Indian Butter Chicken

Indian Butter Chicken

Recipe and history

    Murgh Makhani

(Indian Butter Chicken)

                         

Butter chicken or Murgh Makhani is an Indian dish, popular all over the world. The origins of butter chicken can be traced back to Delhi, during the period of the Mughal Empire. The recipe seems to be invented by a person working in the kitchen of the restaurant called ‘Moti Mahal’ located in Daryaganj, the central region of Delhi, called Murg Makhani in Hindi, butter chicken originated in the 1950’s at the Moti Mahal restaurant in old Delhi, famed for its tandoori chicken (tandoori chicken is essentially a restaurant dish and not a home-style dish, because there are no tandoors in Indian domestic kitchens), the cooks there used to recycle the leftover chicken juices in the marinade with the tandoor-cooked chicken pieces and presto-butter chicken was born! The left over dish appealed to Delhites and was quickly lapped up by the rest of the world.

So impressed was India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru by Kundal Lal’s dishes that Moti Mahal became a permanent fixture in all his state banquets. Legend has it that when former Soviet premier Nikita Kruschev was asked what he liked about India, he replied, “Taj Mahal and Moti Mahal”. When the Shah of Iran came on a state visit to India, the Indian Education Minister, Maulana Azad told him that coming to Delhi without eating at Moti Mahal was like going to Agra and not seeing the Taj Mahal.

After Nehru, his daughter and then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi, continued the relationship with Moti Mahal. So fascinated was she by the food that at the wedding of her younger son, Sanjay Gandhi, Moti Mahal specialties dominated the wedding function dinner.

Dressed chicken is marinated overnight in a yogurt and spice mixture and then grilled, roasted or pan fried. Makhani, the sauce, is made by heating and mixing butter, tomato puree, and various other spices with some fresh cream and cashew paste.

Once the sauce is prepared, the prepared chicken is cooked till the gravy and chicken have blended. While the dish’s general recipe is well known, the actual flavors can vary from recipe to recipe, and restaurant to restaurant even within India. Butter chicken is usually served with naan, roti, parathas or steamed rice.

Today, eating butter chicken in the Moti Mahal is like reading Shakespeare’s Hamlet. The play’s dialogues have lent so many popular phrases to the English language that if you read Hamlet for the first time, you feel you have read it before. In the same way, having Moti Mahal’s butter chicken for the first time in your life may give rise to the déjà vu feeling!

It tastes slightly sweet and the sauce percolates so deeply into the chicken pieces that they become juicy and soft, instantly melting in your mouth. The dish is so extravagantly buttery, that, to a calorie-conscious dinner, it may seem as gross as the showiness of nouveau rich Delhites. The butter chicken is so addictive it is difficult to stop from licking all the gravy off the plate.

Indian cuisine is about as easy to explain as the universe. Over 5000 years of history. India has welcomed a multitude of settlers with a variety of belief systems. In order to understand the evolution of the indigenous cuisine of India, one must realize this country is anything but homogeneous. Regions and religions make up a large portion of the cultural fabrics of the food. “Indian food” has been coined a phrase that a native would surely laugh at because such a phrase would be like saying to a sommelier “Australian wine”. Like the Barrosa Valley, Margret River, and the Hunter Valley, for example, there are many areas within India that have its own unique cooking methods, spices, and local ingredients. Tipping the population scale at over 1 billion, the diversity of its food is as diverse as its people.

Hindu and Muslim are the two dominate religions that have influenced Indian cooking and food habits the most. With each migration of settlers, they brought with them their own culinary methods. The Hindu vegetarian culture is widely practiced. Adversely, Muslim tradition is the most dominate in the cooking of meats. Mughlai food, kabaas, rich kormas (curry), and nargisi, kaftas (meatballs), the biryani (a layered rice and meat dish), rogan josh, and favorite dishes prepared in a clay oven or tandoor are wonderful contributions made by Muslim settlers in India. In Southern India, the cuisine is largely rice based with an accent of thin soup called Rasam.

Coconut is an important ingredient in all South Indian cuisine. Dasa (rice pancakes), Idli (steamed rice cakes), and fermented rice are very popular dishes with Hindu vegetarians.

The Portuguese, Persians, and British made important contributions to the Indian culinary scene as well. The British, for example, introduced tea or ‘chai’ to India and it is the favorite drink of most Indians today.

North, East, South and West are the four different main regional styles in Indian cooking; North India was influenced by the Moghul dynasty that ruled India for 3 centuries until the British replaced them in the 1800’s. Saffron and rich gravies made of pureed nuts and creams were all derived from the Moghuls. Naan bread, which is made in a tandoor, is not indigenously Indian. It is the everyday bread of the Afghani people. Naan is not the homemade daily of Indian’s, yet for decades, this has been a mass misperception of Indian food outside the country. South Indian food is the antithesis of Northern Indian food. Their distinctive rice crepes and steamed rice cakes have been a favorite amongst Southern Indians. Rice is eaten at all meals, and lunch is often three courses, again each served with rice. Hindus are divided into meat and non-meat eaters. Their common thread in the Southern region of Kerala is coconut, which is the culinary mascot of the state. The Western states of Gujarat, Maharashtra and Goa all have unique food experiences. Gujarat is mostly Muslim, Parsis, Hindu, and Jains, which each having their own method to cooking. Paris have a rich diet of chicken and seafood, unlike Jains, who are strictly vegetarian for religious reasons. Gujaratis are predominately veggie eaters and Gujarat is celebrated for being one of the best to eat vegetarian food. Maharashta is a huge state with its famed capital Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay). This large region has five-star hotels and restaurants that incorporate coastal favorites such as a variety of seafood dishes with a slash of red chilies and a healthy helping of coconut. Eastern states such as West Bengal, Orissa, Bihar, and Jharkhand are quite different from each other. Bengali cuisine can be described as delicate and subtle, with fish and rice at the center of the diet. The order of a Bengali meal begins with a mixed vegetable dish with a bitter flavor and ends with a rich milk-based sweet dessert that Bengali is famous for. Orissa is known for squash blossoms dipped in paste made with rice and deep-fried or made into patties. Fish and other seafood are also dietary stables. Chicken is very unlikely to be served here and in general meat plays a minor culinary role. Bihar and Jharkhand enjoy their vegetables and beans; however they have Western overtones with their diet including beef, pork, goat and chicken.

