review for "Culinary Delights of the Maharajas: Exotic Dishes from the Princely House of Sailana"
I was reading a book, a few years ago, in which it was mentioned that the food was different from one group or class to another. I didn’t get it (although it wasn’t fully described here as well) until the time I was reading the book titled “Cooking Delights of the maharajas -Exotic Dishes of the Princely House of candle“. It was written by His Highness Shri Digvijaya Singh-from the palace candle Y candle is a small town present in madhya pradesh. It was published in the year of 1982 in India. was published by Vakils, Feffer, and Simons SA. Ltd, Mumbai. The price of the book is 400 rupees. The ISBN is 978-81-8462-026-9. The total number of pages is 198.
The moment I read the title of the book, I was very impressed for several reasons:
1. One can be delighted after reading the book and trying to cook the dishes mentioned in it.
2. The word “The maharajas“It meant more than one king. I assumed that the recipes were different and were passed down from one generation to another.
3. The dishes are exotic by nature.
4. The recipes will be from the land of candle exclusively.
The cover was adopted and showed one of the popular paintings of the royal family of candle (although it is not mentioned anywhere in the book). The back of the book gives us the details of the author and his qualities and abilities. The 15th edition of the book was published in 2015. The photograph on the 3rd page shows different types of copper pots used to cook various dishes in the royal kitchens of the city. My attention was focused on the beautiful rectangular box designed to store all kinds of spices and powders. Now I hardly find one available in our country. I wish I had one of them in my possession and add beauty to my kitchen too.
The author has dedicated his book to his father, late Highness Rajah Sir Dilip Singhji of Sailana. One can see the seal of the royal family placed above the photograph of the author’s father. I’ve never seen one in my life! The author acknowledges other royal families present in India such as Prince Shivaji Rao Holkar and Princess Shalini Devi Holkar of Indore. The foreword has been written by none other than the late Her Highness Gayatri Devi – Rajmata of Jaipur. According to her, the author is “not only a gourmet but a superb cook”. There are a good number of color photographs of various dishes and cooking presented for royal parties.
The content section is given in detail and these are listed as follows:
a) 54 recipes prepared with meat or lamb
b) 9 recipes prepared with chicken
c) 10 recipes prepared with fish
d) 8 recipes prepared from the meat of animals after hunting them
e) 21 recipes with different cereals such as rice, millet, etc.
f) 50 recipes prepared from various types of vegetables
g) 12 varieties of sweet dishes
I liked the “Foreword” section of the book. The secrets of the royal families are given to the readers and the best ones are:
1. The maharajas they were the connoisseurs of good food (mentioned in the 2nd paragraph).
2. Fine kitchens and the best cooks (mentioned in the 2nd paragraph) are hired.
3. There is a separate cook for each recipe (again mentioned in the second paragraph) (I was imagining the total number of cooks present in royal kitchens. No wonder the royal families of Turkey have dedicated a huge palace to cooks ). and guides for cooking, chopping vegetables, tasting, guiding other cooks, measuring quantities, etc.).
4. It was the “status symbol” for kings to display “the most unusual type of dishes” to their guests.
5. The secrets of cooking various recipes were never shared by cooks and were passed down from one generation to another (usually only from father to son).
6. Some of the exotic recipes and the process of cooking exotic dishes are lost because they were not passed from one individual to another.
7. The author credits his father for collecting the recipes of the last 100 years. He collected them from various cooks present throughout the country and had old recipe books in different languages such as Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian. He translated some of them.
8. Cooking is not an art however it is a scientific process.
9. The differences between the different types of spicy powders or masalas are due to the amount used in their preparation in the kitchen.
10. The author has made an effort to share some of the recipes only with his readers (I don’t know about the other recipes and when they will be shared with us).
In the “Helpful Tips” section, the author discusses the following points:
in. It explicitly denies the use of stainless steel and aluminum pans for cooking. They were only used for boiling things (oh my gosh, we use these metal utensils for cooking in contemporary times).
B. The different types of utensils used are:
dekhchi-pot type of utensil used to cook meats
tapeli-wide utensil used for cooking and boiling rice and curries
kadhai– Deep and wide frying pan.
Pressure cookers: to prepare dishes based on lentils, rice and to soften hard meats such as trotters
against Differences between
I)bhunao is the process of cooking ground spices in a small amount of oil, at high temperatures and adding small amounts of water after a few minutes
ii) Baghar What does it mean to temper or season?
iii) Dhugar means technical tuxedo
i) foolish means to cook over low heat and the utensil is covered with a lid and sealed with dough
i) Kalia is a curry prepared with water or milk
saw) Korma is a curry prepared with ghee or oil
(viii)”make pizza” means cooking with some vegetable like cauliflower, peas, potato, etc.
d) Details had been discussed regarding the amounts used to prepare pasta, condiments or to enhance the flavor of a particular dish.
The weak points of the book are:
a) The recipes are not exclusively for candle only.
b) The author mentions other recipes from other regions too like Rajasthan, Bhopal, Delhi, Jhabua, Kashmir, Persia, Nepal, Hyderabad, etc. They are 24 in number.
c) Shared recipes for dishes made from game meat are limited to rabbits and wild boar. During those days, hunting animals was not restricted to just these animals. Recipes for other dishes are not mentioned in the book.
d) There are other exotic dishes from other royal families all over India. Why weren’t they mentioned? I wonder about other dishes from the royal cuisines of Lucknow, Gujarat, Jammu, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Bengal that are worth mentioning in the book (may be in the footnotes).
e) The recipe sections of the snacks, salads, chutneys, curd preparations, pickles and soups are missing from the book. Apart from this, there are various dishes prepared separately at each and every station. This is not mentioned anywhere in the book.
f) In the photographs, three or four plates are placed and fit into the book. This was not really good. The colors of the plate show turbidity and are not very attractive to the eyes.
Excellent points to note in the book are:
a) The sections are divided according to the themes and sub-themes of the book.
b) Detailed details about the preparation of the dish have been indicated in the recipes.
c) The meanings of certain words have been given by the author.
d) The photographs are given in good number in the book (although not in the brand).
e) Some of the rare recipes are shared in the book as lamb ke dahi badas (lamb dumplings placed in the curd), porridge prepared with garlic, etc.