Mughal Cuisine: The Food Culture of Imperial India

The cuisine associated with the Mughal court is and influential culinary traditions of the early modern world. Developed over two centuries in the kitchens of the imperial court and in the households of the mansabdari nobility, it synthesised the rice-and-meat cookery of Central Asia, the refined sweet-and-sour traditions of Persia, the rich meat and dum techniques of Kashmir, and the elaborate vegetarian and spice traditions of the Indian subcontinent. The resulting style, known in its most refined courtly form as Mughlai, became foundational for the cookery of North India, Pakistan, and the Deccan, and many of the dishes once prepared in the imperial bawarchi khana — the biryani, the kebab, the korma, the kofta, the halwa, the sheer khurma, the jalebi, the gulab jamun, the rogan josh, and the shahi tukda — remain central to the culinary identity of South Asia. The history of this tradition, the institutional setting of the imperial kitchen, the principal dishes, the regional adaptations, and the persistence of the Mughal culinary idiom in modern food culture are treated in detail below.

The Imperial Kitchen: Bawarchi Khana and Matbakh

The Mughal court maintained kitchen establishments of the early modern world. The bawarchi khana, the formal kitchen, and the matbakh, the smaller private kitchen, were institutions with their own hierarchies of officers, their own buildings, their own budgets, and their own ritual protocols. Under the great Mughals, the imperial kitchen was typically divided into a number of specialised sections, each responsible for a different category of food. The gosht-khana prepared meat dishes, the mithai-khana and the halwai-khana prepared sweets and confections, the roti-khana prepared breads, the biriyani-khana prepared rice dishes, the shorba-khana prepared soups and broths, and the sharbati-khana prepared beverages. A separate kitchen of the Hindu or vegetarian section, sometimes called the bhojan-khana, served the vegetarian requirements of the Hindu princes, nobles, and dependents at court, and the Jain and Vaishnava households maintained their own cooks in accordance with the dietary strictures of their traditions.

The personnel of the imperial kitchen were ranked according to a formal hierarchy. The mir bakawal, or master of the kitchen, stood at the head of the establishment; under him served the bawarchis (master cooks), the rakabdars (stewards who tasted each dish before service), the halwais (confectioners), the nanbais (bread-makers), the bhandaris (storekeepers), and a long tail of assistants, porters, water-carriers, and charcoal-burners. The kitchen was supplied by an extensive apparatus of provisioning: the imperial hunts provided game, the imperial shikargarh gardens and the seris (imperial farms) provided fruits, vegetables, and dairy, and a network of imperial mandis (markets) and the kar-khanas of the imperial household supplied spices, condiments, oil, ghee, and other staples from across the empire. The standing of a noble at court could be measured, in part, by the quality of his kitchen, and several of the great nobles — including Asaf Khan, the father of Mumtaz Mahal, and the Nawab of Awadh — maintained establishments almost comparable in scale to that of the emperor himself.

The imperial kitchen was also a site of considerable technical innovation. The Mughals are credited with the introduction or refinement of a number of techniques that became foundational to South Asian cookery. The dum method, in which food is sealed in a heavy pot, often with a paste of wheat-flour and water around the rim, and cooked slowly over a low fire, is often associated with Mughal court cookery, although the technique itself has deeper South Asian roots. The use of attar of rose and kewra water to flavour sweets, the technique of slow-roasting meats on skewers, the layering of rice and meat in the biryani, the preparation of koftas and kababs in sealed vessels, the ghee-clarification of stocks, and the elaborate ornamentation of mithai (sweets) with silver leaf (varak) and gold leaf are all recognisably Mughal in their courtly codification.

The Foundations: Persian, Central Asian, and Indian Traditions

The court cookery of the Mughals did not arise in a vacuum. It was the heir to a long Persianate tradition of rice cookery, of pilaw and polow, of ash (soups) and shurba (broths), of qorma (braised meat dishes in a thickened sauce), of dolma and bademjan (stuffed vegetables), of nan and lavash (breads), and of the elaborate sweet-and-sour combinations of morgh (chicken) and gusht (mutton) characteristic of late Safavid and Timurid cuisine. From the Central Asian steppe, the Mughals inherited a taste for the meat-heavy and fat-rich cookery of the nomadic and semi-nomadic Turko-Mongol world: the qawi (roasted meats on skewers), the halim (a slow-cooked porridge of wheat and meat), the manti (small dumplings of meat and onion), the kufta (meatballs), and the various milk-and-meat combinations of pastoral Central Asia. From the Indian subcontinent, the Mughal kitchen absorbed the rich tradition of spice use that had defined South Asian cookery for centuries: the garam masala complex of cardamom, cinnamon, clove, cumin, coriander, and black pepper, the use of turmeric, ginger, garlic, and asafoetida, the cooking in ghee (clarified butter), the technique of grinding fresh pastes of onion, ginger, and garlic, the use of tamarind, amchur (dried mango powder), anardana (pomegranate seeds), and imli (tamarind) for souring, and the elaborate tradition of mithai (sweets) that had long flourished in the cities of the Gangetic plain, Gujarat, and the Deccan.