From East to West, Indian cuisine seems to be only united by its locale, but its flavor is clearly boundless.

Indian food industry in Britain is one of the major success stories of the second half of the century. It is one of the biggest industries in the UK, worth a reported $ 5 billion a year, including 15,000 Indian restaurants that provide employment and a large takeaway and pre-packaged ‘curry-in-a-hurry’ sector that employs a healthy 70,000 people around the UK.

London now has more Indian restaurants than Mumbai or Delhi, and Britain currently boasts the largest Indian restaurant in the world, The Aakash, which can seat up to 750 people in one sitting.

Indian restaurants follow an interesting geographical pattern in Britain. Strangely enough, many of them are not actually ‘Indian’ at all. Generally in the South of Britain, especially around London, the majority of the owners are of Bangladeshi assent. From Birmingham, it changes slightly and there are more Pakistani, Kashmiri, and North Indian owned, with hardly any Bangladeshis at all. In Glasgow, the majority of ownership of the Indian restaurants comes from the Punjab.

In the past 50 years, we have seen Indian food go from an occasional, exotic treat to a weekend tradition. Indian food has become so entwined in the British national psyche that popping out for a curry at the weekend could now easily be seen as a British invention. The Balti, a rich, tangy curry was supposedly invented in Birmingham, the Jalfrezi, a dry spicy dish, is claimed to be from Bradford, and the chicken tikka masala, a very creamy marinated chicken dish, possibly hails from Glasgow. The ambiguity of the origins of the curries is telling. You can visit one of the many curry houses in London’s famous ‘Brick lane’, and each one will serve you a different version of the same dish.

Many people disagree even on the origins of the curries name. A good example is the Balti that was possibly named after a region between Pakistan and India, or rather comically from a regional dialect for the word ‘bucket’.

The general non-conformity of recipes is due to the fact that there is no one recipe for any single curry. Many of the first chef’s to cook Indian food in the UK were simply using the original recipes from their home countries changed slightly for the British taste.

Since before former British foreign Secretary Robin Cook proclaimed in 2001 that chicken tikka masala was “a true British national dish”, it was a dish held dear to many Brits.

The origins of chicken tikka masala, like many British Indian hybrid dishes, are murky. Possibly first made by Indian chefs for the British Army whilst in India, chicken tikka masala combines the dish ‘butter chicken’ with yoghurt and extra spice to make it saucier. It’s also possible that the dish hails from a Glasgow restaurant where a customer wanted a bit more gravy-like sauce on his curry. There are other claims from Essex, London and Bradford that are all similar in that it is a curry made for the British palate with more sauce.

There is no set recipe for what exactly is a chicken tikka masala. It can vary in color from red, orange, and even green, and it can be spicy hot, or creamy and mild. It can be served on a plate mixed in with rice or separate on skewers.

Eighteen tons of chicken tikka masala are served to people across Britain evey week. It accounts for nearly one in seven of all curries sold, and if you stacked up all portions served each year, they would reach halfway to the moon!

In recent years, modern Indian cuisine has left behind the traditional curry house image of sticky carpets and flowery peeling wallpaper, and moved more towards fine dining. The Bombay Brassiere in London was one of the first restaurants to embrace this new thinking about Indian food when it opened in 1982. Its success (it has been almost fully booked ever since its opening) proved that a top-end Indian restaurant could be successful and led to others trying this new culinary style.

London now boasts some great Indian restaurants at the Michelin Star level; Quilon, Rasoi, and Trishna are equal to this standard of fine dining. Whilst the increase in the number of new Indian restaurants opening in the UK seems to have hit a plateau in recent years, the rightful recognition to this type of food as not just very good food, but a British staple, means it is here to stay.

Strangely enough, if it were not for the Portuguese, there might not have been such a British love affair with Indian food.

In 1498 the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Gama opened the floodgates of European trade with India, and what followed was a culinary exchange that changed the direction of Indian food, forever.

Their contribution of the potato, pork and most importantly the chili, combined with the British input of ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cloves, among others, helped to give an immense rich zest to an already flavorful food.

As British power grew in India, the Indian culinary influence was also being felt back home in Britain. Indians living in the UK were mainly recruits from naval shipping, the East India Company or brought to the UK as servants.

Indian cooks, more widespread knowledge of Indian food and the availability of curry powder made it easier to cook Indian food, and in 1809 the first dedicated Indian restaurant opened in London.

The Hindustani coffee house was opened by Sake Dean Mohamed to ‘cater for nobility and gentry where they might enjoy Indian dishes of the highest perfection’. It was frequented mainly by visiting Indian Maharajahs, and even British royalty were rumored to have been regular diners.

This first foray into Indian cuisine was not an immediate success. Curries were seen on menus of the more open-minded restaurants and cafes in London at the time and even had a in one of Mrs Beeton’s famous cookery books, but, it was not until the early 20^th century when British taste for curry began to take hold with the opening of the Veeraswamy.

The Veeraswamy claims to be the oldest Indian restaurant in Britain and was inaugurated in 1926 by a British-Indian descendant named Edward Palmer. After original success at the British Empire Exhibition in 1924, Palmer decided to open his own restaurant. Frequented by Winston Churchill, Edward VIII, and Charlie Chaplin, among others, this restaurant turned curry from foreign to fashionable.

                               “Once there was nothing here.

                  Now look how minarets camouflage the sunset.

                                 Do you hear the call to prayer?

                        It leaves me unwinding scrolls of legend

                      Till I reach the first brick they brought here

                          How the prayers rose, brick by brick?”

                                    _ _  Agha Shahid Ali

Delhi, the capital of India has a strong historical background. It was ruled by some of the most powerful emperors in Indian history.

The history of the city is as old as the epic Mahabharata. The town was known as Indraprastha, where Pandavas used to live. In due course eight more cities came alive adjacent to Indraprastha; Lal Kot, Siri, Dinpanah, Quila Rai Pithora, Ferozabad, Juhanpanah, Tughlakabad, and Shahjahanabad.

