Dr Chef Sanjay Jamwal
The food of Punjab-simple, healthy, and linked to the land-reflects the history, culture and lifestyle of a region that boasts an agrarian legacy rooted in Harappan times. For, it was in the flood plains of the Indus, one of undivided Punjab’s five eponymous rivers that the Indus Valley Civilization (IVC) thrived.
Often termed as the cradle of ancient civilization with Indus Valley in its western province – the region we know as Punjab has enjoyed a long history dating back all the way to 100BC. This fertile region of the five rivers finds its mention in the Vedic scriptures as PanchNadas (or the region of five rivers).
In later years, when the Ghaznavi empire expanded its roots towards India, the region of Punjab came under the Persian rule and they Persianized the name of the region from PanchNada to Punj (Five) + Aab (water) – Punjab!
This region – the land of brave Porus – was also a confluence of cultures with Greeks, Persians, Turks and Moghuls trying to make their way into India through the fertile lands of Punjab and in doing so, many left behind culinary customs and heritage which over time, intermingled with the produce and legume rich cuisine of the region. Dishes like Pulao, Seekh Kebabs, Naan (From Irani Naanva) and Paneer (From the Iranian Peynir) are all influences that Punjabi food adopted from its Persian neighbours.
We have retraced our roots to track down Persian dishes which have influenced Punjabi food in many ways and have recreated a menu that celebrated the age-old traditional flavours from the region. This is our effort to showcase the diversity of the region and some names have been retained due to their relativity but the flavours are uniquely Punjab influenced. These flavours that you will help you understand the richness and diversity of United Punjabi cuisine – beyond Butter Chicken!
Javed Akhtar’s immortal lyric “Panchee, dariya, pawankejhonke…koi sarhadinhena koi rokay” (The birds, the river, the wafting breezes… no borders can stop them) could well be true of the culinary culture of divided Punjab. In 1947 after the partition of British India, the Punjab province was divided between India and Pakistan – a tragic decision that led to the creation of a new country. Yet, no matter what politicians in their wisdom may do, Punjab’s culinary heritage is eternally rooted in the vast swathes of its lands fed by the five rivers, from which the name of this region – (Persian-panj/five, ab/waters) – was inspired.
With its strategic position on the legendary Silk Route of yesteryears, it was quite natural that those qafilas (groaning under their loads of textiles, spices, indigo, sugar, rice, and unimaginable luxuries) to the markets of Bukhara, Ishfahan, and beyond the Caucasus Mountains), also carried away with them tales of this wondrous “land of milk and honey”… this legendary symbol of the riches of the Indian Subcontinent. While undivided Punjab’s Lahore, Amritsar, Ludhiana, and Karnal were transformed into thriving textile production hubs, the agrarian community of Punjab’s fertile soil was producing bountiful harvests of wheat, barley, millet, maize, paddy, sugarcane, greens… and plentiful milk (along with ghee and curd), which are the staples of the state’s culinary predilections from the days of Punjab’s pastoral Aryans in Vedic times.
Punjab was at the forefront of the green revolution, and though it may have been India’s pride, it was also the envy of its neighbours – judging from the number of invasions it bore the brunt of over the centuries. One of the most vivid narratives of these waves of foreign ingress was written into Punjab’s culinary traditions. Punjabi cuisine today is a mélange of Indo-Mughal-Persian-Afghani nuances. With the fleeing Punjabis from the North-West Frontier region came the tandoor, and a whole new landscape of barbecued fare for the rest of India.
The Punjabi bhatthi (oven) was made of bricks or mud and clay and topped with a sheet of metal. An opening was fed with wood and grass to light the fire. The tandoor was found in the courtyard in many Punjabi homes as tandoori fare rose in popularity post-Partition.
