Farman Ali, the last of the great cooks

While the lighting of Dubai-esque skyscrapers speaks volumes of a new Bangalore and its ambition, the healthiest weather on the roof is a testament to an old city – pleasant and gentle, no matter the traffic, chaos or climate change!

This convergence of old and new is a theme as I sit down to dine at the new restaurant Plaque in Leela Indian City. Food flows like a quintessential 19th century Lucknowi Story: (story), hyperbole and stylized, to imitate the oral storytelling tradition, Dastan-e-Goi.

In my bookcase, I have . have a copy of tilism-e-hoshruba, in fact the first Indo-Islamic romance epic, an extension of the tales of Amir Hamza of the Persian tradition, although in translation. When it was first published serially between 1881–93 by the prestigious Naval Kishore Press in Lucknow, it was a momentous moment for the Urdu-speaking and listening audiences of North India, who had long been influenced by the Persian romance tradition. was familiar. – With fantasy, adventure and built-in built-in. But I turn to Hamza, to also dive into the syncretism implied on the pages, as the customs of a Persian world collide and merge with the local Braj Bhasha-speaking cultures of India. -Gangetic plain.

Finding the Micro Period in Bangalore

It is surprising to find a restaurant referencing this art form to offer Lucknowi (as well as other Mughlai) cuisine. When it comes to Awadhi used so much, the details in the menu are also unpredictable. Upcoming Food confirms that this is probably one of the most nuanced Awadhi/Mughlai restaurants to have opened in recent times – here in Bengaluru, rather than in Delhi, Mumbai or even London! All goes well, however, when 70-year-old Farman Ali, a cook who cooks behind the fire range and smokes himself, and presides over Falak’s kitchen, makes his appearance.

When he hears about my own Lucknowi antecedents, Ali gives up the idea of ​​telling about the food. With the utmost humility that characterizes the old Nawabi manners, he asks me, ” what story to tell you now, [what possible tales can I tell you?].” And instead the poem erupts!

The rest of the evening is spent with verses from the cooks of Daag or Ghalib or some others who made 19th century Delhi one of the most literary cities in the world, even though we may have forgotten that the style of Lament’s poetry is almost exactly the same. Time was created. Time as Shelley, Wordsworth and the Romantics.

part of an ancient story

For Ali, I realize, it’s not performance – though it’s quite in sync with modern chefs expect to be demonstrative as they spend time building a ‘front of house’ brand. Instead, it is a way of life, a culture that has completely faded. As the food progresses – nihari (The pepper-infused stew of Old Delhi’s spice market, according to lore, at Chandni Chowk to ward off cold and flu emanating from the Yamuna canal) is being substituted korma , nihari developed in the short term kormacatering to the aristocracy, who thought that the smell of spices after a meal was bad practice) was referred to as ‘ Balai’piece of for dessert (don’t dub’ Royal’ royal bread pudding here; Balai Being the correct word for clotted cream) – we speak of art, not of food.

“After 1857, so many artisans and poets fled Delhi for the Deccan,” says Ali. “That’s how culture spreads.” He is right, of course. But, he Ghazal or casidas On the one hand, it is also biryani which has spread. Farman Ali has an Old Delhi/Lucknow style (he grew up in Old Delhi and still has a house there) where rice is cooked in stock, and ‘ casserole’ It is not the layered and overtly spicy dish that its Hyderabadi cousins ​​are. The old ‘Nakhlauwala’ – like yours indeed – argues that there was no period biryani Absolutely, just before the restaurant took over, several hypothetical and well-documented casserole for example ‘ Pearl’ (pearl) or ‘koel’, served with fried onions and thin curd, without chutney or gravy.

man behind the gathering

Ali worked in restaurants in Delhi and Dubai before being selected by The Leela’s Captain CP Krishnan Nair to cook Jamawar ka food nationally, cook and serve pan-India cuisine. Based in Bengaluru, he eagerly escaped much national attention, retiring just before the pandemic but called back by the owners of the Indian city, to find himself a cook, cooking closer to his roots.

If cuisine is an expression of a culture, then at a particular point in history, its patrons and storytellers are as important as the taste of the dishes. In India, at this point in time, it is perhaps important to look back at the patrons of old Urdu-speaking cultures and their culinary expressions. What kind of society created these stylized dishes? Farman Ali is, in many ways, the last of the great chefs, many of whom received much and much earlier than him in their careers – like Imtiaz Qureshi of ITC Hotels (and his family, like son-in-law Ghulam Qureshi of Dumpukht) , and Chef Ghulam Rasool of Taj Hotels.