Delhi has been a witness to political turmoil for over five centuries. It was ruled by the Mughals in succession to Khiljis and Tughlags.

In 1192 the legions of the afghan warrior, Muhammad of Ghori captured the Rajput town, and the Delhi Sultanate was established (1206). The invasion of Delhi by Timur in 1398 put an end to the Sultanate, the Lodis, last of the Delhi sultans, gave way to Babur, who, after the battle of Panipat in 1526, founded the Mughal Empire. The early Mughal emperors favored Agra as their capital, and Delhi became their permanent seat only after Shah Jahan built (1638) the walls of old Delhi.

From Hindu kings to Muslim Sultans, the reins of the city kept shifting from one ruler to another. The soils of the city smell of blood, sacrifices and love for the nation. The old ‘Havelis’ and edifices from the past stand silent, but their silence also speaks volumes for their owners and people who lived here centuries back.

In the year 1803 A.D, the city came under the British rule. In 1911, the British shifted their capital from Calcutta to Delhi. It again became the center of all the governing activities. But, the city has the reputation of over throwing the occupants of its throne. It included the British and the current political parties that have had the honor of leading free India. After independence in 1947, New Delhi was officially declared as the capital of India.

Babur, founder of the Moghul dynasty in India, is one of history’s more endearing conquerors. In his youth he is one among many impoverished princes, all descended from Timur, who fight among themselves for possession of some small part of the great man’s fragmented empire. Babur even captures Samarkand itself on three separate occasions, each for only a few months. The first time he achieves this he is only fourteen years old.

What distinguishes Babur from other brawling princes is that he is a keen observer of life and keeps a diary. In it he vividly describes his triumphs and sorrows, whether riding out with friends at night to attack a walled village or mooning around for unrequited love of Babur’s “thronless times”, as he later describes these early years, come to an end in 1504 when he captures Kabul. Here, at the age of twenty-one, he is able to establish a settled court and enjoy the delights of gardening, art and architecture in the Timurid tradition of his family.

With a powerful new Persian dynasty to the west (under Ismail I)and an aggressive Uzbek presence to the north (under Shaibani Khan), Babur’s Kabul becomes the main surviving centre of the Timurid tradition. But these same pressures mean that his only chance of expanding is eastwards-into India.

Babur feels that he has an inherited claim upon northern India, deriving from Timur’s capture of Delhi in 1398, and he makes several profitable raids through the mountain passes into Punjab. But his first serious expedition is launched in October 1525.

Some 40 years later, it is evident that Babur’s descendents are a new and established dynasty in northern India. Barbur thinks of himself as a Turk, but is descended from Genghis Khan as well as from Timur. The Persians refer to his dynasty as “Mughal”, meaning Mongol. And it is as the Moghal emperors of India that they became known to history.

By the 16^thcentury the Muslim sultans of Delhi (an Afghan dynasty known as Lodi) are much weakened by threats from rebel Muslim principalities and from a Hindu coalition of Rajput rulers. When Babur leads an army through the mountain passes, from his stronghold at Kabul, he at first meets little opposition in the plains of north India.

The deceive battle against Ibrahim, the Lodi sultan, comes on the plain of Panipat in April 1526. Babur is heavily outnumbered (with perhaps 25,000 troops in the field, against 100,000 men and 1000 elephants), but his tactics win the battle.

Babur digs into a prepared position, copied from the Turks-from whom the use of guns has spread to the Persians and now to Babur. As yet, the Indians of Delhi have no artillery or muskets. Babur has only a few, but he uses them to great advantage. He collects 700 carts to form a barricade (a device pioneered by the Hussites of Bohemia a century earlier). Sheltered behind the carts, Babur’s gunners can go through the laborious business of firing their matchlocks, but only at an enemy charging their position. It takes Babur some days to tempt the Indians into doing this. When they do so, they succumb to slow gunfire from front and a hail of arrows from Babur’s cavalry charging on each flank. Victory at Panipat brings Babur the cities of Delhi and Agra, with much bounty in treasure and jewels. But he faces a stronger challenge from the confederation of Rajputs who had themselves been on the verge of attacking Ibrahim Lodi.

The armies meet at Khanua in March 1527 and again, using similar tactics, Babur wins. For the next three years Babur roams around with his army, extending his territory to cover most of north India, and all the while recording in his diary his fascination with this exotic world which he has conquered.

Babur’s control is still superficial when he dies in 1530, after just 3 years in India. His son Humayun keeps a tentative hold on the family’s new possessions. But in 1543 he is driven west into Afganistan by a forceful Muslim rebel, Sher Shan.

12 years later, renewed civil war within India gives Humayun a chance to slip back almost unopposed. One victory, at Sirhind in 1555, is enough to recover him the throne, but 6 months later Humayun is killed in an accidental fall down a stone staircase. His 13 year old son, Akbar inherits the command in 1556. It would seem there was very little chance of him holding onto power in India. Yet, it is him who establishes the mighty Moghal Empire.

In the early years of Akbar’s reign, his fragile inheritance is skillfully held together by an able chief minister, Bairam Khan, but from 1561, the 19 year old emperor is very much his own man. An early act demonstrates that he intends to rule the two religious communities of India, Muslim and Hindu, in a new way by consensus and cooperation, rather than alienation of the Hindu majority.

In 1562, he marries a Rajput princess, daughter of the Raja of Amber (now Jaipur). She becomes one of his senior wives and mother of his heir, Jahangir. Her male relations in Amber join Akbar’s council and merge their armies with his.

The policy is very far from conventional Muslim hostility to worshipper of idols. And Akbar carries it further, down to a level affecting every Hindu. In 1563 he abolishes a tax levied on pilgrims to Hindu shrines. In 1564 he puts an end to a much more hallowed source of revenue, the ‘Jizya’, or annual tax on unbelievers which the Qur’an stipulates shall be levied in return for Muslim protection.

At the same time Akbar steadily extends the boundaries of the territory which he has inherited. Akbar’s normal way of life is to move around with a large army, holding court in a splendid camp laid out like a large capital city, but composed entirely of tents. His biographer, Abul Fazl, describes this royal progress as being ‘For political reasons, and for subduing oppressors, under the veil of indulging in hunting’.