The encounter among these three traditions in the Mughal kitchen produced a recognisably new cuisine by the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The Persian rice dishes acquired Indian spicing and the use of kewra and rose water. The Central Asian meat cookery acquired Persian qorma techniques and Indian masalas. The Indian vegetarian and sweet traditions acquired Persian methods of slow cooking, Central Asian techniques of stuffing and roasting, and the elaborate plating and ornamentation characteristic of the imperial court. By the reign of Shah Jahan, and even more by the late seventeenth-century flowering of Mughlai cuisine under Aurangzeb and his successors, this synthesis had produced a recognisable court cuisine that was documented in detail in the Ain-i-Akbari and in the manuals of cookery that circulated in the imperial household.

Signature Dishes of the Mughal Kitchen

Rice Dishes: Biryani, Pulao, and the Imperial Pilaf

The most famous rice dish of the Mughal world is the biryani, a layered dish of parboiled rice and meat (typically lamb, goat, or chicken) cooked with spices, saffron, and aromatics. The biryani in its Mughal court form is closely associated with the dum technique, in which the rice and the meat are layered in a heavy pot, covered with a tight lid sealed with dough, and cooked slowly so that the flavours mingle and the rice absorbs the juices of the meat. The pulao — sometimes also called pilaf or pilau — is a related but distinct dish, in which the rice is cooked in a seasoned broth with meat or vegetables and the grains remain separate and unlayered. The Mughal pulao was typically seasoned with whole spices, including cinnamon, cardamom, clove, bay leaf, and shahi jeera (caraway seed), and was enriched with ghee, dried fruits, and nuts. The Ain-i-Akbari records an extensive imperial rice-cooking practice, including the pulao, the kabuli pulao (a Central Asian style with carrots and raisins), and various sweet rice dishes for ceremonial occasions.

The biryani tradition of the Mughal world is closely associated with the kitchens of the later Mughals and the regional courts that they patronised. The Hyderabadi biryani is traditionally attributed to the kitchens of the Nizam of Hyderabad, whose dynasty was established in 1724 by Asaf Jah I, a governor of the later Mughals. The Lucknowi biryani is associated with the Nawabs of Awadh, whose court at Lucknow maintained a particularly refined kitchen tradition into the nineteenth century. The kolkata biryani of Bengal, distinguished by the use of potato and a milder spice profile, is attributed to the last Nawab of Awadh, Wajid Ali Shah, who was exiled to Calcutta by the British in 1856 and whose cooks adapted the Lucknowi style to local ingredients.

Meat Dishes: Kebab, Kofta, Korma, and Rogan Josh

The Mughal kebab tradition is one of the most diverse in the world. The seekh kebab of minced meat cooked on a skewer, the shami kebab of minced meat and lentil, the chapli kebab of Peshawar, the boti kebab of cubed meat marinated in yoghurt and spices, the reshmi kebab of chicken threaded on skewers, the galouti kebab of Lucknow, traditionally prepared for an emperor with no teeth, and the shish kebab of cubed meat on skewers are all part of the wider Mughal-Mughlai tradition. The kebab appears in the Ain-i-Akbari among the dishes of the imperial kitchen, and a number of the kebab styles of the wider region are attributed to Central Asian or Persian origins, introduced to India by the Mughals and adapted over the generations.

The kofta, the meatball of the Mughal kitchen, takes a number of distinctive forms. The nargisi kofta, named for the narcissus flower because of its appearance, is a hard-boiled egg wrapped in spiced minced meat and fried, then served in a rich qorma. The malai kofta is a vegetarian adaptation in which balls of paneer and potato are served in a creamy, mildly spiced sauce. The kakori kofta of Lucknow, like the galouti kebab, is a soft, fine-textured meatball that dissolves on the tongue. The kofta tradition is closely related to the Central Asian kufta and Persian kufteh, and the Indian adaptation reflects the wider synthesis of the imperial kitchen.

