Amba Qaliya

 Amba Qaliya is basically a mango based meat curry in which Amba means mango and Qaliya means meat curry. It is  a meat dish in which lamb is cooked in raw mango without the use of any oil or ghee. It's just raw mango pureed with water which is constantly added to the meat cooked lamb  with coriander and raw onion-based gravy with a pinch of saffron. When preparing this meal, time is of the utmost importance; if you go too slowly, the meat will dry up and stay undercooked, and if you add too much, the flavour of the gravy will be diluted. 

Jahangir, Akbar's eldest son, loved mangoes so much that he ordered his chefs to make a meal with mangoes and meat for him. It was a challenge for the khansamas (cooks) because they were not used to cooking the fruit alongside the meat, but with their expertise and ability, nothing seemed impossible once the emperor made a request. They came up with a dish called  Amba Qaliya after a lots of trial and error. The king was quite delighted with the dish's sweet and tangy flavour.

Such stories are what makes our food culture interesting and unpredictable .Well as you know we live in a country where we get the same dish with different names and different history behind it . Amba Qaliya also held its place in parsi culture where it was called Amba Kalya,  Moreover, it differs from the Mughlai version that was given to us. The Parsi version contains fresh soft mangoes and jaggery in a 2:1 ratio, but no meat. Mangoes and jaggery are cooked separately before being combined after the mangoes are tender and the jaggery has entirely dissolved in water. Grounded cinnamon is added just before serving to improve the flavour and fragrance.

Galouti Kebab......

 Galouti means 'soft,' something that melts in the tongue, and that was the intention. The original Galaouti Kebab is thought to have been prepared by Haji Mohammad Fakr-e-Alam Saheb, the originator of the Moti Pulao, who offered the court this creamy, silky, mouth-watering delicacy. Instead of beef, he used the best cuts of lamb, which he chopped finely and mixed with a tenderiser, as well as a wonderful blend of over 150 unique spices to enhance flavour. For a delicious finish, the minced meat was formed into patties and fried.

The Nawabs of Lucknow were well-bred men. They were just as serious about their pleasures as they were about their courtly responsibilities. Nawab Asad-ud-Daula (1748-1797), successor of Siraj-ud-Daula, made important contributions to Lucknow's culinary culture, with food historians frequently crediting him with bringing about a culinary Renaissance. The Nawab was believed to be extremely giving, and a popular saying at the time was, "Jo Khuda nahi dega, wo Asad dega" (What God won't grant you, Asad will). However, by the time Asad came to power, the British had taken over the office, leaving the Nawab free to pursue his two passions: big buildings and delicious eating.

The generous Nawab was so fond of kebabs that he had special orders for his cooks to come up with a new variant of kebab everyday. Even during the time of the Great Famine of 1783, his khansamas(cooks) were busy creating newer versions of kebabs that were incredibly soft and flavoursome. 

The khansamas rose to the occasion as well, inventing new techniques of cooking, flavouring, and employing exotic ingredients like as sandalwood, rosebuds, rose, red gensing, and pathar ke phool. All of these components, as well as over 150 unique spices, are claimed to have been used in the'shahi combination' of the aforementioned kebabs. The kebabs allegedly contained one particular ingredient or spice each day to add variety, which piqued the Nawab's interest.

According to folklore, the Nawab had lost most of his teeth owing to old age, but his love of kebabs was far from dead. So, for their toothless Nawab, the seasoned khansamas devised a popular version that required no chewing while retaining the same rich flavours and taste of a kebab.