A great deal of hunting does occur, a favorite version uses trained cheetahs to pursue deer, while the underlying political purpose  of warfare, treaties, marrages is carried on.

Warfare brings its own bounty. Signing a treaty with Akbar, or presenting a wife to this harem (his harem eventually numbered about 300), involves a contribution to the exchequer. As his realm increases, so does his revenue and Akbar proves himself an inspired administrator.

The empire’s growing number of provinces is governed by officials appointed only for a limited term, thus avoiding the emergence of regional warlords. And steps are taken to ensure that the tax on peasants varies with local circumstances, instead of a fixed proportion of their produce being automatically levied.

At the end of Akbar’s reign of nearly half a century, his empire is larger than any in India since the time of Asoka. Its outer limits are Kandahar in the west, Kashmir in the north, Bengal in the east and in the south a line across the subcontinent at the level of Aurangabad. Yet, this ruler who achieves so much is illiterate. An idle school boy, Akbar finds in later life no need for reading. He prefers to listen to the arguments before making his decisions (perhaps a factor in his skill of being a skilled leader).

Akbar is original, quirky and witty. His complex character is vividly suggested in the strange palace which he builds, and almost immediately abandons, at Fatehpur Sikri.

In 1571 Akbar decides to build a new place and town at Sikri, close to the shrine of a Sufi saint who has impressed him by foretelling the birth of three sons. When two boys have duly appeared, Akbar’s masons start work on what is to be called Fatehpur (victory) Sikri. A third boy is born in 1572.

Akbar’s palace, typically, is unlike anyone else’s. It resembles a small town, made up of courtyards and exotic free-standing buildings. They are built in a linear Hindu style, instead of the gentler curves of Islam. Beams and lintels, and even floorboards are cut from red sandstone and are elaborately carved, much as if the material were oak rather than stone.

The palace and mosque occupy the hill top, while a sprawling town develops below. The site is only used for some 14 years, partly because Akbar has overlooked problems of water supply.  Yet this is where his many and varied interests are given practical expression. Here Akbar employs translators to turn Hindu classics into Persian, scribes to produce a library of exquisite manuscripts, and artists to illustrate them. Here there is a department of history under Abul Fazl; an order is sent out that anyone with personal knowledge of Babur and Humayun is to be interviewed so that valuable information is not lost.

The building most characteristic of Akbar in Fatehpur Sikri is his famous ‘diwan-i-khas’, or hall of private audience. It consists of a single very high room, furnished only with a central pilar. The top of the pilar, on which Akbar sits, is joined by four narrow bridges to a balcony running round the wall. On the balcony are those having an audience with the emperor.

If required, someone can cross one of these bridges, in a respectfully, crouched position to join Akbar in the centre. Meanwhile, on the floor below, courtiers not involved in the discussion can listen unseen.

In the diaw-i-khas, Akbar deals mainly with affairs of state. To satisfy another personal interest, in comparative religion, he builds a special ‘ibabat-khana’ (house of worship). Here he listens to arguments between Muslims, Hindus, Jains, Zorastrians, Jews, and Christians. The ferocity with which they all attack each other prompts him to devise a generalized religion of his own (in which a certain aura of divinity rubs off on him).

The Christians involved in these debates are three Jesuits who arrive from Goa in 1580. As the first Europeans at the Moghul court, they are a portent for the future.

Akbar is succeeded in 1605 by his eldest and only surviving son, Jahangir. Two other sons have died of drink, and Jahangir’s effectiveness as a ruler is limited by his own addiction to both alcohol and opium, but the empire is now stable enough for him to preside over it for 22 years without much danger or upheaval.

Instead, he is able to indulge his curiosity about the natural world (which he records in a diary as vivid as that of his great grandfather Babur), and his love of painting. Under his keen eye the imperial studio brings the Moghul miniature to a peak of perfection, maintained also during the reign of his son Shah Jahan.

When Humayan wins his way back into India, in 1555, he brings with him two Persian artists from the school of Bihzad. Humayan and the young Akbar take lessons in drawing. Professional Indian artists learn too from these Persian masters.

From this blend of traditions there emerges the very distinctive Moghul school of painting. Full bodied and realistic compared to more fanciful and decorative Persian school, it develops in the 1570’s at Fatehpur Sikri.

Akbar puts his artists to work illustrating the manuscripts written out by scribes for his library. New work is brought to the emperor at the end of each week. He makes his criticisms, and distributes rewards to those who meet with his approval.

Detailed scenes are what Akbar likes, showing court celebrations, gardens being laid out, cheetahs released for hunts, forts being stormed and endless battles. The resulting images are a treasure trove to historical detail, but as paintings they are slightly busy.

Akbar’s son, Jahangir takes a special interest in painting, and his requirements differ from his father’s. He is more likely to want an accurate depiction of a bird, which has caught his interest, or a political portrait showing himself with a rival potentate. I either case the image requires clarity and conviction as well as finely detailed realism.

The artists rise superbly to this challenge. In Jahangir’s reign, and that of his son Shah Jahan, the Moghul imperial studio produced works of exceptional beauty. In Shah Jahan’s time even the crowded narrative scenes, so popular with Akbar, are peopled by finely observed and convincing characters.

During the reigns of Shah Jahan and his son Aurangzeb, the policy of religious toleration introduced by Akbar is gradually abandoned. It has largely followed by Shah Jahan’s father, Jahandir- though at the very start of his reign he provides the Sikhs with their first martyr when the guru Argan is arrested, in 1606, and dies under torture.

In 1632, Shah Jahan signals an abrupt return to a stricter interpretation of Islam when he orders that all recently built Hindu temples shall be destroyed. A Muslim tradition states that unbelievers may keep the shrines which they have when Islam arrives, but not add to their number.

Direct provocation of this kind is untypical of Shah Jahan, but it becomes standard policy during the reign of his son Aurangzeb. His determination to impose strict Islamic rule on India undoes much of what was achieved by Akbar. An attack on Rajput territories in 1679 makes enemies of the Hindu princes, the re-imposition of the ‘jizya’ in the same year ensures resentment among Hindu merchants and peasants.

