Customer Reviews

Princely Legacy Hyderabadi Cuisine

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I stumbled upon this book on my last visit to Hyderabad. After I got over the sticker shock (the book is over $70), I was delighted to find it chock full of not only just typical Hyderabadi recipes but also a wonderful compendium on Hyderabadi culture. The introduction, written by the author's husband, a member of an old and very prestigious Hyderabadi family, is an invaluable part of this book. He seems to have thought of everything! From a succint history of Hyderabad, to delightful and insightful comments on Hyderabadi dishes, the people, the values of lehaaz (consideration) and murrawat (feeling), not to mention poetry and some quintessential Hyderabadi sayings such as, "Charminar ko chuna pada!" ("Charminar got painted" snidely uttered when you see someone not known for their grooming habits, take a shower or wash themselves.)

Being a Hyderabadi Mathur myself, I particularly enjoyed the beautiful photographs and well-presented pages. The book holds a very special place in my library because it is such a handy way to explain to my friends who I am, where I come from, and why, even though I'm so hard pressed for time and help, I continue to spend time in the kitchen turning out this exotic fare.

I am a hyderabadi muslim , was thrilled to get this book from amazon, was amazed at authors research on hyderabad food couture and culture , i am sure her love forher husband got her to research and create this amazing book , i am going to keep at as atreaure to be passed onto my daughters . thanks ma'am , god bless u aadab arz hai .

A Princely Legacy - Hyderabadi Cuisine by Pratibha Karan is a must have and must read book by any one who is interested in Indian Cooking in general and Hyderabadi Cuisine in particular and this I can say with a bit of authority as I hail from Hyderabad.

What is refreshing about this book is the recipes - my biggest problem with majority of recipe books is that they focus way too much on the food served in the restaurants which means the recipes are the kind which you could find in every other recipe book. But this is not the case with this book. The recipes listed here are the ones you might not have heard about, leave alone eating them in any of Indian Restaurants.

The recipes are as authentic as it could get to the Hyderabadi home cooked food - it is a pity that the restaurants have ignored the rich legacy of Hyderabadi cuisine beyond Dum Ki Biryani.

Take the case of Chigur Ghosht - Meat with tender Tamarind shoots, this is one of my family favorites or Ambada Jhinge - prawns with Roselle Leaves (some Andhra Restaurants serve this under the name Gongura meaning Roselle Leaves) or the Tala Hua Gosht - fried mutton pieces - one I enjoy eating with hot steaming rice and Dalcha - another hyderabadi specialty made with lentils which also finds mention in this recipe book.

I can keep going on about the recipe listing and the credit for it should go to the author Pratibha Karan who had accessed the royal kitchen details on account of her marriage to one of the top officials in the Nizam Kingdom.

I hope this book will encourage many more food enthusiasts to start experimenting with Hyderabadi Cooking beyond Dum Ki Biryani.

Enjoy !!

Nitin Jaiswal
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