A mouthful of flowers
EDIBLE FLOWERS WERE ONCE A CRUCIAL PART OF ROYAL CUISINES IN INDIA
From roses and lavender blooms to banana blossoms and kokum, a wide array of flowers once sat pretty in Indian kitchens. Chef Saurabh Udinia shares the special qualities of these floral delicacies, and why they wilted and faded over time.
FEAST OF ROSES
Flowers were a crucial part of many Indian cuisines in earlier times. And they lent their unique fragrance and flavour to several dishes. The nawabs of Lucknow are said to have enjoyed mutton kormas made with a generous quantity of roses. The dish was called Gulaab Korma, which included a lot of dry fruits as well.
WHY THEY FADED AWAY
However, it became increasingly difficult to continue using flowers because there was a lot of demand for these flowers and they weren’t being cultivated in adequate quantity to meet this demand. Cultivating these flowers required a lot of care and attention.
For instance, when we opened Masala Library in Mumbai, we included lavender kheer in the menu. But it was very difficult to sustain the dish as part of the menu and thus, we removed it.
BOUQUET OF FLOWERS
Rose, jasmine and lavender were some of the most commonly used flowers in our mainstream menus. Royal cuisines like Awadhi, Hyderabadi, Lucknowi and Mughlai cuisines were famous for the usage of these flowers. In some areas, people still use these flowers for cooking at home. Gulkand is one of the most popular items of roses — which was often used in pulao and in lot of desserts and drinks.
In the north, Kashmiris used the stamens of flowers as a condiment. Also, the saffron flower, being easily available in the valley, it is still a popular edible flower in Kashmir.
The marijuana flower was traditionally used in Himachal Pradesh for making chutney.
In rural areas of Punjab and some parts of Rajasthan, mustard flower is very popular. People used it to prepare a tangy chutney.
In the south, banana blossoms continue to be a favourite of many. Usage includes mixing the flower with the batter used to make the famous south Indian bondas, and frying it; and it is often also used as a vegetable for preparing
appam. The banana blossom flower is also popular in Marathi and Bengali cuisines.
Kokum is another very popular flower which is still widely used in Goa. The Goans fondly make Goan imly with the flower.
THE TECHNIQUES
The techniques of cooking dishes with flowers depend on the purpose the flowers serve in the dish. Roses, lavender and jasmine are used for their fragrance. So we put them at the end of cooking the dish so that the dish retains the aroma and flavour of the flowers. The banana blossom is treated like any other vegetable. One can compare it with cabbage or a banana stem. For dishes prepared with kokum flowers, only preserved kokum is used. It gives the dish a rich good purple colour. It has good cooling properties and can be used in summer.