At the same time Aurangzeb is obsessed with extending Moghul rule into the different terrain of southern India. He leaves the empire larger, but weaker than he finds it. In his eighties he is still engaged in permanent and futile warfare to hold what he has seized.

In the decades after the death of Aurangzeb, in 1707, the Moghul empire fragments into numerous semi-independent territories- seized by local officials or landowners whose descendants become the rajas and nawabs of more recent times. Moghul emperors continue to rule in name for another century and more, but their prestige is hollow.

Real power has declined gradually and perceptibly throughout the 17^th century, even since the expansive days of Akbar’s empire. Yet, it is in the 17^thcentury that news of the wealth, splendor, architectural, brilliance, and dynastic violence of the Moghul dynasty first impresses the rest of the world.

Europeans become a significant presence in India for the first time during the 17^thcentury. They take home descriptions of the ruler’s fabulous wealth, causing him to become known as the ‘Great Moghul”. They have a touching tale to tell of Shah Jahan’s love for his wife and of the extra ordinary building, the Taj Mahal, which he provides for her tomb.

And as Shah Jahan’s reign merges into Aurangzeb’s, they can astonish their hearers with an oriental melodrama of a kind more often associated with Turkey, telling of how Aurangzeb kills two of his brothers and imprisons his aging father, Shah Jahan, in the red fort at Agra-with the Taj Mahal in his view across the Jumna, from the marble pavilions of his castle prison.

The painting commissioned by the Moghul emperors is superb, but it is their architecture which has most astonished the world, and in particular the white marble domes characteristic of the reign of Shah Jahan.

There is a long tradition of large Muslim domes in central Asia, going as far back as a tomb in Bukhara in the 10^th century. But the Moghuls develop a style which is very much their own, allowing the dome to rise from the building in a swelling curve which somehow implies lightness, especially when the material of the dome is white marble.

The first dome of this kind surmounts the tomb of Humayun in Delhi, built between 1564 and 1573. The style then overlooked for awhile-no doubt because of Akbar’s preference for Hindu architecture, as in Fatehpur Sikri-until Shah Jahan, the greatest builder of the dynasty, develops it in the 17^th century with vigor and sophistication.

His first attempt in this line is also his masterpiece, a building which has become the most famous in the world, for its beauty and for the romantic story behind its creation.

Throughout his early career, much of it spent in rebellion against his father, Shan Jahan’s greatest support has been his wife, Mumtaz Mahal. But four years after he succeeds to the throne his much loved companion dies, in 1631, giving birth to their 14^th child. The Taj Mahal, her tomb in Agra, is the expression of Shan Jahan’s grief. Such romantic gestures are rare among monarchs, and certainly none has ever achieved its commemorative purpose so brilliantly.

There is no known architect for the Taj. It seems probable that Shan Johan himself takes a leading role in directing his masons- particularly since his numerous other buildings evolve within a related style.

The Taj Mahal is built between 1632 and 1643. In 1644 the emperor commissions the vast Friday Mosque for his new city in Delhi. In 1646 he begins the more intimate Pearl Mosque in the Red Fort in Delhi, white marble pavilions for his own lodgings above massive red sandstone walls. At Fetehpur Sikri he provides a new shrine for the Sufi saint to whom his grandfather, Akbar, was so devoted.

All these buildings contain variations on the theme of white and subtly curving domes, though none can rival Shan Jahan’s first great example in the Taj.

Aurangzeb, Shan Jahan’s son, does not inherit his father’s passionate interest in architecture, but he commissions two admirable buildings in the same tradition. One is the Badshahi Mosque in Lahore, begun in 1673, even larger than his father’s Friday Mosque in Delhi; it rivals it in the beauty of its domes. The other, begun in 1662, goes to the other extreme, the tiny Pearl Mosque in the Red Fort in Delhi, begun in 1662 for Aurangzeb’s private worship, is a small miracle of white marble.

It is these marble highlights which catch the eye. But the Red Forts containing the two Pearl Mosques are themselves extraordinary examples of 17^th century castles.

When the Moghul emperor Aurangzeb is in his 80’s, and the empire is in disarray, an Italian living in India, named Niccolao Manucci, predicts appalling bloodshed on the old man’s death, worse even than that which disfigured the start of Aurangzeb’s reign. The Italian is right. In the war of succession which begins in 1707, two of Aurangzeb’s sons and three of his daughters are killed.

Violence and disruption is the pattern of the future. The first six Moghul emperors have ruled for a span of nearly 200 years. In the 58 years after Aurangzeb’s death, there are eight emperors-four of who are murdered and one deposed.

This degree of chaos has a disastrous effect on the empire built up by Akbar. The stability of Moghul India depends on the loyalty of those ruling its many regions. Some are administered on the emperor’s behalf by governors, who are members of the military hierarchy. Others are ruled by princely families, who through treaty or marriage have become allies of the emperor.

In the 18^thcentury rulers of each kind continue to profess loyalty to the Moghal emperor in Delhi, but in practice they behave with increasing independence. The empire fragments into many small principalities whose existence will greatly help the British in India to gain control, by playing rival neighbors off against each other. In the short term, though there is a more immediate danger. During the 1730’s a conqueror in the classic mould of Genghis Khan, or Timur emerges in Persia. He seizes the Persian throne in 1736, taking the title Nadir Shah.

Later that year he captures the stronghold of Kandahar, the next major fortress on the route east, that of Kabul, is still in Moghul hands- a treasured possession since the time of Babur. Nadir Shah takes it in 1738, giving him control of the territory up to the Khyber Pass. Beyond the Khyber lies the fabulous wealth of India. Like Genghis Khan in 1221, and Timur in 1398, Nadir Shah moves on. In December 1738, Nadir Shah crosses the Indus at Atlock. Two months later he defeats the army of the Moghul emperor, Mohammed Shah. In March he enters Delhi. The conqueror has iron control over his troops and at first the city is calm. It is broken when an argument between citizens and some Persian soldiers escalates into a riot in which 900 Persians are killed. Even now Nadir Shah forbids reprisals until he has inspected the scene. But when he rides through the city, stones are thrown at him. Someone fires a musket which kills an officer close to Shah.

In reprisal he orders a massacre. The killing lasts for a day. The number of the dead is more than 30,000.

