were involved in laying the sumptuous nawabi dastarkwan. Countless variety of meat, stew and curries were prepared to the taste of nawabs, begums and nobles. Cuisines of Awadh were influenced by Mughal cooking techniques and were enriched by those of Persia, Kashmir, Hyderabad and Punjab. Bawarchis of Awadh evolved dum style of cooking, the art of cooking over low fire. This mode of cooking later became synonymous with the region. The spread consisted of elaborate dishes like kababs, korma, kofta, queema, biryani, kulchas, rumali roti and wargi parathas. The main ingredients ghee and best of the spices were used lavishly. The mere sight of fried parathas and tantalizing smoke kababs was enough to arouse craving for the royal flavours. The bread, generally made without use of yeast, had many varieties. Some were grilled or directly baked over fire while others were fried. Birya is a Persian term, which means fried or roasted. From birya came biryani that is prepared with fried or roasted rice. Biryanis said to have threehundred and sixty-five variants, one for each day of the year. In Persian dum stands for breath and pukht stands for cooking. In Awadh dum-pukht- biryani is prepared in a copper or earthen heavy bottomed vessel covered with a lid. After laying the ingredients into the pot, the lid is tightly sealed using dough. The biryani is thus steam cooked slowly under low heat. Aroma of biryani prepared with aromatic herbs with fragrance of cardamom, cinamon and highest quality saffron from Kashmir valley is mouth watering. Teheri the trademark vegetarian version of Awadhi biryani is a common household dish today whereas zarda is aromatic sweetened rice. During the famine days when Imambara was ordered to be constructed to provideemployment to a large number of people, they all were fed with biryani and tehri from charity kitchen to circumvent tedious task of preparing rotis. There were two types of menus the khas and the aam. The former was served to nawabs and all those who shared dastarkhwan with them and the latter was meant for the lesser beings attached with the establishment. The mode of sitting was cross-legged on the carpet. The dinning cloth (dastarkhwan) was spread over the carpet where meal was laid and served. Variety of crockery that was arranged consisted of bowls, dishes and plates. These were made of gold, silver, crystal and porcelain of high quality known by names tibbi, faghfuri, skatatai, Khitmo and ghori. Ghori was special as it cracked the moment it encountered poison. It was rare, very expensive and brought from Persia and Arabia. Before commencing hands and mouth were washed using apparatuses aftaba and chilamchi. The first morsel was placed in mouth with utterance of the word bismillah. Right hand was used in eating, while attendants waved fans made of feather gently. Eating concluded with the word shukrana. For washing the hands besan (powdered gram) was presented. It served the purpose of soap. Meal was followed by chewing paan (betel leaf) and smoking the hookah (hubble bubble). To ensure supply of clean potable water there was a special department — Abdarkhana. The supervisor of abdarkhana was daroga-e-abdarkhana and the one who served water was abdar. Expertise of manufacturing ice and cooling water existed in Abdarkhana even in those days. The nawabs have gone but the cooking traditions of those times still continue in Awadh region — renowned Tunde ke Kabab of Lucknow today are over a century old. The famous outlet is so namedon its one armed chef who lost his arm following a fall from rooftop while flying kite. The recipe of Tunde ke Kabab is a guarded secret of the family. Another famous brand Kakori Kabab finds its origin in Kakori, a place less than hundred kilometers from Lucknow. In Kakori Kababs meat of tendons of the leg of goat is used. Nawab Wajid Ali Shah who lost his teeth in early age found it difficult to chew. To serve him his cooks came out with a special variety of soft kabab, which melted as soon as it was put in mouth. This kabab got the name galauti kabab, the one that melts away. Other famous variety of kababs of Awadh are Shami Kabab, Pasanda Kabab and range of vegetarian Kababs — Dalcha Kabab, Kathal ke Kabab, Arbi ke Aabab and Rajma Galauti Kabab. Kofta another dish, invented in Constantinople (present day Istanbul), came to India with travelers and invaders from Turky through Iran and Afghanistan. Tt was adopted and was transformed into a total Indian dish. There are two special varieties of kofta one Nargisi Kofta and another Chui Mui Kofta. Nargisi named after Daffodil flower is yellow inside and Chui Mud is fragile and shy akin to Mimosapudica, touch me not creeper. Kheer, firni, sher brunj and range of halwas have become perennial desserts since their origin from nawabi kitchen. Multiple varieties of pickles, chutnees and murabbas are still the part of the menu to make the food tastier. With such extensive varieties coming out of expert hands, cuisines of Awadh had an alluring invitation for one and all. Everyone from far and wide had curiosity to peep into the royal kitchens of Awadh. Awadh virtually became a _gastronomical pilgrimage of that time.