Culinary Treasures from the Thanjavur Royal Kitchen

Traditional south Indian fare is exquisite, but the unique delicacies of the Thanjavur royal family have only recently become accessible to the public.

You could be forgiven for assuming dishes like the mashyache kebab (pan-fried poppy seeds and green chilli-smeared fish fillets), komdiche kebab (chicken kebab with coriander, pepper and ginger), kesari maas (dry mutton mince with saffron and spices), kelyachi bhaji (raw banana tossed with karivadagam and hurit, a mixture made by roasting lentils, rice and sesame seeds and ground into a coarse powder) are part of regular south Indian meal. But what makes the food of the Thanjavur royal kitchen so unique is the distinct and unmistakable influence of Marathi cuisine.

 The cuisine of Thanjavur is a mix of traditional Brahmin, Mukkulathor and Maratha cuisines, drawing from the communities that have lived in and around Thanjavur. In general, Thanjavur dishes and recipes are accessible. But, the heirloom recipes of the royal family remain shrouded in intrigue.

 The Maratha dynasty ruled Thanjavur from 1674 to 1855 AD, and this period is considered the golden era of the region. The Maratha kings did not impose their culture on the Tamil people of the region. Instead, they adopted the arts, culture and local cuisine as their own, patronised them, and contributed to their advancement, while also imparting their influence in distinct ways. The kola urundai, for example, first came into being when the Tanjore Marathas introduced a dish similar to the Maharashtrian shunti kebab.

Raja Serfoji, a gourmand who knew his food well,  employed staff to manually document the recipes of his palace cooks. These documents, written in the ancient Modi script that is used for Marathi, contain detailed information on royal ceremonies, festivals and the food eaten on these occasions. Collectively, these five-hundred plus document bundles, are called Modi Records and are stored at the Saraswathi Mahal, one of the oldest libraries in Asia, located within the grounds of the Thanjavur palace.  

Two manuscripts from the Modi Records have been compiled and published by the Saraswathi Mahal as Sarabhendra Pakasathram. Because of the scarcity of people proficient in the Modi script, many more documents are yet to be deciphered.

Komdiche kebab, a delicacy of chicken cooked with coriander, pepper and ginger

With the aim of creating awareness about their heritage cuisine, the royal family of Thanjavur have partnered with ITC Hotels to share their heirloom recipes. Chef Praveen Anand, Executive Chef of Southern Cuisine from the ITC Hotels, has curated a special festival with these recipes, Thanjavur Royal Kitchen, recently showcased at several ITC properties across India. This festival gave diners from across the country an opportunity to savour these hitherto unknown dishes. Abaji Rajah Bhonsle the younger brother of Babaji Rajah Bhonsle Chattrapathy, the current Head of the Maratha Royal family of Thanjavur, along with two chefs from the palace, travelled with the team to demystify these ancient cooking methods.

Abaji Rajah Bhonsle explains, “I wanted to bring back the lost culture of food, along with art and culture. Our royal heirloom recipes were distinct in a way because they used a lot of chillies, and freshly pounded all the spices, making the food very rustic. The ingredients used in our cuisine are all local, similar to what is consumed elsewhere in Thanjavur. But the treatment and marination impart a distinct flavour, making this sub-cuisine incredible unique. The marination is key, and only the ladies of the family are well-versed with it.” 

Chef Praveen Anand, ITC Hotels reiterates, “While the ingredients of this cuisine are similar to what is available in the south, their food tastes different because of how they treat the spices, and the pairings they follow. For most dishes, the spices are freshly ground.”

“Apart from being documented, what is surprising in these recipes is the detailed account of the measures, and the number of people these measures are expected to serve,” he adds.

Several dishes are laborious and have to be prepared painstakingly, following a very particular sequence. Abaji Rajah Bhonsle elaborates, “For instance, the shakar biranji (sweet rice pulao with almonds and sultanas) takes nearly two hours to prepare. It entails three elaborate steps of boiling dal with spices, then making a poppy paste and lastly, cooking the rice the way biryani would be cooked.”

