The history of the royal velvet roti of Awadh’s Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.

Have you ever eaten velvet bread? Narm like velvet. If you keep the finger, then it is cut. Get dissolved as soon as it goes into the mouth. Once upon a time, such bread is the pride of the royal houses. However, now it has disappeared. When he went to the royal family, these silk rotis also disappeared. With this, the velvet paratha disappeared, which the eaters used to become crazy about it.

Velvet roti named her velvet and exactly fine silk layers like velvet. It was neither a common tandoori roti, nor a tawa paratha, but a fine -in -floor and little muslin like fine -in -thewest layer. The dough used to be kneaded by mixing eggs, sometimes cream or milk. In ghee or butter, it was cooked on a low flame or on a low flame.

The thickness of the bread was so thin that the part of the other side used to peeping lightly, so soft that even the fingers were torn. It was special that it would dissolve as soon as it goes into the mouth. Every person’s scent of ghee, saffron, kevra, rose water.

Wajid Ali Shah’s cook

Most historians and Dastarkhwan Researchers consider it to be the desire of the Nawab Wajid Ali Shah of Awadh (Lucknow). Some forms of this are also seen in the Dastarkhwan of the Begums of Patiala and Bhopal. Before knowing more about this roti, know the three stories called it.

It is said that Awadh’s Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was as fond of eating food as much as it was. Once the Nawab Saheb said to his special cook, “O Haji Mian! Bring some bread, which is seen, if you see a sheet of velvet and eat it, then it dissolves in the mouth.”

Haji Mian thought a lot. Tandoor Roti, Tawa Paratha, Taataan, Sheeramal were all formed. Then for the first time he kneaded flour by adding cream, milk, kevra and saffron. Made very fine layers, applied ghee and arrowroot in the middle. Then it was slowly baked and introduced.

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh was known for his heavy parathas. One day the Maharaja, who returned from Nawabi Dastarkhan of Lucknow, said,
“We also need such a paratha which is velvet. It is not even cut off the knife.”
The royal cook Rasul kitchen of Patiala made a lot of efforts. Mixed a velvet paratha by mixing paste of maida, cream, saffron, almond-pistachios.
He was so soft and ghee that the Maharaja ate and said, “Today I felt like bread, not eating velvet.” From that day onwards, every celebration was made in the Maharaja’s Dastarkhwan and a velvet paratha in Mushaira. Whenever a guest came to eat, he would definitely be presented a velvet paratha.

Story 3 – Begum Sultana Jahan Ka Dastarkhan (Bhopal)

Begum Sultana Jahan of Bhopal once said in a Mushaira, “Today you want a bread that is soft like Mehboob’s sluggish.” On his request, for the first time, for the first time, the dough with eggs, cream and kevada made velvet bread. It is said that that night there was more velvet roti than poetry in the entire Mushaira.

These three stories say that the royal food was not just taste, almost, smell and glory. The Nawabs of Awadh wanted to make the roti as royal as the kebab or biryani. Therefore, his royal cooks made many variations of rotis. Like – Shirmal, Taqtan and then Velvet Bread. Later, Nizam of Hyderabad, Maharaja of Patiala and Begum Sultana Jahan of Bhopal also adopted.

Is such a velvet bread now made somewhere

The real velvet bread is now almost endangered. However, some forms close to this are still found in the old Kabbi Mohallas of Lucknow, in the streets behind the Charminar in Hyderabad and in Ibrahimpura in Bhopal. Now people have started calling it ‘muslin paratha’ or ‘silk roti’, but like real velvet bread, texture and smell are now equal.

That is, it is difficult to handle such a softness, not with a knife, but also with fingers.

What used to be velvet paratha

On hearing the name ‘velvet paratha’, a magnificent paratha glowing with silk soft layers with silk soft layers in the mind comes in Tassavur. In fact, the velvet paratha is a very unique and lost dish of Indian royal kitchens, especially mentioned in the courtiers of Patiala, Awadh, and Hyderabad.
It fell due to a soft texture and taste like velvet, that is, velvet. It was completely different from the common paratha. Finely layers. Ghee was baked very slowly and was prepared especially in almonds, pistachios, kevda, and saffron paste.

From Majoon-e-Ishq paste to Gauraya’s mind-what used to eat for strength

Dried dry fruits or mince

Fine flour and a little arrowroot were added to this paratha flour so that the layers become very fine and soft. Cleaning with ghee and rolling it on low heat, so that its texture would become exactly like silk velvet. Sometimes mawa (khoya), dry fruits, or minced were also filled in the middle of the paratha. Before serving it, rose water, Kevada water or saffron extracts were sprinkled.

It was kept in a silver plate. Sometimes gold and silver work was also planted on it. It was served with royal kebabs, Nihari or Dum-e-Patiala. It was served in the court of Patiala, especially during the night banquet in winter. The royal was also part of the royal Dastarkhwan in the Nawabi era of Lucknow. Later, in some forms, it was also made in sweet flavor like Sheermal in the kitchen of Hyderabad.

It is said that when Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala had to keep a special party for his British guests, he would definitely make ‘velvet paratha’. Once an English general ate it and said, “This is more soft than my wife’s hand.”