The korma (also spelled qorma, khorma, or qorma) is a braised meat dish, typically of lamb or chicken, cooked in a thickened sauce of yoghurt, cream, ground nuts, and a carefully balanced blend of aromatic spices. The korma is closely related to the Persian qorma, a slow-cooked stew of meat, vegetables, and sometimes fruit, and the Mughal adaptation typically adds the garam masala complex of North India. The korma is distinguished from the salan and the bhuna by the use of yoghurt or cream as a base, and by the relative absence of tomatoes, which entered Indian cookery more broadly only after the arrival of the Portuguese and the New World produce they introduced. Rogan josh, the signature dish of the Kashmiri wazwan tradition, is a similar but distinct meat curry, distinguished by the use of Kashmiri chillies, the deep red colour, and the technique of cooking in ghee with a minimum of liquid.

Breads, Sweets, and Confectionery

The bread tradition of the Mughal kitchen includes the naan, kulcha, sheermal, tandoori roti, lacha paratha, and bakarkhani, the flaky, slightly sweet bread of Lucknow. The kulcha of the imperial kitchen, like the naan, was typically baked in a tandoor, the cylindrical clay oven introduced to North India from Central Asia and now associated throughout the subcontinent. The sheermal is a saffron-flavoured milk bread that takes its name from the Persian shir (milk) and malida (a sweetened bread). The bakarkhani, a flaky, layered bread enriched with ghee and sometimes poppy seed or kalonji, became the signature bread of Lucknow and Awadh.

The mithai tradition of the Mughal kitchen is equally elaborate. The gulab jamun, the kheer, the halwa (a general term for a number of dense, sweet, ghee-based confections), the jalebi (a deep-fried pretzel-shaped sweet soaked in sugar syrup), the barfi, the pedha, the laddoo, the soan papdi, the kaju katli, and the rasgulla (a Bengali sweet) are all part of the wider mithai tradition of South Asia. Of these, the gulab jamun (literally “rose berry”), traditionally attributed to the Mughal kitchen, is perhaps the most distinctive. It consists of deep-fried balls of khoya (reduced milk) and flour soaked in a sugar syrup flavoured with rose water, cardamom, and kewra. The sheer khurma (“milk and dates”), a vermicelli pudding prepared with milk, dates, nuts, and saffron, is a signature sweet of the Islamic festivals of the Mughal period, particularly Eid.

Spices, Aromatics, and the Imperial Palate

The Mughal kitchen used an extensive and carefully graded range of spices and aromatics, many of them imported through the great ports of Gujarat and the Malabar. The Ain-i-Akbari contains a detailed discussion of the spices in use in the imperial kitchen, including the relative prices, the regional sources, and the culinary uses of each. Black pepper from the Malabar, cardamom from the Western Ghats, cinnamon from Sri Lanka, cloves from the Moluccas, nutmeg and mace from the East Indies, ginger and turmeric from the eastern and southern regions, cumin and coriander from the western drylands, and saffron from Kashmir were the principal flavourings of the imperial cuisine. The Mughal kitchen also made extensive use of ghee (clarified butter), kewra water (an extract of the Pandanus flower), rose water, kesar (saffron), elaichi (cardamom), and jaiphal and javitri (nutmeg and mace).

The Mughal preference for a particular kind of refined, aromatic, and moderately spiced flavour is reflected in the surviving manuals of the imperial kitchen. The korma and the biryani were carefully balanced to bring out the flavour of the meat and the rice without overwhelming the palate with heat. The sweets of the imperial kitchen relied on a combination of sugar, honey, dried fruits, nuts, and floral aromatics. Even the kebabs, while seasoned with a range of spices, were typically more aromatic than fiery, distinguishing the Mughal style from the hotter cuisines of the South and the East. This refined courtly palate had a lasting influence on the wider cuisine of North India and Pakistan, and it remains characteristic of the Mughlai restaurants of contemporary Delhi, Lucknow, and Lahore.

Regional Adaptations: Awadhi, Hyderabadi, and the Wider Mughal World

The Mughal imperial cuisine, as it developed in the kitchens of Delhi, Agra, and Lahore, was carried to the four corners of the empire through the households of the mansabdari nobility, the migrations of court cooks, the marriage alliances of the imperial family, and the establishment of regional courts in Awadh, Hyderabad, Bengal, and the Deccan. Each of these regional courts developed its own distinctive adaptation of the imperial cuisine, and the regional cuisines that emerged are among the most refined of South Asia.

