Shermaal (2022)Lucknow Bioscope
As the name indicates, this is a breakfast item, to be eaten early in the morning. This dish is made from choice beef/mutton pieces, blended with spices and cooked slowly overnight over a charcoal fire, in a thin gravy. As a finishing touch some roasted gram flour or refined flour are added. This thickens the gravy and gives it body. The kulcha is the flatbread accompaniment to a nihari. It is flaky and soft and is made from a specially kneaded dough of refined flour and then baked in a tandoor. Nihari can also be eaten with khameeri roti, a flatbread made with whole wheat flour and yeast and baked in a traditional clay oven called tandoor.
Lucknow Bioscope Kulcha Nihari Banner (2024)Lucknow Bioscope
1. Raheem's
We had dared to intrude upon Zubair Ahmad at his world famous outlet a little late in the evening. He was regaling clients and random visitors with an anecdote. A buzz of conversation floated among the clientele who were enjoying their meal oblivious of the fact that Zubair Ahmad wanted their attention.
Raheem (2022)Lucknow Bioscope
All of a sudden, he lost his temper and petulantly exclaimed—“Hey, listen up you guys!” A hush fell. “Firaq Saheb (Raghupati Sahai, ‘Firaq’, the poet) was reciting at a poets’ conference in the University. Some boys heckled him, saying that he should use Hindi! (the vernacular, as opposed to the courtly Urdu that Firaq wrote in). Firaq said, ‘you want poetry in Hindi?’ They were abashed. Firaq went on—‘…a cup is called a crock in Hindi. Will you have your wine in a crock or a crystal flute?”
Zubair and his friends laughed at the anecdote, and went on to lose themselves in exegesis of Firaq’s oeuvre. It took some formal hints to bring the conversation back to the food outlet. “There was a time when connoisseurs from near and far would deign to visit us during the dramatic sunsets of Awadh. Nowadays, people can’t distinguish between a qorma and a stew—both are curry for them.
About 60-65 years ago, a maulana (cleric) who was an Iranian used to be a regular here. A qorma was served to him one time, and he was offended: ‘you served me the meat of a miserable goat!’ My late father was nonplussed, but in reply, he told him a story about a Bengali gourmet.
“A Bengali babu was buying mince at the shop I once went to”, he said. “The babu told the butcher—‘don’t give me sheep mince.’ I thought to myself, this person is buying mincemeat. Does he have the wherewithal to distinguish between sheep-meat and goat-meat in mince? Anyway, the gentleman went off with his mincemeat, but returned pretty soon in high dudgeon.
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Controlling himself with effort, he said very politely—‘I had told you not to give me sheep’—and with the pernickety attitude that Bengalis are known for—‘there is (a specific proportion) of sheep mutton in this mincemeat!’ This is what connoisseurs used to be!...Today, whatever you feed them is god’s blessing.” Zubair guffaws.
“Our food and Allah’s bounty remain just as they were earlier. Its just that there are fewer gourmets these days. We buy good meat; it is a bit expensive, but we insist! Saffron and nuts were available earlier, as they are today; we insist that these things must be bought! When I was a student, we were transiting to English as the medium of instruction. We undergraduates couldn’t speak English properly—today’s kids speak such zipping English! Once my niece told me, ‘here, In London, we get all kinds of food—Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian. What we don’t get is Lucknow food—nihari-kulcha and kabab-paratha.’ Our food is no less than Italian or Chinese food, but we have no international presence. There is nobody to encourage us to try.”
2. Ache Bhai Kulche Nihari
Ghufran Ahmad Khan rues that everybody knows him by the name of 'Achhe Bhai Nihari Wale', but only a few know that the original Achhe Bhai was his grandfather Chunne Miyan who set up this business about 70 years ago. Ghufran’s father succeeded him. “I addded very little to the business I inherited from my father and grandfather, but have not compromised with the changing times. We only cook beef nihari, and the neighbourhood appreciates it.
Front view of ache bhai nihari . (2022) by Isha Pratap Singh and Anshubhi SinghLucknow Bioscope
Lucknow has a presence of many eminent chefs, such as Rahim and Mobeen, before whom we are puny. We go by the principle 'If you have eaten well, then feed them well.' We make every effort to maintain the quality and the taste for which we are famous since Grandfather’s time, regardless of whether we are able to expand the business.
I have learnt from my father’s business ethics— ‘Speak the truth and live by the truth. It is better to stop work rather than bring a bad name to the business.’ I hold to this, till this day. Otherwise, praise be to Allah, I make the effort and he blesses it with flavour.
‘Nihari’ is a blessing that is savoured for breakfast.During Ramzan, early in the morning, you realize that there was a time that people used to come out with tiffin carriers after the Tahajjud namaz(pre-dawn prayer) for nihari. If they had guests, nihari-kulcha was mandatory. For more than fifty years we served nihari-kulcha from 6.00 am till noon, but now we function only in the evening. There are very few customers in the morning, but we get business, mostly from youngsters, in the evenings. Older people still enjoy having it early in the morning. Very few, such as Rahim and Mubeen, continue to serve nihari in the mornings now. We had crowds of customers till 3.00 am in the old days, but we can’t afford to maintain that model any more.
