghee (clarified butter) or mustard oil. Saffron, the most expensive spice in the world, is grown locally. It is used extensively to flavour pulaos (rice dish) and sweets. The popular dishes include the starter yakhni, tabaq naat made of fried ribs, dum aloo (steam cooked potato curry), rogan josh made with mutton, gushtaba, a meatball curry, and haleem made from meat and pounded wheat. A Kashmiri meal must end with a cup of ‘Kahva’, green tea flavoured with cardamom and almonds.
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