Feast like a Mughal emperor at The Shang’s Delights of Delhi festival

Rich and sensual, Indian cuisine is as diverse as the country’s culture—one of the world’s oldest, reaching back 5,000 years.

For many consumed by wanderlust, India, the world’s seventh largest country, is an ultimate dream destination. But while a visit to India may not be within everybody’s reach, a taste of India is right in the heart of Makati, with the Shangri-la Hotel’s Circles Event Café featuring a Delights of Delhi festival from March 3 to 14.

The hotel flew in chefs Singh Abhinandan and Chauhan Ajay from Shangri-La’s Eros Hotel, New Delhi to cook Mughlai traditional specialties adapted from the imperial kitchens of the Mughal (or Mogul) empire (1526–1857), which ruled a great part of India for hundreds of years.

The Mughals, known for doing things in style and splendor, were Muslims who influenced Indian art and architecture, most notably India’s iconic mausoleum, the Taj Mahal, built by order of the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his favorite wife.

The Mughals were said to be great patrons of cooking and lavish dishes were served in India during their reign.

Mughlai cuisine, influenced by Afghan and Persian cuisines, is famous for its richness and use of spices, dried fruits, and nuts. The taste varies from extremely mild to spicy, and the dishes are cooked with aromatic ingredients.

Fit for royalty

Guest chefs Singh and Chauhan whipped up a large array of rich and sumptuous dishes fit for royalty during a tasting event on Friday, Feb. 28, which ranged from mildly spicy appetizers to a very flavorful biryani to a fragrant yoghurt dessert.

The two chefs brought in several spices from India for the Delhi Delights festival.

The imperial feast began with papadam, the thin, crisp, disc-shaped Indian food made from seasoned flour. The papadam came with a three-dip sampler: mild yoghurt dip, rich spinach dip, and a sharply-flavored vegetable chutney.

Then the Indian chefs teased the guests’ palates with their assortment of mildly spiced appetizers: zaffrani paneer tikka (cottage cheese), turra kebab (chicken), and shami kebab (lamb).

The zaffrani paneer tikka was lightly grilled cottage cheese seasoned with the world’s most expensive spice: saffron, made from the dried stigmas or thread-like parts of the saffron crocus flower.

Singh said Indians like to cook with spices that have health or medicinal values. Saffron, which imparts a golden yellow hue to dishes, is considered an aphrodisiac that also cures a variety of illnesses, from alopecia (baldness) to asthma to insomnia, and even (some) cancers.

Cottage cheese is also an integral part of many Indian dishes, Singh said. Known as “paneer” in India, cottage cheese is often homemade in big blocks. This is so due to the more than 280 million cows in India, the highest bovine population among all countries.

In India, especially in rural areas, most people have at least one dairy cow, considered as a “gentle spirit,” and treated as a member of the family.

Hinduism, India's most dominant religion, holds cows sacred. Hindus do not eat beef, so a beef dish was not served during the tasting event.

Curries with a twist

In India, the dishes are cooked with a combination of spices, as much as five to 10 per dish. Some of the basic spices used in India are: tumeric (manjal/haldi), cumin (jheera), black pepper (milagu), mustard (rai), coriander (dhania), red chilli (millakai), green chilli (pachai millakai), ginger (adrak), and mango powder (amchoor).

The sweet spices used in Indian dishes are cardamom (yelakkai), nutmeg (jaiphal), saffron (zaffrani/kesar), among others.

Aside from these, Indians also use ingredients such as mint, sugarcane juice, and tamarind for their everyday dishes.

Singh noted that aside from cottage cheese, another integral part of Indian cuisine is yoghurt, another milk-based product.

Indians cook a wide variety of curry dishes; some are cooked with yoghurt. During the tasting event, the chefs served murgh shamina (chicken curry), jhinga dum anari (prawns), paneer haryali korma (cottage cheese with spinach), subz diwani handi (vegetable curry), dal qurashi (yellow lentil), and dum lucknawe biryani (chicken biryani).

The chefs likewise served missi roti (bread with wheat and gram flour) and soup, dali kali mirch ka shorba (lentil and black pepper soup), as well as three kinds of salads: phalon ki chaat (vegetable salad), chiken tikka salad, and aloo papadi chat (potato salad).

The rich, creamy murgh shamina (chicken curry) was surprisingly not too spicy. Shamina is an Arabic word meaning “perfumed.” Many Indian dishes have Arabic names because Indian cuisine was also influenced by Arab traders.

The dum lucknawe biryani (chicken biryani) was a favorite among the guests during the tasting event at The Shang. It’s a traditional Indian chicken dish cooked with basmati rice, a long-grained rice commonly used in Middle Eastern cuisine.

Chefs Singh and Chauhan used ghee (clarified butter) and added tender chicken chunks, nutmeg, cardamom, cinnamon, and ginger.

For dessert, Singh prepared shrikhand, a very aromatic dessert that smelled like a branded men’s perfume. The soft, custard-like confectionery was made from yoghurt, saffron, and cardamom—a perfect ending to an unforgettable meal. — VC, GMA News


Delights of Delhi is available for lunch and dinner buffet at Circles Event Café from March 3 to 14, 2014.

For inquiries and reservations, please call Restaurant Reservations at (63 2) 813 8888, e-mail rric.slm@shangri-la.com, visit their website, or book a table online.