Around Town: Zaika-e-Nizamuddin brings the 700-year-old culinary heritage of Delhi’s Nizamuddin to Mumbai

Founded about a decade ago as a part of the Nizamuddin Urban Renewal Initiative by the Aga Khan Trust for Culture, Zaika-e-Nizamuddin — a women’s enterprise that prepares and sells famous Mughlai cuisine and healthy homemade snacks — currently comprises 11 women, all of whom are partners in the company. From the group, four of the women had come to Mumbai to put together the special menu.

The members-partners of Zaika-e-Nizamuddin. In the centre is Fatima who shares that her earnings have enabled her to support her family financially. (Photo courtesy – Zaika-e-Nizamuddin)

The set menu begins with a comforting shorba of lotus stem for vegetarians and yakhni for non-vegetarians. Soon arrives a plate with a series of tempting dishes, from perfectly grilled paneer tikka and melt-in-mouth soya shami and hara bhara kebab for vegetarians to chicken tikka, mutton shami and seekh kebab for non-vegetarians. Impressing us the most were the mains where an indulgent mutton nihari was served alongside murg palak, urad bathuwa (goosefoot leaves) dal, biryani and a tandoori roti and butter naan for non-vegetarians. The vegetarians had soya chaap gravy, methi bhurji with dal, biryani and bread. The methi bhurji, essentially a dry aloo methi sabzi which is popular in North India, stood out for its perfect balance of spices and simplicity.

“While nihari and kebabs are the go-to dishes when it comes to Mughlai food, the food cooked in Nizamuddin sees dishes that go beyond the usual like keema karela, mutton khichda, bhindi gosht and murg palak,” shared Swati Batra, who worked on this project as part of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture before she came on board as part of one of the partners in Zaika-e-Nizamuddin and started working in the capacity of an advisor.

The appetisers comprised perfectly grilled paneer tikka and melt-in-mouth soya shami and hara bhara kebab for vegetarians. (Photo courtesy – Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport)

“The culinary heritage of this neighbourhood is over 700 years old and has been shaped a lot by the people who migrated here over the years, including Muslims from UP and Bengal,” she added.

During our interactions with the home chefs turned businesswomen behind the meal, we learnt that most of these women are in their 30s and adopted motherhood while they were still a teenager. A lack of education and an environment that needed them to seek permission from their husbands to step out meant they had little working in their favour until things changed for good.

“Back in 2009, we started with snacks like nutritious ladoos for children (after a survey revealed malnourishment in 50 per cent of children of the basti). At that point, we would barely get Rs 100 a month and now we easily make around Rs 15,000,” said Fatima, 35, who is a mother of three children, the eldest being 21-year-old.

(L-R) Chef Ganesh Amkar, Fatima, Saiba, Kulsum, Neha and chef Ajay at Ummrao. (Photo courtesy – Courtyard by Marriott, Mumbai International Airport)

These women also registered their first profit as partners, besides the salary that they receive for preparing food, in the financial year 2022-23. “It enables us to help our families financially, say buy a two-wheeler or contribute in buying a home, and that has changed our worth in our own homes,” she admitted, adding that now her mother-in-law volunteers to help when she is away from home on a food promotion event.

“Earlier we would have to seek permission from our husbands to even step out of the house but now we receive support from them when we visit different cities to promote our food,” shared Neha, 30.

The group has been to Hyderabad, Kochi and Mumbai to promote their food besides catering to regular orders that are delivered throughout Delhi and they have hired a delivery boy for the same.

“The best days are those when we get orders from Tata Airlines for snack boxes for their corporate events. We work day and night and it brings us about Rs 1.5 lakh,” adds Saiba, 31.

We rounded off the meal with phirni and kulfi, but nothing could match the sweetness that one feels deep within seeing their carefree and confident smiles.

To place your order in Delhi, call on 9891543356 and write to them on zaika.e.nizamuddin@gmail.com to invite them to your city.