AN EMPEROR WHO BUILT THE CITY OF HYDERABAD FOR HIS BELOVED WIFE AND NAME THIS CITY AFTER HER NAME.
STORIES ABOUT THE FOUNDATION OF HYDERABAD AND ORIGIN OF ITS CUISINES:-
India has so many marvellous cities and every city has its own different identities and stories, among all those cities there is a city which is blessed with great poets and artist.The city whose market is glorious with superfine shops, the place where the people have sweetness in their dialect and fineness in their art.The people of this city proud of their heritage of salutation and culture.The cuisines of this city are also the part of the heritage of this place, here you not only taste the cuisine of this place but also the dexterity and love of the maker.
India has so many adorable and marvellous cities but perhaps, there is any city which can compete with the beauty and glory of this city. Hyderabad is among one of the tops most affluent and cultural city.This is one of the historical pillars of India which depicts the prosperity of this country.
The story of Hyderabad is about 400 years old. The beginning of this place is not like the beginning of any other city but the birth of this city is the story of a lover who met their beloved, the birth of this place depict a love story of an emperor and his beloved. The emperor of Golkunda, Quli Qutb Shah who saw his beloved first time here and fallen in love with her. The name of that girl was Bhagmati and she was extremely adorable.After her name, this city was firstly known by the name of "Bhagyanagar" and when the emperor Quli Qutb Shah married that girl Bhagmati, her name was changed to "Hyderi bai....", and on her name, Emperor Quli Qutb Shah declared the name of this city Hyderabad....So, by this way, this place is famous by the name Hyderabad which is known for its salutation, art and extreme glory.
At the centre of this city, "Charminar" glorified like a Kohinoor diamond, and people have a belief that this place where today is Charminar situated, is the place where Emperor Quli Qutb Shah first met his beloved Bhagmati who was later known by the name "Hyderi bai"... This city was the dream of that emperor who wanted to make this city so prepossessing and attractive that it competed with the beauty of the Persian city "Vishwahaan".This city of Hyderabad built on the basis of Persian architectural town planning, this kind of impact can also be seen in so many Persian cities also. If you look at the architecture of Persian cities then you can find that at the centre of those cities, there is a mosque or any building surrounded by the market.
The glorified market which is amid by the Charminar is the market of clothes, perfume, gold and silver pieces of jewellery and different Hyderabadi cuisines which adorn this place like a bride. On the one hand, the selling of gold and silver ornament depict the prosperity of this city, on the other hand, there is also gold and silver "varq" which especially uses in the sweet dishes that shows the beauty and healthiness of this place. This is the fact that gold and silver have such kind of elements by using which, you can live as a young person for a long time. This was the reason why the emperors during that time used to eat in gold and silver utensils.
Every street, every road of this city of Nizams, tells about their uniqueness and prosperity in such a way that once a person visits this place, he/she can mingle himself in the environment of this place....
If we talk about the cuisines of Hyderabad then Hyderabadi cuisine was basically developed and encouraged during the time of Nizams.The Nizams of Hyderabad were the great fancier of food. The chefs who came from the north India with the Nizams made the cuisines of this place tastier. Those chefs did so many experiments with the local ingredients of this place and cooked some extremely tasty dishes, which even today also make the Hyderabadi cuisines so tasty.
Hyderabad is considered as the last city of North India and the first city of South India because it is the place where the culture of two different civilisations meet and because of this, a new culture evolved which can easily be seen here.
The main tremendous difference between the north and south Indian cuisines is the difference of sourness. As the voice of Hyderabadi people is very sweet but their food is very sour. In South India, people mostly eat the food which is very sour and it is because of the sun rays and temperature. people of south India says that the rays of sunlight badly affect the skin of the people, so to prevent themselves from all this, the people add more sourness in their food which is good in term of their health. This kind of sourness is not only added in the veg cuisines but also add in their Mughlai cuisines.
Hyderabadi people have a belief that if any dish cook with leisurely and love, then the taste of that food enhanced so much.