3. Haji Inayatullah Hotel
Saifullah, manning the cash counter, says that this outlet started operating about 65-70 years ago. His grandfather used to live in Lucknow itself, and used his own name for the establishment. The initial objective was to serve nihari and kulcha to the clientele. Gradually, the menu began to diversify. These days, gooda nihari (nihari with bone marrow) and moong gosht are considered their specialities.
The recipe and ingredients haven’t changed since his grandfather’s time. What has changed are the prices—from 4 annas a plate in the beginning, the price of basic nihari has now reached Rs. 90.
Saifullah’s father Salmanullah learned the craft and the business from his own father and joined him in his youth. He now prefers to oversee only the kitchen. He says that his presence ensures that the superior quality of the food they serve is maintained. He trains the cooks and supervises the preparation of all the dishes. Saifullah himself joined the family enterprise in 2011. He points to a large, long-handled ladle: “We still have this kafgeer from my grandfather’s time. It was used to dish out Nihari from this large cooking pot. Now we use a steel ladle, but we retain this one as a souvenir of sorts.”
4. Gharib Nawaz Hotel
Lucknow lies on both sides of the Stone Bridge across the River Gomti. Chowk and Husainabad are on the right bank and have their share of famous food joints, and Khadra on the left bank has its own. Vazir Ahmad is a devotee of Khwaja Gharib Nawaz of Ajmer, (a revered sufi saint) and named his restaurant after his spiritual master when he started it 30-35 years ago. Vazir Ahmad started with just biryani. Within a couple of years, saalan roti, paaye, nihari and khameeri roti were added to the menu.
Khameeri Roti (2022)Lucknow Bioscope
Very soon, his rotis became the talk of not only Khadra, but the whole town. Before this, khameeri rotis were not popular in Lucknow. The kulcha and sheermaal made in Lucknow are very distinctive. Rather than these breads,Gharib Nawaz Hotel specializes in dhaniya (green coriander) roti. After Vazir Ahmad, his son Zaheer Ahmad took over the business. His sons Mohammad Umar and Mohammad Waris manage it now.
Umar is overall incharge, and Waris is continuing his education while working part-time. They have maintained the flavours of their grandfather’s time. Umar recalls that when he was young, this part of Khadra used to be deserted by 7.00 pm. Customers would hesitate to visit for evening meals. Now, the place is abuzz till late in the night. The restaurant is open for six days a week and closed on Tuesdays.
5. Mubeen's
In the early days, Mohammad Mubeen set up shop in Nakkhas, selling pasanda, nihari and kulcha. In 1973, they moved to the present premises; and are now famous all over Lucknow.
Shermaal being taken out of the oven. (2022) by Ayan BoseLucknow Bioscope
Mubeen’s father Ismael and mother Nadiri learnt to cook under the tutelage of Nadiri’s father, the majordomo of the then Begum of Bhopal. The begum had given a shop on the ground floor of a mosque where Mubeen and his brother sold pasanda, kabab, paratha and nihari.
In the 1960s, Mubeen and Nadiri moved to Lucknow. When finances improved, they were able to buy farmland for tilling, near Malihabad. Their son Rizwan took up farming. When age caught up with Mubeen, Rizwan began to devote more time to the shop. Rizwan’s own sons, Shuaib and Yahya were involved in the management of the business since boyhood. Even today, the family is deeply involved in running the outlet.
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The kheer that is sold here is cooked by Shama, Rizwan’s aging wife. From 6.00 am, Yahya and the employees open the shop. He is on duty till 6 pm, after which his elder brother takes over till about 1:30 am, the next morning. Yahya says: “I have seen my grandfather at work. Nobody can prepare pasande to measure up to his technique. He used to fix a knife between his toes, and peel out layers of meat in rolls, from a joint he held in both hands. I’ve learnt from him, but I can’t make the kind of wafers of meat that he was able to.
Many try to use the same technique today, but the first time I saw it done, it was by my grandfather. The marinade he used was his own ‘secret.’ Papa knows the secret, but we don’t.” Rizwan has not yet disclosed the secret to his sons. He just hands over the marinade to them, although it is they who run the outlet. Yahya is sipping paye ka shorba as we talk.
With the objective of serving customers the best food, members of the family ensure that they taste and pass the dish before it is sold. He smiles and admits that if something is made well, he is often not above ‘tasting’ quite a large quantity! “There are some hospitals close by. We open till late for the patients and their attendants—of course, connoisseurs know that we are open for business till late hours even today. Apart from that, we are very proud that ladies and girls don’t hesitate to visit us late in the evening, even if they are by themselves. This is a major accomplishment —everyone understands that this locality is safe for women.”
