The culinary adventures of Ghiyath Shah, the sultan of Malwa

The Nimatnama (Book of Pleasures) is currently at the India Office Library, in London, and it begins, according to Aashpaz.com, with this plea: “King of cockroaches! Please do not eat this, my offering to the culinary world — recipes of cooking food, sweetmeats, fish and the manufacture of rose-water perfumes.”

Ghiyath Shahi seated on a stool in a garden is being offered a dish, possibly of samosas. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The script in the Nimatnama is Naskh, a calligraphic style of writing in the Arabic alphabet, says Hyderabad-based art dealer and food aficionado Syed Mohammad Husayn. “I’m into paan, and Nimatnama has comprehensive information on the various varieties of betel leaves. And kheema, there are detailed descriptions on how to prepare it.” The book, says Husayn, is among the first detailed and illustrated one of its kind from the medieval period. “It has 50 wonderful miniatures made in the Persian-Turk style. Each miniature has Ghiyath Shah at the centre — he liked to be in the thick of things — followed by a detailed explanation of cooking techniques.”

The Nimatnama contains, among others, recipes for Flavoured Mutton, Samosas, Vadas and many other dishes. (Source: Westindischer Maler um 1510/Wikimedia Commons)

Apart from detailed information on the preparation of aphrodisiacs — he would have needed lots — the Nimatnama contains, among others, recipes for Flavoured Mutton, Samosas, Vadas and many other dishes, and resounds with echoes of the food we eat today: paluda, burani, shorba, sambusa…

Enjoyment of betel. Ghiyath Shahi is kneeling on a stool, putting a betel chew in his mouth. (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Here is how, Shah says, one should cook Saffron Meat: Wash the meat well and, having put sweet-smelling ghee into a cooking pot, put the meat into it. When the ghee is hot, flavour it with saffron, rosewater and camphor. Mix the meat with the saffron to flavour it and when it has become well-marinated, add a quantity of water. Chop cardamoms, cloves, coriander, fennel, cinnamon, cassia, cumin and fenugreek, tie them up in muslin and put them with the meat. Cook almonds, pine kernels, pistachios, and raisins in tamarind syrup and add them to the meat. Put in rosewater, camphor, musk and ambergris and serve it. By the same method cook partridge, quail, chicken and pigeon.

For those interested, the a version of the book is available here.

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