Today’s Mughlai food is not the real cuisine: MasterChef Farman Ali

“Dilli hai dil Hindustan ka, yeh to tirath hai saare jahan ka (Delhi is India’s heart, and the world’s pilgrimage).”

This verse from the movie Patang rings true to the heart of a Delhiite looking for food iconic to the capital’s palette. The city’s cuisine has been heavily influenced by Mughal food—presenting rich and complex flavours through the use of aromatic spices, saffron, nuts, yoghurt, and cream. However, MasterChef Farman Ali—often referred to as ‘the last of the great chefs’ in the culinary circle—says what we eat today is not the actual Mughlai cuisine.

“The food of the Mughals isn’t what it is today. They only had olive oil, lemon, garlic, and salt. Chilli and tomatoes were introduced during Jahangir’s reign … The food we eat is not Mughlai food; it is Indian Mughlai food,” he tells YS Life.

All his life, MasterChef Ali, a native of Old Delhi, has been trying to perfect the ‘Indian Mughlai cuisine’. Over the years, he has honed his craft in renowned kitchens such as Jamavar at The Leela Mumbai, Delhi Ka Aangan at the Hyatt Regency Delhi, Darshan at Radisson SAS, Jumeira Beach Dubai, and Indian Show Kitchen at Hyatt Regency Dubai. And, at 72, he is still passionate about cooking Mughlai food without taking any shortcuts, believing that the time it takes to cook dishes in itself is a flavour.

“Dishes being served in most cuisines these days are preparatory. The plate is well-decorated but the food is without taste. A person who comes to the restaurant wants to eat something original,” he says.

MasterChef Ali brought his signature cooking style to Falak, The Leela Bhartiya City Bengaluru, when it opened in 2022. In every sense, the restaurant is a slice of Delhi in India’s Silicon Valley. With its menu, MasterChef Ali has strived to revive pre-partition cooking styles and give depth to Mughlai, Kashmiri, and Peshawari cuisines. Rather than using grinders and ovens, he employs sil batta (grindstone) and sigdi (broiler), and beyond readymade spices, he believes flavours turn complex when you add muscle to it, as taught to him by his mentor Haji Abdul Wahab who made Ali grind coriander, turmeric, and poppy seeds day in and day out under his tutelage.

“The taste and texture of such food you can’t get using powder. In India, no matter how big the brand, they can’t certify that their product is 100% pure,” he claims.

He has now helmed Falak’s new menu, crafted to suit diners' preferences while introducing more variety. The highlights of the menu include Murgh-e-Firdaus, a tangy and rich chicken appetiser, Gosht Saag, where the mutton is slow-cooked in spinach puree, and Shahi Nalli Nihari, baby lamb shanks slow-cooked overnight with aromatic spices.

MasterChef Ali tells how the Nihari sold in Shahajahanabad (Old Delhi) is entirely different, not because of regionality but economics. Chefs making the breakfast food in tiny establishments encircling the Jama Masjid would often ask their guests whether they wanted makhan ka tadka with their Nihari, which is traditionally made with beef, or add brain to it, or bone marrow—to increase the price of the dish and move their stock. And this is how dishes evolve. “If you make that Nihari with mutton, you won’t get bone marrow.”

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In a time when food has often become a divisive issue, with sometimes even rumours of a particular food becoming fatal, MasterChef Ali remains in search of good flavours and that’s all that matters.

“We were doing a festival in Lucknow and sampled both mutton tunday and beef tunday kebab. And the real taste was only in beef. Despite controversy, still people throng the shop,” he remarked.

At Falak, he has crafted the menu inclusive to vegetarians with options like Tikki Lazeez featuring cabbage patties served alongside tamarind, yoghurt, and mint chutney; Zaitooni Paneer Tikka, marinated in olive oil and stuffed with olives; and Dal-e-Falak, a 48-hour preparation of black lentils cooked in a traditional copper vessel with generous amounts of ghee specially sourced from Amritsar. “In our time, ghee was a must in the dishes. And today, if someone sees you using ghee, you will get an earful,” he quips.

“We first boil the dal and then let it simmer on slow fire on tandoor. And then its colour changes, it turns a little pink. This is not because of the masalas. And the food which looks good also tastes good,” he narrates.

MasterChef Ali believes in taking time to cook good food. The tandoori chicken, weighing 1,200 grams, takes around half an hour to serve, and the Nihari sometimes takes the entire night to prepare. Also, finding good recipes isn’t an easy task either.

“We went to Mumbai and ate pav bhaji from a famous place. We met the chef but he wasn’t willing to divulge his recipe. So, we gave him Rs 200 and he showed us how to make it. Sometimes, when you have to learn something, you have to make an effort,” he recalls.

He is also a connoisseur of history and believes one cannot detach the food from the stories it has carried over time. His motto is, Naya ek din, purana sau din (New is good but old is gold).

“It was only after 1947 that chicken and mutton became popular. Earlier, people used to eat desi chicken and fat-tailed sheep. Deer, reindeer, and nilgai—I remember people used to domesticate them for their meat. And these days, chicken gets tender faster than dal, it’s so weak,” he quips.

While he finds the food’s essence in its history, what he serves to his guests on the plate doesn’t come from a place of ‘speciality’. The septuagenarian, who started working in 1969, believes in the old adage—guest is God.

“The guest, in the true sense, is our teacher. If you ask me, what’s my speciality, I would say it’s what the guest likes. If they don’t like what I cook for them, then what will I do with my ‘speciality’,” he explains.