In this episode of The Great Indian Pizza Adventure, Jasper embarks on a flavorful journey through Hyderabad's Nawabi cuisine! From renowned restaurants to engaging conversations with food critic @SankalpVishnu, Jasper unravels the secrets of Hyderabadi gastronomy, one dish at a time. Teaming up with Chef @Sadaf at the @Jamies kitchen, they craft Hyderabadi-inspired pizzas, blending tradition and innovation. Get ready for a mouthwatering fusion experience, savored by @RaajSanghvi!
Tune into #TheGreatIndianPizzaAdventure every Sunday at 7PM (Tonight).
Catch the repeats on Wednesday 7:30PM and Friday 8:30PM only on GOODTiMES TV Channel
(Tata Sky 762, Airtel Digital 410, Hathway 801 & Samsung TV 1375)
Tune into #TheGreatIndianPizzaAdventure every Sunday at 7PM (Tonight).
Catch the repeats on Wednesday 7:30PM and Friday 8:30PM only on GOODTiMES TV Channel
(Tata Sky 762, Airtel Digital 410, Hathway 801 & Samsung TV 1375)
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FunTranscript
00:00 So Sankalp, in your wonderful, wonderful cafe, I'm on a crash course to understand Hyderabadi
00:06 cuisine, but tell me, in essence, is there such a thing as Hyderabadi cuisine?
00:10 What does it mean?
00:11 Where does it come from?
00:14 Good question Jasper to begin with.
00:17 If you notice, about 600 years ago is when the origin of Hyderabadi cuisine began.
00:25 So till then nobody knows there was a Hyderabadi cuisine.
00:27 Because once the Nizam came down to Hyderabad and established his empire, about 480 years
00:33 ago, he's a very big time foodie guy, so he wanted to have different kinds of dishes from
00:38 across the globe.
00:39 And of course the Nizam of all people has the wealth to do this, right?
00:43 At a point of time he was the richest man in the world, with his entourage of Rolls
00:49 Royces and everything as such.
00:51 So he wanted his chefs to bring out different kinds of recipes for him, because he being
00:59 a foodie guy, he wants to taste every different variety of recipe from across the globe.
01:03 So in those days, the chefs or the cooks are called as Khansamas, or the Bawarchis.
01:10 These people were sent across the world, to Middle East, European countries, to Asian
01:14 countries to bring those recipes back to Hyderabad.
01:17 Okay, so the Khansamas would go out, and would other chefs come in?
01:22 These are the same people who used to go there, get the recipes and come back.
01:26 All they did was documenting those recipes and coming back to India, to Hyderabad, in
01:32 the kitchens of Nizam, the experimentations began.
01:37 So to localize some of those recipes, they started using the Guntur chilies from the
01:42 Guntur, the Andhra region, the peppers from the Kerala region, or Patarka Phool, which
01:48 is very, very indigenous ingredient of Hyderabadi Biryani.
01:54 So similar to that, there are a few ingredients which they added to the recipes and recreated
01:59 and reinvented the recipe and presented it as Hyderabadi cuisine.
02:02 I see, so it comes in from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Japan, and they're using Deccan
02:08 know-how, Deccan ingredients to create a specific cuisine.
02:13 And do you see it then, would you see this as a new cuisine in its own right?
02:17 I would say that this is the world's latest cuisine.
02:21 Is it a bit like the Japanese?
02:22 So the Japanese are famous for their food, but they always say about the Japanese that
02:27 they take other cuisines and they improve it.
02:29 So was Hyderabad a bit like a modern day Tokyo, Osaka, or Kyoto?
02:33 I would agree on that, 100%.
02:36 Great technicians.
02:37 See, it's all about getting inspired.
02:41 What you get somewhere else in the world, the Tuscany tomatoes, you don't get in here.
02:45 But we still make the pizzas and we have it.
02:48 With the local tomatoes from the Bangalore or the similar tomatoes we make and we eat.
02:51 So it's all about improvising the recipes with the local available ingredients.
02:56 So true pioneers really, because of the Nizam's interest and the Nizam's assets and resources,
03:01 genuine pioneers in food development.
03:04 True, true.
03:05 We talk about sustainability today, but I believe this was practiced by Nizam ages ago.
03:11 So using all the local ingredients, what is produced in the local areas.
03:15 So all those were incorporated into those recipes and a new cuisine evolved, Hyderabadi
03:20 cuisine.
03:21 Okay, and tell me Sankalp, how much of the Ayurvedic traditions part of the Hyderabadi
03:27 cuisine?
03:29 Have they come to be part of it?
03:30 Were they part of it?
03:31 Then tell us about that.
03:33 The Hyderabadi Ayurvedic version is called Unani.
03:37 So Nizam had his own research team who used to research on different kinds of herbs, roots
03:43 and ingredient levels.
