An Everyday Feast
Text and photos by Farzan Mazda
A typical Sheherwali thali with an assortment of vegetable dishes
I am seated in an 18th-century home in the city of Murshidabad in West Bengal. Hung from the high ceiling directly above the dining table, a multi-tiered Belgium glass chandelier lights up the spacious room while smaller chandeliers light up the rest of the room. The smooth flooring is paved with Italian marble; hand-painted tiles adorn the doors and walls. Called Bari Kothi, this opulent home-turned-heritage hotel belongs to Darshan Dudhoria, who is the seventh generation owner of the property. I join a group of diners who are here to experience a traditional meal from the Sheherwali community. Within a few minutes, all 14 seats of the dining table are taken and a flurry of servers walk in bearing an assortment of Sheherwali dishes.
The word Sheherwalimeans city dweller in Hindi. The epithet is believed to haveoriginated in the 18th century. It refers to the Oswal Jain community of merchants and bankers who migrated from the state of Rajasthan and settled in Murshidabad in the 17th and 18th centuries. In Sheherwali: Regal Vegetarian Cuisine of Murshidabad, a book on the community and cuisine, author Pradip Chopra writes: “Invited by the Nawab of Bengal, these ambitious wealth creators yearned for the excitement, opportunities and fulfillment offered by the big and bustling city of Murshidabad, the seat of great power and the capital of undivided Bengal during the 17th and 18th centuries.” The community flourished under the patronage of the Nawab of Bengal. As Chopra writes: “This Jain community proved indispensable in India’s export trade, forming all important liaisons with European trading companies, providing financial and banking services for local/overseas trade, and thus amassed great fortunes and wealth.”
The prominent use of panch phoran adds a quintessentially Bengali touch to a Sheherwali meal
Known as Sheherwali cuisine, the cuisine of the Oswal Jains is vegetarian and eschews the use of onion, garlic and root vegetables, in keeping with Jain philosophy. It is distinguished by the generous use of ghee, yogurt, flour and spices, in addition to exotic ingredients such as saffron, rose water and kewra (or screw pine) water. Panch phoran, the staple Bengali spice mix, is a nod to the community’s adopted state. When these spices are added to hot oil, they sputter and a heady aroma permeates from the kitchen. While we were waiting for our meal, the fragrance of panch phoran made its assertive presence felt. Other Bengali touches include muri ka laddoo, a sweetmeat made of puffed rice and jaggery, reminiscent of the Bengali love for these ingredients.
Even though it follows the broad principles of Jainism, Sheherwali cuisine also occupies a unique niche in regional cuisines. For instance, one of the signature dishes that was part of the lavish spread at Bari Kothi was saloni mewa ki khichdi. Made of basmati rice that is sweetened with sugar and adorned with almonds, pistachios, cloves, cardamoms, saffron and ghee, this version of khichdi is very different from the bland rice-and-dal combination that we are used to. Before tasting it, I had some reservations about a sweet main course. However, its aromas, flavours and unusual choice of ingredients won me over. This dish is a classic example of Rajasthani cooking with a Sheherwali touch. It has a vital place on the Sheherwali thali, and is usually offered at formal events. It is inspired by mewa ka pulao, a rice preparation loaded with dry fruits from the city of Jaipur in Rajasthan. The Sheherwalis enhanced the dish with the use of saffron, which is perhaps their most favoured spice.
The influence of Nawabs and the community’s wealth allowed it to adopt expensive ingredients such as saffron
How did the Sheherwalis come to adopt such an expensive spice? The answer lies in the geographic dispersion of erstwhile Mughal royals and their khansamas or royal cooks, who were custodians to royal flavours. “Much later, Kolkata became a refuge of exiled Nawabs, particularly the Nawab of Awadh who was exiled by the British to the outskirts of Calcutta, and the family of Tipu Sultan from Mysore,” writes Chopra. “These royals brought their entire household with them, including their prized cooks and masalchis (spice mixers). These highly knowledgeable chefs lent their opulent touch to local ingredients and introduced locals to exotic spices such as saffron and mace, dry fruits, the extensive use of ghee and other flavours typical of regal cuisine.” The community’s wealth is also sure to have facilitated access to these ingredients.
In addition to these luxurious touches, Sheherwali cuisine is also an amalgamation of techniques drawn from Rajasthan. For instance, our banquet included tikda, a kind of layered roti made with atta, salt, ghee and water. Unlike Rajasthan’s khoba roti, which is much thicker, the tikda is thin and paired with dishes like kheera ka khatta meetha or sweet and sour cucumbers, and maheen tori, or a ridge gourd curry. While tikda is the most favoured flatbread, other Sheherwali breads include besni puri, a deep-fried, circular puri made of spiced gram flour, and suji ka roti, which is made of a smooth mix of semolina, ghee, salt and water. Other unusual dishes include matar ke chilke ka tarkari, a winter speciality made by sauteing tender green pea pods with spices such as cumin seeds, asafoetida, coriander powder and red chilli powder. No Sheherwali meal is complete without pickles and chutneys, which is another nod to the flavours of Rajasthan. Oswal Jains love kutti mirchai ka achaar, a pickle made of red chillies that are boiled with dried dates and lime juice, and flavoured with pickling spices.
In keeping with the traditions of the Jain community, the Sheherwalis fast for eight days during Paryushan, a Jain observance that is believed to lead to spiritual upliftment by cleansing the soul. The community marks the end of this fasting period with mirich, a sweet-spicy dish made of sugar that is caramelized with ghee, flavoured with coarsely powdered black pepper and garnished with slivered almonds.
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The Sheherwali community is a small and tight-knit one — at present, its population is only 4000 strong. Therefore, the Murshidabad Heritage Development Society, a non-governmental organisation in charge of protecting tangible and intangible heritage in the state, is also involved with the community. As part of its outreach, the MHDS organises events such as the banquet that I attended. Explaining the community’s fondness for refined flavours, Sandip Nowlakha, vice president of the MHDS, said: “My grandmother would celebrate the festival of Holi by mixing rose water and saffron, two of our favourite cooking ingredients.”
Post-dinner, Nowlakha regaled us with stories of his family. Known as Nowlakha Kothi, his ancestral home was built in 1752, when the Nowlakha family migrated to Murshidabad. “Food was cooked daily for our 200 strong staff. My grandmother had about 20 cooks,” he reminisced, adding that while some Sheherwalis planted rose gardens, others were responsible for the mango orchards of Murshidabad.
Today, Murshidabad boasts of over a hundred varieties of mangoes. The Sheherwalis use the fruit to make a refreshing beverage in summer. It is also turned into pickle and relished in the form of a sweet-sour chutney called kachche aam ka launji, with the distinctive bitter touch of panch phoran. Kachche aam ka launji alternates with another seasonal chutney that is made of jackfruit seeds, cooked, ground and mixed with mustard oil and chilli powder. Since I visited Murshidabad in winter, I missed out on these chutneys. It gives me another gastronomic reason to revisit the city, which continues to be a microcosm of this unique culinary legacy.
If you would like to try a Sheherwali meal in Murshidabad, booking a spot at Bari Kothi might be the best way to go about it. The Royal Vega restaurant at the ITC Royal Bengal also serves a Sheherwali thali.
