[Sca-cooks] Medieval Indian cooking

[Jim and Andi]

With respect:

With respect to Cariadoc, the Nimatnama is not Mughal. The Nimatnama was
written in Mandu, which is in the modern state of Madya Pradesh, by the
last emperor of the Khalji dynasty 30 years before the Mughals invaded.
The Nimatnama is true fusion cuisine from a Muslim Turkic culture which
had been blending with the predominant Hindu culture for almost two
hundred years, as the first Khaljis conquered central India in the
1300s. The food is quite different from the food of the early Mughals.	

Selewine, if you are interested in the Byzantine-era cuisines of India,
there are sources available; scant descriptions of feasts, some medical
texts, a few individual dishes. There are other translated Indian
cooking manuscripts but they are much later, such as the Manasollasa.

Medieval Indian food is quite exotic. The cooking methods and spicing is
extremely foreign to the average American palate. This could be a
fascinating challenge if you have the time and energy for the research
and recipe testing. Even modern Indian food is difficult to cook well;
though serving modern Indian food at a feast is no different than
serving Kentucky Fried Chicken. It's just as "medieval". 

Unless you are able to devote a great deal of time to researching and
testing recipes in the few short weeks before your feast, I would urge
you to explore the foods of Byzantine or Roman cuisine instead, which
are better-documented and more approachable to the modern diner.

However, if you are interested, please feel free to contact me. I would
be happy to share my bibliography.

Madhavi
An Crosaire, Trimaris