03:45 So one of the recipes which we are making today, which is a summer recipe, which makes
03:51 you cool during the summers, your body cool.
03:54 So there was a lot of research in each of those ingredients and recipes that were invented
03:59 in the kitchens of Hyderabad.
04:00 It's very interesting isn't it, because there's this enormous upsurgence of what they call
04:05 functional food, right?
04:07 But actually Nizam with his kitchens and his labs and his technicians was doing this hundreds
04:12 of years ago.
04:13 True.
04:14 I always say that Indian sciences are complete.
04:18 They have done research and documented and kept it.
04:20 But it's only us, we are not exploring that part of the cuisine or the science which was
04:25 supposed to be done by us.
04:26 Do you think it's being rediscovered now, these Hyderabadi traditions, lost recipes,
04:31 that kind of stuff?
04:32 Yes.
04:33 For the last decade, a lot of people have started looking back, going back to the villages
04:39 and trying to get those lost recipes.
04:43 So these recipes have already been tested in time, over centuries.
04:48 We ran away from all these, our internal or self pleasures, and we left all these behind.
04:55 And going behind food which is not good for our health.
04:59 But again now, the last 10 years onwards, if you look at it, a lot of chefs have come
05:04 down, they started exploring and exposing to the world that there's a lot of Indian
05:10 recipes that are really amazing and are good for health.
05:14 And you have a great advantage I think, Sankalp, because you're, I think I'm right, you're
05:19 part of the royal family, is that right?
05:21 Yes.
05:22 So your father, your grandmother, I guess they have all these traditions in their mind.
05:26 Have you been able to draw it out for them?
05:29 Yes.
05:30 Fortunately, being blessed and born in a royal family, so we have about 600 years of history
05:35 in Hyderabad before the Nizams come in.
05:38 So our family migrated from the north to south to protect the South India.
05:43 So fortunately, recipes, cooking, all was there in the family itself.
05:49 So since my childhood, I was exposed to so much of food at home.
05:54 I was overloaded with food.
05:57 Sometimes my mom used to say, "You must have ate for your seven births."
06:01 In Telugu we call it, in Hindi we call it, "Sat to janam ke liye khaana khaaliya tune."
06:06 So I had that opportunity to eat so much of variety of foods, I call it.
06:11 So which is what helped me in being what I am today.
06:15 So you're kind of a living repository of recipes and ingredients and ideas, because
06:20 I think I'm also right that actually it's hard to find archives of the traditions, yes?
06:28 Yes.
06:29 Unfortunately, documentation of these recipes did not happen in those days.
06:34 And if so, they were here and there, lost during so many invasions and everything.
06:39 And today we are all, people like me and a few other people, are trying to document
06:45 whatever recipes which are there.
06:47 I fortunately documented a lot of recipes from my mom and my grandma.
06:52 So a lot of these lost recipes, we try to retrieve them and try to present it to the
06:58 people.
06:59 So some of those recipes are like, you know, "Bakkar ka ghosh," which is there.
07:03 Then there's "Dum ka keema," which is typical Hyderabadi keema, which is cooked
07:07 on dum.
07:08 But today you won't find anywhere, anybody serving that dish at all.
07:11 Then there is "Karela mutton," which is a bitter gourd with mutton.
07:17 So people run away with the moment you say bitter gourd.
07:20 So probably because of that reason, the recipe has lost.
07:24 But thankfully I had an opportunity to document that recipe too, with a family, from the Nizam's
07:31 family, one of the guys.
07:33 So got those things.
07:34 And today is one of the recipes which I'm doing, "Anokhi kheer," which is again
07:38 a lost recipe.
07:39 Today, if you ask anybody, "Anokhi kheer," nobody knows about it.
07:42 What is it all about?
07:43 And the moment I say it is onion-based, they say, "How on earth are you making a dessert
07:49 out of an onion?"
07:50 People freak out.
07:51 True.
07:52 So, and this is a real recipe, a hidden recipe by the Nizam and his researchers.
07:59 This recipe is predominantly had during the summers, because onion has a natural cooling
08:06 technique in it, so because of which this is had during the summers.
08:11 There is another recipe of the same, which is had during the winters, which is made with
08:15 garlic.
08:16 That's interesting.
08:17 So it is called "Lasoon ki kheer."
08:19 So that's another kheer which is again a lost recipe.
08:22 Because of the heat generating.
08:24 It generates the warmth inside your body, and it helps you to keep warm during the winters.
08:29 That's fascinating.
08:30 So an all-seasons dish.
08:33 I think you're going to show us how to make it.
08:35 I'm hoping.
08:36 I should say that I am giving this recipe to the world.
08:39 To know that this is from the kitchens of Hyderabad, on to you, presenting it to you.
08:46 This is like a scoop.
08:47 Well, it's like a huge present.