Amazingly, when the Moghul emperor begs for mercy for his people, the Persian conqueror is able to grant it. The killing stops, for the collection of Delhi’s valuables to begin.

Untold wealth travels west with the Persians. The bounty includes the two most spectacular possessions of the Moghul emperors- the Peacock Throne, commissioned by Shah Jahan, and the Koh-i-Nur diamond. Nadir Shah is able to send a decree home from Delhi remitting all taxes in Persia for three years. In addition to the jewels and the gold, he takes with him 1000 elephants, 100 masons, and 200 carpenters. The parallel with the visit of Timur, 341 years previously, is almost exact.

The raid by Nadir Shah is the greatest single disaster to have struck the Moghul Empire, but a more serious long-term threat soon becomes evident. In 1746, open warfare breaks out between European nations on Indian soil, when French forces seize Madras from the British.

In the south, where Aurangzeb spent his last years trying to impose imperial control, French and British army’s now march against each other in a shifting alliance with local potentates. India begins a new role as a place of importance to the European powers, and in particular to Britain. The development does not bode well for the Moghul emperors in Delhi.

Both the French and the English East India Companies advance their commercial interests, offer military support in dynastic struggles within powerful Indian states. Helping a candidate to the throne opens a new region of influence, a new market.

The death in 1748 of the Moghul viceroy in Hyderabad is followed by French and English assistance for rivaled sons of the dead leader. Soon the two European nations are also fighting on opposite sides in a war of succession in the Carnatic (the coastal strip north and south of Madras). The French candidate succeeds in Hyderabad, and the English favorite prevails in the Carnatic. But the most striking event in either campaign is a dramatic intervention by Robert Clive in 1751. With 200 British and 300 Indian soldiers he seizes Arcot (capital of the Carnatic) and holds it through a seven week siege.

His action, and his subsequent defeat of a French and Indian force in battle, wins the throne for his candidate. It also has the effect of diminishing the prestige in Indian eyes of the French army. Until now the French have had the better of the British in India (most notably in their capture of Madras in 1746).

France and Britain remain rivals in southern India for the rest of the century. It is in the north that the balance changes significantly in Britain’s favor, after a disaster in 1756. In that year the newab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-Daula, overwhelms the British settlement in Calcutta and locks some of his captives overnight in a room of the fort. The details of precisely what happened that night are obscure, but the event becomes known to the British as the ‘Black hole of Calcutta’.

To recover Calcutta, Clive sails north from Madras in October 1756. The fort is back in British hands by January 1757, but Clive now decides to intervene further in the politics of Bengal.

He aims to place a more compliant nawab, Mir Jafar as his political puppet. In doing so, he establishes the pattern by which British control will gradually spread through India, in a patchwork of separate alliances with local rulers.

In 1760, Clive returns to England, the possessor of vast and rapidly acquired wealth. Here too he sets a pattern, this time an unmistakably bad one. He is the first of the ‘nobobs’, whose fortunes derive from jobbery and bribes while administering Indian affairs.

It is very well known the Portuguese had a great influence in parts of Asia as traders of spice, and that is also true of the Portuguese and their influence in India.

Explorer Vasco da Gama was born in Sines, Portugal around 1460. In 1497, he was commissioned by the Portuguese king to find a maritime route to the east. His success in doing so proved to be one of the more instrumental moments in the history of navigation. He subsequently made two other voyages to India, and was appointed as Portuguese viceroy in India in 1524.

He was born into a noble family in Sines, Portugal. Little is known about his upbringing except that the third son of Estevao ga Gama, who was commander of the fortress in Sines in the southwestern pocket of Portugal. When he was old enough, young Vasco da Gama joined the navy, where he was taught how to navigate.

Known as a tough and fearless navigator, da Gama solidified his reputation as a reputable sailor when, in 1942, King John II of Portugal dispatched him to the south of Lisbon and then to the Algarve region of the country, to seize French ships as an act of vengeance against the French government for disrupting Portuguese shipping.

Following da Gama’s completion of King John II’s orders, in 1495. King Manuel took the throne, and the country revived its earlier mission to find a direct trade route to India. By this time, Portugal had established itself as one of the most powerful maritime countries in Europe.

Much of that was due to Henry the navigator, who, at his base in the southern region of the country, had brought together a team of knowledgeable mapmakers, geographers, and navigators. He dispatched ships to explore the western coast of Africa to expand Portugal’s trade influence. He also believed that he could find and form all alliance with Prester John, who ruled over a Christian empire somewhere in Africa. Henry the navigator never did find Prester John, but his impact on Portuguese trade along Africa’s east coast during his 40 years of explorative work was undeniable. Still, for all his work, the southern portion of Africa, what lay east, remained shrouded in mystery.

In 1487, an important breakthrough was made when Bartolomea Dias discovered the southern tip of Africa and rounded the Cape of Good Hope. This journey was significant; it proved, for the first time that the Atlantic and Indian Oceans were connected. The trip, in turn, sparked a renewed interest in seeking out a trade route to India.

By the late 1490’s, however, King Manuel was not just thinking about commercial opportunities as he set his sights on the east. In fact, his impetus for finding a route was driven less by a desire to secure for more, lucrative trading grounds for his country, and more by a quest to conquer Islam and establish himself as the king of Jerusalem.

Historians know little about why exactly da Gama, still an inexperienced explorer, was chosen to lead the expedition to India in 1497. On July 8 of that year, he captained a team of four vessels, including his flagship, the 200 ton St Gabriel, to find a sailing route to India and the east.

To embark on the journey, da Gama pointed his ships south, taking advantage of the prevailing winds along the coast of Africa. His choice of direction was also a bit of a rebuke to Christopher Columbus, who had believed he had found a route to India by sailing east.

Following several months of sailing , he rounded the Cape of Good Hope and began making his way up the eastern coast of Africa, toward the unchartered waters of the Indian Ocean. By January, as the fleet neared what is now Mozambique, many of da Gama’s crewmembers were sick with scurvy, forcing the expedition to anchor for rest and repairs for nearly one month.