Even, the flag of Hyderabad before independence had a deep connection with the food. After defeated the Emperor Quli Qutb Shah by the Mughal dynasty, The Emperor of Mughal dynasty sent their satrap from the north to the south in the form Nizam. (Nizam is a word which is basically mean Subedar or a bureaucrat of the king). When that Nizam going from Delhi to South, he went to meet one of the Sufi saints of that time.The Sufi saint gave him a round shaped bread which is known as "Kulcha". Nizam ate only seven bites of that bread or kulcha, after which that Sufi saint said to that Nizam, "my son, you're next seven generations will rule over Hyderabad and then after your nizam's rule will come to end". that's why it is the belief that the first Nizam printed the image of that round shaped bread or kulcha on their flag".
This story became so famous that the Nizam printed the bread/kulcha on their flag. Even some of the people also say that the real reason of printed that round shape on their flag was the name of Nizam.The name of that Nizam was Qamar-ud-din and the meaning of his name was Moon, because of which the shape of moon was printed on the flag but when the story of Kulcha/round bread became so famous, then the king himself came in front of their public and gave confirmation that yes, the image which was on the flag was the image of kulcha.
Whatever, the people says but Hyderabadi people believe that it was the image of kulcha on the flag.
Not only the next seven generations of Nizam ruled over Hyderabad but they also support to introduced new cuisines. As almost all the Nizams were the fancier of delicious food but the sixth generation's nizam Mehmood Pasha was extremely fond toward and lover of tasty cuisines and because of his so much fondness toward food, he was so much used to go to the falaknuma palace. here he had a very different style of ordering food.There was a big dining table in falaknuma palace which was also considered as the largest dining table of the world where 101 people can sit. so, above that table on the wall, there were so many paintings of different cuisines were hanged and Nizam ordered the food by selecting their dishes from those paintings.
The fanciers of Nizam was not only limited to his dining table but when he used to go for hunting in the forest that time also he didn't compromise regarding food. His favourite dish was pathar gosht or stone meat. This pathar gosht or stone meat have their own unique story.
Once, when Nizam went to the forest for hunting animals, he wanted to eat meat and because of no griller or that instrument in the forest in which meat used to cook, the chef of Nizam was so confused to how to cook meat here,then he took a big granite stone and by adjusting fire under it, he cooked the meat on that granite stone.The main thing about this was the smell & essence of that stone which mixed with the meat and made it so delicious that the king became the gargantuan fan of Stone meat.
Other than this, Tutak kabab was the another most famous dish of Hyderabadi cuisine. Tutak is a kabab which was added in Hyderabadi cuisine in late 18th century, where the Kayastha merchant came from north India to south India. ( Kayastha is one of the sub-caste in Hindu caste system)
A time came, when this cuisine became so famous here that people started saying one another "Tu-tak main khata hu" which mean you can see only and I finish these kababs by myself. It is so delicious that once people start eating it, they wanted to eat these kebabs as much as they can.
On the one side, Kayastha merchants gave the gift of Tutak kabab to the people of Hyderabad. on the other side, the Muslims who came from Delhi here gave a new look of Shami kabab or the Shekhampur kabab.
Shekhampur is a Persian word which means my stomach is full.
Not only non-veg but veg cuisines of Hyderabad are also very famous. the most famous veg Hyderabadi cuisine is "Baghare Baingan".
The prosperity of Hyderabad is spreading all over the world by its two things Charminar and Hyderabadi Biryani. Biryani is a dish which people eat all over India but everyone agrees on the fact that Hyderabadi Kachchi Biryani is above all of the other biryanis. Even, once Lord Hatton said about Hyderabadi biryani "All biryanis are inspired from Hyderabadi biryani".
Biryani word is driven from the Persian word "Breen" means rice. most of the food historians believed that biryani was first made in India. When the soldiers used to go for the wars, they wanted a food which can be prepared by cooking the rice and meat together. Hyderabadi biryani cooked until the meat and bones started separating. The cooking of biryani was started during the 19th century in the kitchen of Nizam and then it became famous all over the world.
Like Hyderabadi biryani, in sweet dishes, "Khubani" is above all the other sweet dishes of Hyderabad.This dish is basically prepared from apricot during the 16th century when Mughals came from Central Asia to India.
On the one side, there was the luxurious life of the emperor and Nizams of Hyderabad and on the other side, there are the stories of the cuisines of Hyderabad. these streets of Hyderabad, even today also secure this heritage of cuisines of Hyderabad.
so this is the story of Hyderabad and its cuisines.