With the cross-cultural winds from the North-West Frontier arrived the simple but robust flavors of a nomadic people. Tandoori meats, fish, slow-cooked mutton barrah, and mutton tikka – Peshwari cuisine with its Afghani influences and the minimal use of spices was the great legacy of undivided Punjab and became integral to the repertoire of India’s Punjabi cookhouse, along with Sarson ka saag, Makki di Roti, Maash Dal (lentils), Parathas, and Aam ka Achar. These cross-cultural influences were reflected in the embracing of fresh and dried fruits and a wide range of exotic nuts, from Afghanistan and Central Asia – pine nuts (chilgoza), pistachios, almonds, apricots, khubani, sarda, musk melons, and the like.
“Back in the day,” says posh Delhi’s society hostess Kanwal Chaudhry, “The food was very simply cooked, but the focus was on its freshness and purity. No dessert was served… at best, some crushed gur (jaggery) was served after the main meal. It was a symbol of honour when a special guest was served kheer or a pinni with almonds (crushed and heated) served with warm milk. Almonds were very much an upper-crust statement.”
Celebrity gastronome, author, and ambassador of Indian cuisine Jiggs Kalra, in his book “Classic Cooking of Punjab,” co-authored with friend Pushpesh Pant, tells us, “No Punjabi has ever treated the ‘two square meals’ as a daily chore. His ancestors considered eating as a sacred ritual.”
The regional offerings of pre-Partition Punjab are still sacrosanct in the annals of Punjab’s culinary traditions. Peshawar was inspired by the culinary traditions of Afghanistan. That really should not come as a surprise considering this is Pathan country and the township, surrounded by deep orchards of stone fruits such as peaches and apricots, apart from pomegranates and apples, handled much of the trade that passed through it which included saffron from Kashmir, spices from Hyderabad, and sugar, salt, tea, and hing from Delhi.
Rawalpindi, adjoining the Kashmir Valley and Afghanistan, imbibed the influences of both the robust fare of the North-West Frontier and Kashmiri cooking. Its access to the best produce of the Punjab heightened its epicurean adventures. Baluchistan, of which vast swathes fell under British Rule, was neighbors with the NWFP, Persia, Sind, and Punjab. Basic and robust fare dominated the frontier table, including game birds, unleavened flatbreads made of barley and wheat, cheeses, vegetables – and rice and fish in the coastal area. Amritsar, surrounded by swathes of ber, mango, and jamun groves, produced wheat, gram, maize, barley, sugar cane, pulses, rice, and cotton. The legendary “milk” is courtesy of their use of bovines in agricultural pursuits and dairy farms.
Punjab’s iconic dhaba culture evolved out of the need for survival for the displaced peoples of Punjab, who fled their homes on both sides of the border with the Partition of India. The fare they offered to people was basic Punjabi comfort food-rotis, parathas, dal, subzi. The food was fresh, the turnover quick, and there were no leftovers because of the problems of refrigeration. So you sold what you cooked, and that was it. These dhabas became the lifeline of truckers, and the Grand Trunk Road was the fertile ground upon which they flourished. A leading light back in the day was the Sher-e-Punjab chain which served up ma di dal, tandoori chicken, and tandoori roti as staples. The dhabas were also pivotal in bringing Punjabi culinary traditions to the rest of the country as fleeing Punjabis spread across the country with the aftermath of Partition.
The dhaba culture of Amritsar has paens sung to it for its fabulous array of culinary experiences from kukkad (chicken) to stuffed kulchas to lassi peda mar key.
The iconic Punjabi butter chicken was a contribution of Peshwari restaurateur Kundan Lal Gujral who opened Moti Mahal in Daryaganj, when he fled to Delhi during partition. At first, he would serve chicken roasted in the tandoor he had brought with him. But with the rising demand for curries, he took leftover chicken and cooked it in a rich sauce of butter, curd, tomatoes- thus began the saga of the Punjabi butter chicken and “makhni gravy” and its entry into Delhi’s curry culture.
(The author is Corporate Executive Chef to KC Group of Hotels)
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