Mughlai Cuisine

Browse All Mughlai Recipes: Mughlai Appetizers | Mughlai Beverages | Mughlai Soups | Mughlai Salads | Mughlai Vegetarian | Mughlai Meat Dishes | Mughlai Snacks | Mughlai Desserts

Overview of Mughlai Cuisine History
Mughlai is part of extremely diverse Indian cuisine. The cooking traditions of the Indian subcontinent, which until 1947 was one country, go back a few thousand years and it would indeed be very difficult to split the culture into Indian or Pakistani as the people are so intermingled to this date. The Mughlai cuisine is of course, as diverse as Punjabi. The most prominent north India and Pakistani cuisine, though, is the Mughlai cuisine which is also well-known all the way through middle India. Although Muslims are non-vegetarian, it is contrary to popular belief that they do not eat vegetables pulses or beans. The repertoire of the Mughlai food in Pakistan is very similar to that of India; the one difference that springs to mind is that in Pakistan, a lot more cooking fat is used and a fair amount of chili powder and it this that gives the Mughlai cuisine an extremely rich color while Indian version of Mughlai food uses exotic spices hence robust flavor. Pakistani population is comprised of by mostly Muslims, hence most Moghlai recipe uses meat. However, one finds many Moghlai vegetarian recipes in India. Furthermore, in the beverage category, you will find many drinks that are traditional to the core, but most of them will be non-alcoholic perticularly in Pakistan. The Indo/Pak Mughlai cuisine is similar to that of its neighbors: Afghanistan and Iran as well.

Cuisines of Mughlai
The Mughlai cuisine is just as varied and full of abundant variety as are the people of India. The bequest of the Muslim rule in South Asia has facilitated the Mughlai cuisine to be influenced the highest degree by its roots of Indian-Afghan-Turkic-Iranian roots. Most of the recipes to the Mughlai cuisine are more or less similar to that of the Indian cuisine. The Pakistani Pushtuns and Balochis have preserved their traditional Mughlai cuisine similar to that of Pakistan’s western neighbors. In a rather general context, the Mughlai cuisine is an amalgamation of its western (Afghan-Iranian) and eastern (Indian-Pakistani) neighbors. Meat composes as being a major diet in the Mughlai cuisine in Pakistan; on the other hand meat,vegetables, pulses and beans are just as important in the cuisine in India. Wheat and rice are the main staple diet in the Mughlai cuisine. The spices used in the Mughlai cuisine more often than not range from being very spicy, hot and mild. For the most part of the recipes that you will find in the cuisine will be normally spicy. Nonetheless, the Mughlai cuisine is truly unique.

Indian Food Glossary
Finding the ingredients for an Mughlai Recipe is not so easy when you do not know the names of the ingredients. Take time to make a list of ingredients and the name they may be found under at the Local Markets.


 * Check out the Pakistani Food Glossary and the
 * Check out the Indian Food Glossary

Preparation Methods for Mughlai Cooking
As the sub-continent is so vast, therefore the preparation methods of the Mughlai cuisine of Pakistan also differ from region to region. Commonly the whole spices are often dry roasted in a frying pan or they are fried in a little quantity of oil or ghee prior to being used whole, crushed or ground up for use in a recipe. They basically vary in thickness and hardness. Frying spices for the preparation of the Mughlai Pakistani cuisine is quite simple and easy, and frying spices to a great extent depends on the kind of spice you are frying first, for instance, the mustard seeds will take you longer to fry than coriander, therefore always fry the spices which might be more time consuming than the softer spices. The meat dishes found in the Mughlai cuisine of Pakistan are commonly first marinated in yogurt and spices and then cooked very slowly in the marinade or saturate. The meat dishes in the Mughlai cuisine of Pakistan are quite well-liked as are the vegetarian dishes in the Mughlai Pakistani cuisine.

Special Equipment for Mughlai Cooking
Very little ‘special’ equipment would be needed to prepare your Mughlai cuisine. Pots and pans those are non-sticky of course as they make the best utensils for simply any type of cooking, so try getting a hold of a few of those if you do not have them already. Moreover, using wooden stirrers in place of stainless steel ones is the best choice always. Even so, it is always exciting to know about and if you wish to cook with specialized Mughlai equipment. If you are an ingenious cook and want to prepare your Indian meal in the true traditional Mughlai style then it will not be a bad idea to invest into getting a ‘Tawa’. The traditional North Indian breads such as chapattis, parathas and rotis are all made using the tawa. Karahi is another deep frying pot which looks quite like a Chinese wok but it is heavier and deeper than the former. The karahi makes a great alternative for ordinary deep frying recipes. Commonly the meat dishes are prepared in the karahi. Other than the traditional tawa and karahi, spice grinders, food processors or electric blenders are always useful to make your cooking easy and joyful. Obtaining a few metal skewers for meat and vegetable threading is also a handy utensil. Other than that, electric spice grinder or a simple pestle and mortar are invaluable for grinding small quantities of spices. Food processors or electric blenders usually save a lot of your cooking hours and make your preparation of the Mughlai cooking even easier.

Mughlai Food Traditions and Festivals
The Mughlai cuisine is rich not only in its cultural way of preparation but also in its food traditions and festivals. Indians are genuinely lovers of food and especially if it is the Mughlai food. Indians simply need an occasion to have a good time, celebrate and with each celebration follows a grand Mughlai feast. The South Asian Subcontinent weddings are grand in every form of the word. There is a lot of festivity on weddings, every region within North India has a different way of celebrating weddings, which is of course the serving of grand traditional Mughlai food from the Mughlai cuisine.

People in Mughlai Food

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