In early March of 1498, da Gama and his crew dropped their anchors in the port of Mozambique, a Muslim city-state that sat on the outskirts of the east coast of Africa and was dominated by Muslim traders. Here, da Gama was turned back by the ruling sultan, who felt offended by the explorer’s modest gifts.

By early April, the fleet reached what is now Kenya, before setting sail on a 23 day run that would take them across the Indian Ocean. They reached Calicut, India, on May 20. But da Gama’s own ignorance of the region, as well as his presumption that the residents were Christians, led to some confusion. The residents of Calicut were actually Hindu, a fact that was lost on da Gama and his crew, as they had not heard of the religion.

Still, the local Hindu ruler welcomed da Gama and his men, at first, and the crew ended up staying in Calicut for three months. Not everyone embraced their presence, especially Muslim traders who clearly had no intention of giving up their trading grounds to Christian visitors. Eventually, da Gama and his crew were forced to barter on the waterfront in order to secure enough goods for the passage home. In August of 1498, da Gama and his men took to the seas again, beginning their journey back to Portugal.

Da Gama’s timing could not have been worse; his departure coincided with the start of a monsoon. By early 1499, several crew members had died of scurvey and in an effort to economize his fleet; da Gama ordered one of his ships to be burned. The first ship in the fleet did not reach Portugal until July 10, nearly a full year after they had left India.

In all, da Gama’s first journey covered nearly 24,000 miles in close to 2 years, and only 54 of the crew’s original 170 members survived.

When da Gama returned to Lisbon, he was greeted as a hero. In an effort to secure the trade route with India and usurp Muslim traders, Portugal dispatched another team of vessels, headed by Pedro Alvares Cabral. The crew reached India in just 6 months, and the voyage included a firefight with Muslim merchants, where Cabral’s crew killed 600 men on Muslim cargo vessels, more important for his home country, Cabral established the first Portuguese trading post in India.

In 1502, Vasco da Gamma helmed another journey to India that included 20 ships. Ten of the ships were directly under his command, with his uncle and nephew helming the others. In the wake of Cabral’s success and battles, the king charged da Gamma to further secure Portugal’s dominance in the region.

To do so, da gamma embarked on one of the most gruesome massacres of the exploration age. He and his crew terrorized Muslim ports up and down the African coast, and at one point, set ablaze a Muslim ship returning from Mecca, killing the several hundreds of people (including women and children) who were on board. Next, the crew moved to Calicut, where they wrecked the city of Cochin, a city south of Calicut, where da Gamma formed an alliance with the local ruler.

Finally, on February 20, 1503, da Gamma and his crew began to make their way home. They reached Portugal on October 11 of that year.

Little was recorded about da Gamma’s return home and the reception that followed, though it has been speculated that the explorer felt miffed at the recognition and compensation for his exploits.

Married at this time, and the father of 6 sons, da Gamma settled into retirement and family life. He maintained contact with king Manual, advising him on Indian matters, and was named count of Vidigueira in 1519. Late in life, after the death of king Manual, da Gamma was asked to return to India, in an effort to contend with growing corruption from Portuguese officials in the country. In 1524, King John III named da Gamma Portuguese viceroy in India.

That same year, da Gamma died in Cochin- the result, it has been speculated, from possibly overworking himself. His body was sailed back to Portugal, and buried there, in 1538.

The recipe that will follow is an Indian, Deli recipe, not a British one. Chicken Makhani (butter chicken), made either with tikkas- derived from the Hindu word ‘tukra’ and meaning pieces- or quarters of chicken, is the most popular dish in Indian restaurants both in India and overseas. It is essentially a restaurant and not a home-style dish, because this dish consists of tandoor- cooked chicken in sauce.

However, since the dish is so popular, many would like to recreate this dish at home, and I will give a simplified way to do so in the recipe, cooking the chicken in a pan.

Alternatively, it is possible to roast a whole chicken (small), marinating it first, then quartering it and adding the juices from the pan into the Makhani sauce.

But, first let’s have a look at more detail the ingredients that go into this dish.

Yogurt (know as curd in India) gives body and a creamy texture to a curry, but Indians use yogurt as a souring agent. Yogurt is always made at home in India, usually on a daily basis. Commercially made yogurt is a rarity. A little live culture is mixed into milk which has been warmed, then cooked, and left overnight. The tropical climate enables the yogurt to set easily. When the yogurt begins to sour, drops of water will appear on the surface and increase as the yogurt becomes sourer. When it has reached the desired degree of sourness it is put into the refrigerator to maintain this level.

The term ‘hara masala’, meaning literally ‘green spices’, refers to fresh ginger, garlic, green chilies, fresh coriander leaves, curry leaves, fenugreek leaves, mint, lime, spring onions and any other herbs, such as fresh dill. Most curries will contain hara masala in one form or another. In the vegetable markets in India, there are vendors who specialize only in the sale of these herbs.

Almost all curry recipes include ginger and garlic. The traditional method is to chop them finely and fry them along with onions. They are usually used together.

There are two varieties of garlic in India which do not seem to be found anywhere else. One is called ‘taaza lasan’ (fresh garlic) and is a plant about 18 cm (7 inches) high with a single clove at the tip of its root. Very popular in Mumbai in the winter, it is used by the Singhis to flavor fish dishes, by the Parsees in scrambled eggs, and in mince meat by the Boris. It is the young shoots of the normal garlic plant grown in sandy soil. Another form of garlic is a tiny bead shaped pod which the vegetable sellers say is good for the heart. Ginger is almost always used fresh- it keeps well for a couple of months, particularly in a cold place. Powdered ginger is used mostly in Kahmir and in ‘chaat’ preparations in Northern India.  

Coriander seeds (dhania) have diuretic properties. Coriander is grown all over India, but Rajasthan and Central India produce the most. The Rajasthan variety, which is lighter brown in color, is also the most flavorful with a good aroma. It is mostly this variety that is used in India to make commercial coriander powder. The coriander from around Indore in Central India has a greenish tinge and is mostly used in seed form. The coriander sold in the UK is also imported from North Africa and Eastern Europe.

