SHAHI TUKRA; THE SWEETEST THING!
The Lucknow Cookbook is as sumptuous as that city’s cuisine. This edited excerpt includes delicious sweet dish recipes
When it comes to meetha, Lucknowi preparations perhaps outshine those from many other regions in the country in terms of taste and delicacy.
A famous and unique Lucknow speciality is Nimish, a beautiful and delicate frothy dessert which can be made only during the cold winter months. The basic preparation of Nimish is when milk is poured into large flat pans and left in the open before dawn. When the early morning dew falls on the milk, it creates a froth which is as light as air. This is continuously collected and later mixed in with cream and other condiments. It is a laborious and painstaking process... this meetha is a signature dessert of Lucknow...
Shahi Tukra means ‘royal pieces’ of bread. According to legend, this baadshahi dessert was invented by the old khansamas who disliked throwing away leftover or day-old bread. So, instead, they made the best use of it by converting it into a royal dessert. The bread is deepfried in ghee and then soaked in sweetened creamy milk, flavoured with saffron and pistachios and generously decorated with gold and silver leaves (varq). It was so popular among the Mughals that they enjoyed this dessert even for breakfast during the month of Ramadan. The Lucknow nobility followed suit...
NIMISH (LUCKNOW SOUFFLÉ)
SERVES: 4 PREP TIME: 2–2½ hours INGREDIENTS: Full-cream milk 8 cups, unboiled cream 2 cups, cream of tartar 1 tsp, castor sugar 1 cup,
gulab jal (rose water) 1 tsp, pista (pistachios) 2 tbsp, finely sliced METHOD Combine the milk, cream and the cream of tartar in a large bowl and refrigerate overnight.
Next morning stir in 4 teaspoons of castor sugar and 1 teaspoon of rose water and whisk the mixture, using a rotary or electric beater at a high speed. Using a large tea strainer, collect the foam that forms and transfer it to a large tray. Keep the tray tilted so that the foam stays on one side while the milk collects on the lower side. When the tray is fairly full, spoon the foam into small glass ramekins, sprinkling a little castor sugar between each layer and on top of it. The foam will condense a little during this operation. What looks like four bowlfuls in the tray will make only two bowls.
Pour the milk collected in the tray back into the bowl and continue beating and collecting the foam until all the milk is finished. This process will take approximately 2 to 2½ hours.
Sprinkle pistachios on top of each bowl of foam.
Refrigerate until you serve.
SHAHI TUKRA
SERVES: 8 PREP TIME: 15 mins COOKING TIME: 15 minutes INGREDIENTS: Bread loaf (one day old) 12–16 slices, crusts removed, milk 2 cups,
khoya (whole milk fudge) 1 cup, crushed sugar 1 cup, water ½ cup, desi ghee 1 cup, gulab jal (rose water) 4–5 drops, badaam (almond) paste, 1 tbsp kishmish (raisins) 10 raisins, soaked pista (pistachios) ¼ cup, slivered badaam (almonds) ¼ cup, slivered kesar (saffron) ½ tsp (liquefied) and a pinch for garnishing, chandi ka varq (silver leaf) for garnishing METHOD
Cut the slices of bread neatly into triangular or rectangular pieces. Fry them in ghee on a low flame to a golden colour. Coat them with the almond paste.
Mix the sugar and water to make sugar syrup of a single thread consistency. Keep it on a low flame. Add the saffron and mix well. Dip each slice of bread into the hot syrup, remove and keep on a tray. Reduce the milk to half by boiling it. Add the crushed khoya and mix it in well.
On a flat pan, spread the bread slices in a single layer. Pour half the milk mixture over them. Then sprinkle the nuts.
Pour the remaining milk mixture and sugar syrup over this and cook the slices until almost all the liquid is absorbed.
Take it off the flame and add the pinch of saffron and essence (rose water) over it. Garnish with the slivered almonds, pistachios and silver leaf (chandi ka varq).