A fusion of traditions, where Persian meets Gujarati for a lip-smacking spread

The Bohra culinary repertoire is a harmonious confluence of Indian, Middle Eastern, and African influences — an elegant tapestry of flavour, aroma, and texture. To celebrate these very flavours, Madras Pavilion is hosting a “Bohra Shahi Dawat”, bringing forward flavours and heirloom recipes that have been lost to the sands of time. A special nudge to a traditional way of cooking, this feast focuses on perhaps the earliest form of fusion food, that has become quite a rage in the realms of fine dining.

The starters we opted for were cocktail samosas, stuffed with mutton keema. These bite sized wonders had a filling of plain mutton keema, along with generous quantities of spring onions, coriander leaves, and mint leaves, which add a slight crunch and cut through the richness of the keema. Interestingly, whilst Bohris are pre-dominantly a Gujrati community, this particular delicacy is said to have originated in Bengal. We followed this up with another specialty – the Kichda. This is a deliciously smooth non vegetarian khichdi, made by combining rice, wheat and a variety of lentils along with mutton. The main ingredient here is the garam masala, and it is generally served with crispy fried onions along with a sliver of lemon and some mint garnishing on top.

We next tried the chicken curry. This is somewhat different in taste – the Bohris use sugar in a lot of their food, but this was different in taste as well. Could taste a hint of tamarind, and it had that jeera and garlic taste as well. It was a good feeling overall – multiple flavours playing on the palate. We tried a vegetarian dish too – Chana batata, a version of chickpeas made with potato. Tamarind again comes off as one of the key ingredients here and its subtle combination with Hawaj masala – which is a combination of cumin and coriander powders with a smattering of garam masala – it is a creamy kind of a curry with the taste of potatoes standing out here with the other spices.

Naturally, no cuisine is complete without its own version of the biriyani and again the Bohri version has something in common with the Bengali version – the usage of an egg in between. The good thing about the Bohra style mutton biriyani is that it feels quite light and the flavours are very subtle. In this case it was cooked well and the taste of saffron, along with other spices like cinnamon and nutmeg with cardamom gave quite a flavour burst to the rice and the meat, without overpowering the meaty taste. A master study in blending a variety of spices that do not overpower the meat and leave a soft, silky finish in your mouth.

The Bohra shahi dawat indeed has a royal touch about it. The food is rich, but not very heavy. It uses a lot of spices, but is very subtle to the palate no matter what you choose, and of course the meat dishes are outstanding. There is a wide variety of vegetarian dishes available too; all in all not a food festival to be missed.

Price for one: INR 2,500++

On till May 26^th, 7-11:30 pm

At Madras Pavilion, ITC Grand Chola