Cumin seeds (jeera) are used whole or ground as a powder. Again, they should be roasted very briefly for less than a minute on a hot ‘tawa’ or griddle and then ground into a powder to release its flavor more fully. Whole or powdered jeera burns quicker than most spices, turns black quickly and becomes bitter, and should therefore be fried for less than half a minute or until you see it is turning a blackish color, at which point add the next ingredient, be it tomato, yogurt, or any other ingredient containing moisture. Cumin is considered to be a digestive. The drink known as ‘jeera paani’ or cumin water, is basically an infusion of cumin, lime juice and fresh coriander leaves, it also has cooling properties.

Garam masala contributes to both flavor and aroma, but the latter is predominant. Garam masala means ‘heating’ in this context (although in Hindi the literal translation is ‘hot’). Masala, refers to the spices. So garam masala is a mixture of those spices which create heat in the body- cinnamon, cloves, black pepper, and black cardamom. Interestingly, the first two were exported to India at a time of the spice trade. Nowadays housewives making garam masala mixtures sometimes include the ‘cooling’ green cardamom, the ‘tej patta’ or Indian bay leaves, and fennel (saunf). Every recipe for garam masala powder is different. To get the best flavor, grind a small quantity in a coffee grinder just before use.

A classic garam masala would have approximately equal quantities in weight of cinnamon, cloves and black pepper, with a little black cardamom. The rest depends on individual preference. Store garam masala in a tightly sealed bottle in the refrigerator, where it will keep for 6 months if you have used fresh spices to start with, but best flavor is before 3 months.

Tomatoes were brought to India by the Portuguese in the 16^th century, but began to be widely cultivated for general use only in the 20^thcentury. Now they are grown throughout the country all year around. Tomatoes have become a favorite ingredient in Indian cooking for color, flavor, and the touch of sourness they give to food.

Even when ripe the Indian tomato is slightly sour in taste, compared to European or American varieties. Its acidity level is also much higher. When using tomatoes for curry making, avoid sweeter Italian tomatoes.

The man behind Moti Mahal was Mr Kundal Lal Gujral. The man who gave Tandoori Chicken to the world.

Lundan Lal Gujral was born in the first decade of the 12^th century in Chakwal, in undivided Punjab. Having lost his father at the tender age of ten, had to start looking for avenues to support the family. Kundan Lal was the first Peshawar to dig a tandoor right in the middle of the eatery, and around 1920, Peshawar was introduced to the culinary art of tandoori by legendary Kundan Lal. This was a runaway success. Soon Kundan was in demand for tandoori delicacy at social gatherings and wedding feasts where he would use an improvised tandoor.

However, 1947 brought the tragedy of partition, forcing among others Mr Kundan Lal Gujral to flee to India. Uncertainty faced him as he had neither money nor resources to make a fresh start in life. Kundan dropped off in Dehli to try his luck. The trail that began in Gora bazaar in Peshawar ended in Delhi’s livelist intersection between the old city and the new Daryaganj. There in 1947, Mr Kundan Lal, by now on his own, identified a small thara, a little platform for a wayside café to which he decided to give its original name from across the frontier.

Thus a restaurant specializing in cusine from the North West frontier province, Moti Mahal group made the original curry a butter filled delight. The village tandoor for baking breads was turned into a royal mode of innovation resulting in tandoori chicken and butter chicken, heralding a complete revolution of taste, a transformation in Indian eating habits and a special place on the international gourmet map. Moti Mahal Group, a restaurant that grew to a legend since 1920.

Thereafter, Moti Mahal Group became the destination for native and foreign visitors including foreign dignitaries to this most innovative and popular Indian cuisine. The list went on to include the late U.S president Richard Nixon, then the Canadian Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, the King of Napal and Soviet leaders Alexie Kosygin, Nikolia Bulganin and Nikita Krushchev.

Tandoor cuisine was basically introduced in India by the Arabs. Tandoors are actually earthen ovens and they are made up of mud plaster. Many historical signs and evidences prove that these earthen ovens have been found in the settlements of Harappa. However in India, tandoor ovens were introduced in the interiors of Moti restaurant by Kunan Lal Gujral. As time passed by, tandoor ovens started gaining an immense popularity in the market and slowly, they became an essential part of every commercial kitchen in the area. Today, tandoori dishes and recipes are one of the most commonly served food items in Northern India.

INGREDIENTS

500 g chicken thigh (boneless and no skin)

Marinade

1 tablespoon fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cardamon powder
1 teaspoon dried fenugreek leaves
1 tablespoon red chili powder
2 tablespoons lemon juice (or lime)
1 1/2 cups natural yogurt
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon garam masala powder
1 tablespoon chickpea flour
2 teaspoons turmeric powder
2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons melted ghee or butter

Makhani Masala Sauce

2 brown onions, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon fresh garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon fenugreek seeds
15 raw cashew nuts, coarsely chopped
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 cup tomato puree
2 tablespoons ghee or butter
3 tablespoons heavy cream
salt to taste
fresh coriander leaves for garnish

METHOD

1. Cut the chicken thighs into large bite-size pieces and pat dry. In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, ginger, garlic, cardamon, fenugreek leaves, chili powder, garam masala, oil, flour, lemon juice, and salt. Mix well to form a thick consistency. Add the chicken, mix well and cover. Place in the refrigerator and marinate overnight.

2. Meanwhile, soak the cashew nuts in warm water for about 45 minutes. Then drain and process in a blender, adding 1 tablespoon of water to make a smooth paste, cover and set aside.

3. Pre-heat an oven to 200 C. Place the chicken on a foil lined baking tray, cook for about 10 minutes. Turn the chicken over and baste with the melted ghee or butter, cooking an additional 10 minutes until the chicken is lightly browned.

4. In a large frying pan, add the chopped onions and fry for 30-40 minutes on low heat until they are golden brown and well caramelized (this step is very important to get the onions well caramelized, but not burnt). Add the fenugreek seeds, and when they start to sizzle, add the ginger-garlic paste and fry, sprinkling a little water now and then as necessary, until the oil separates. Add the cashew paste, chili powder and stir for 30 seconds. Add the tomato puree and cook for 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste. I often puree the mixture at this point, to make an extra silky and smooth sauce, but it is not absolutely necessary. To finish, add the butter, cream and chicken with juices. Mix well and cook over a low heat until warmed through. Garnish with a splash of cream and the chopped coriander leaves.