08:48 Thank you.
08:49 But it's also like a global scoop for our show.
08:53 So shall we begin?
08:54 Yeah, I think so.
08:55 I'm excited.
08:56 So basically what we'll do is, we'll boil onions with water.
09:00 So that we reduce, we take out the acidity, the tartness in it.
09:06 Then we'll twice boil it.
09:08 And then we use the boiled one into it.
09:11 And I have done and kept it aside so that we can save the same.
09:15 So this is how it would look once you boil it, twice boiling it.
09:19 Desi ghee into the pan.
09:26 So you're frying up the nuts.
09:27 Yes.
09:28 Just roasting up cashews, almonds, pistachios.
09:32 If you wish to have raisins, you can also have raisins in it.
09:36 But I prefer to have all the nuts in it.
09:39 And can you sort of customize it?
09:40 If you wanted to do walnuts, could you do that?
09:42 Yes, you can use walnuts.
09:44 You can use also pine nuts in it.
09:48 It has very different texture and taste in it.
09:51 You can substitute with whatever nuts you wish to have.
09:54 So Sarkar, while you're doing this, when you're trying to get Hyderabadi people or anyone
09:59 to share their recipe secrets, how's that process?
10:03 Hard, I imagine, sometimes.
10:05 Nightmare.
10:06 I had so weird and crazy experiences and some of them were as horrible as you can even imagine.
10:13 I've taken the nuts, after frying them.
10:16 Now I'm adding milk in it.
10:17 Oh, I see.
10:18 So that goes straight in on the ghee.
10:20 Yes.
10:21 And I reduce the milk to half so that it becomes a little more thicker and gives you
10:25 that nice flavor.
10:26 Tell us about people that have been quite defensive.
10:29 Yes.
10:30 So it so happened, I was shooting for a celebrity chef in Hyderabad and he wanted to unveil
10:36 the secret of biryani.
10:40 So I approached one of the traditional biryani houses and said, "I wanted to shoot on video."
10:47 And he was like, "Oh, I'm more than happy, sir.
10:50 Please do.
10:51 Walk into my kitchen and you can shoot with my chef."
10:53 And then I went inside the kitchen and when we approached the chef, he was very gracious.
10:58 He greeted, "Oh, sir, it is a privilege to have you people into the kitchen."
11:02 Then I said, "We're going to shoot your recipe."
11:05 He said, "Sir, that's not going to happen."
11:10 He didn't like that.
11:11 I said, "Why?
11:12 I don't need your ingredient composition.
11:16 Just give it a little open, vaguely."
11:19 He still said, "No, I would rather walk out of this place, leave this job, than share
11:24 my recipe on a video."
11:25 Yeah, well, you have to admire him.
11:29 I guess that's why Hyderabadi cuisine has lasted so long, really.
11:34 Yeah.
11:35 They are too protective in keeping the recipe to themselves.
11:39 Pass it only to their offsprings, not to anybody else.
11:43 Outside the family.
11:44 Keep it in the family.
11:45 That's interesting.
11:46 So, now our milk is boiling.
11:47 Maybe I need to marry into a Hyderabadi family.
11:48 Oh, yeah.
11:49 Probably then you'll get all the...
11:50 I don't think my British wife would be too happy about that.
11:51 So, now I'm adding the kova to it.
11:52 So, to this, now we'll add a little bit of sugar.
11:53 Could you swap out the sugar with jaggery or honey?
11:54 Yes, you can do it with jaggery, but not with honey.
11:55 Because usually you're not supposed to have honey in hot substances.
11:56 Only on lukewarm or below lukewarm substances only you can have.
11:57 So, I'm adding a little bit of jaggery.
11:58 And then I'm going to add a little bit of honey.
11:59 And then I'm going to add a little bit of sugar.
12:00 And then I'm going to add a little bit of honey.
12:01 And then I'm going to add a little bit of sugar.
12:23 And then I'm going to add a little bit of honey.
12:42 And then I'm going to add a little bit of jaggery.
13:03 And then I'm going to add a little bit of honey.
13:25 And then I'm going to add a little bit of sugar.
13:50 So this is the Anokhi Kheer for you.
13:53 Please taste it, let me know your views.
13:55 It looks wonderful.
13:56 Thank you, Sankalp, I'm excited.
13:57 It should be hot.
13:58 Careful.
13:59 It's outstanding.
14:00 Thank you.
14:01 It's outstanding, it's moreish, it's creamy, it's nutty.
14:02 You've got the cardamom coming through.
14:03 I could eat that all day long.
14:04 That's a comfort dessert for you.
14:05 Sankalp, thank you so much for coming.
14:06 It's been a pleasure.
14:07 I'm very happy to be here.
14:08 Thank you.
14:09 Thank you.
14:10 I'm very happy to be here.
14:11 I'm very happy to be here.
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