Tamarind was extensively used in Thanjavur cuisine. In fact, it is believed that, sambar was invented when a Maratha cook attempted to make dal with tamarind instead of the usual kokum. Dried red chilies, pepper, coconut milk and poppy seeds are other ingredients that are used lavishly in this cuisine, which is well-spiced, but not fiery. The use of unusual ingredients such as cow’s milk in porathi kozhambu imparts this cuisine with its own distinctive flavour.

Pickled eggs from the Thanjavur royal cuisine. Find the recipe here.

Not all these dishes are prepared daily. Some are reserved for special occasions. “Khendatta and laat bhakri are made on Bhogi, and sunti is generally prepared when we have special guests over,” says Abaji Bhonsle. His personal favourite is kesari maas, originally made with deer, but now subbed with lamb. This shredded dry meat dish is redolent with saffron, and tossed with poppy seeds and chillies. The cuisine also offers a plethora of seafood dishes. The delectable seafood selection of fish, crabs, lobsters are mostly cooked in coconut milk, imparting a delicious, rich flavour.

Contrary to popular belief, several vegetarian dishes exist in the royal cuisine like khendatta, porathi kozambhu. Kumbakonam kadappa, another vegetarian dish, brings out the Thanjavur-Maratha history, and is made of  potato kurma cooked with moong dal. It has the seasonings of sambar but contains poppy seeds, coconut and cashew.

The royal family is particular about having separate kitchens for vegetarian and non-vegetarian cooking. Abaji Rajah Bhonsle, adds, “Three different kitchens were present in the palace. A purely non-vegetarian kitchen, another Brahmin vegetarian kitchen, and an English kitchen.” In addition to the three main kitchens there were also three separate smaller kitchens — sherbet khana, obdhar khana and thattimahal khana — for sherbet, water and milk.

Ambat rasa (a fiery yam curry with a myriad spices), udidal saakla (boiled black gram with onion and tomato), ambat bindiya (lady fingers or bhindi with Indian spices) and kaccha pulicha (tamarind extract with onion and coriander), are the popular vegetarian south Indian dishes in Thanjavur, sans the Maratha influence.

Traditional south Indian vegetarian fare is exquisite at Sree Aariya Bhavan, non-vegetarian biryanis are served at Thevars, but the unique Maratha-Thanjavur delicacies of the royal family can only be eaten at food festivals or a dish or two, as part of specially conducted culinary trails by Puliyogare Travels.

Recipe: Egg Pickle

Ingredients
25 eggs
60 g roasted fenugreek seeds
60 g roasted and bran removed mustard seeds
10 g fried asafoetida
5 g turmeric powder
20 g powdered cumin seeds
10 tola salt
20 tolas garlic
10 limes limes

Method
Juice the limes in a large vessel. Add the turmeric powder, powder of red chillies, asafoetida, mustard powder to this. Peel the garlic and cut them into thin slices length wise.

Then place a frying pan in the oven and pour half a pound of groundnut oil and pour in it all powdered masala ingredients and the lime fruit juice already kept aside and blend the whole thing well and keep it on the stove, kindle the fire and boil the whole mixture.

Then put all the 25 eggs in a vessel and pour over 2.5 pounds of water and hard boil the eggs. Remove carefully and slowly the shells covering the eggs and pare with a sharp knife at the top of the eggs till it reaches the fringes of the yellow yolk; but should not cut open fully.

In this manner all eggs should be slightly cut open.

Then place a frying vessel and pour oil and slowly put all the peeled eggs and fry them to golden red colour and then pour over all the masala condiment ingredients.

Boil till steam escapes from the vessel, remove the lid and stir with the ladle and after a short while remove the vessel from the fire.

This egg pickle can be kept for 3 to 4 days for use without getting staled or spoiled.

In the same manner in which egg pickle is prepared, fish pickle can also be prepared. The fish pieces must be well fried in oil till they turn golden blackish red colour.

Then the fish pieces should be added in the pickle masala mix as was done in the case of the egg pickle.

Mini Ribeiro is an independent food & beverage writer, critic and columnist.

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