The Awadhi cuisine of Lucknow, as developed in the kitchens of the Nawabs of Awadh in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, is generally considered the most refined of the regional Mughlai traditions. The Awadhi kitchen is distinguished by the use of dum cooking, the careful balancing of spices, the emphasis on kormas and pulaos over fiery curries, the use of kewra and rose water, the elegance of presentation, and the galouti kebab and tunday kebab of the Lucknow kabab tradition. The Awadhi biryani, the Awadhi korma, the Awadhi haleem, the Awadhi kulfi, and the Awadhi sheermal are all signature dishes of the tradition.

The Hyderabadi cuisine of the Nizams of Hyderabad is the second great regional Mughlai tradition. The Hyderabadi kitchen, established in 1724 and refined over two centuries, is distinguished by its preference for rice-based dishes, the use of groundnut and sesame oil alongside ghee, the heavy use of dried coconut, tamarind, and chillies, the biryani of mutton, chicken, and vegetables, the haleem (a long-cooked porridge of wheat, meat, and spices), the pathar ka gosht (meat cooked on a heated stone), the double-ka-meetha (a bread-based sweet), and the distinctive mirchi ka salan of the city. The Hyderabadi biryani, of which there are several variants including the kachi biryani and the pakki biryani, is the signature dish of the tradition and rice dishes of South Asia.

The wider Mughlai tradition, of which the Awadhi and Hyderabadi are the most refined forms, also includes the Mughlai cuisine of Old Delhi, the Bhopal cuisine of the Nawabs of Bhopal, the Bengal court cuisine of the Nawabs of Murshidabad, the Punjab cookery of the later Mughal period and the Sikh kingdoms, and the Kashmiri wazwan tradition of the Muslim aristocracy of the valley. Each of these regional traditions has its own characteristic dishes, ingredients, and techniques, but all are recognisably part of the wider Mughal-Mughlai synthesis.

Beverages and Table Customs

The Mughal kitchen produced a number of distinctive beverages. The sharbat (a sweetened, fruit- or flower-flavoured drink), the rooh afza (a rose-, kewra-, and sandalwood-based drink of later origin), the lassi (a churned yoghurt drink), the thandai (a chilled drink flavoured with almonds, fennel, and rose petals), the kashmiri kahwa (a green tea flavoured with cardamom, cinnamon, and saffron), and the shahi tukda of the sharbat-i-khas tradition are all part of the imperial beverage repertoire. Mughal court etiquette prohibited the use of alcohol at the formal court, but the sharab-khana of the imperial household, the madarasa of the wine-makers, the arak and bhang traditions, and the khamr (wine) of the Qalandar and Sufi circles were nevertheless part of the wider social life of the period.

The table customs of the Mughal court were elaborate. Food was typically served on large metal trays, the mezban and the parath, arranged in a hierarchy of dishes with the principal dish in the centre and the accompaniments radiating outward. Diners sat on the floor around the tray, eating with the right hand, the left hand being reserved for personal hygiene. The rakabdar, the steward who tasted each dish before service, was a standard feature of the imperial banquet. The formal banquet of the court, the daftarkhana of the nobles, and the majlis of the Sufi and Shia traditions each had their own specific conventions. The langar, the public kitchen that served free meals to the poor, the travellers, and the religious establishments, was a recognised institution of the imperial Muslim social order, and the langar of the Sikhs at the Gurudwaras of the Punjab, while not a Mughal institution, existed in dialogue with the wider tradition of public provisioning.

The Legacy of Mughal Cuisine in Modern South Asia

The influence of Mughal cuisine on the modern culinary culture of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the wider South Asian diaspora is profound. The Mughlai restaurant tradition of contemporary Delhi, Lucknow, and Lahore preserves the courtly repertoire in a recognisable form. The biryani traditions of Hyderabad, Lucknow, Kolkata, and the Malabar coast are direct descendants of the imperial kitchen. The kebab and kofta of the North Indian restaurant tradition, the korma and rogan josh of the Mughlai and Kashmiri restaurants, the kheer and gulab jamun of the sweetshop tradition, and the sheer khurma and seviyan of the Eid and other festival tables are all part of the wider Mughal inheritance. The cookery manuals of the imperial period, including the Nuskha-i-Shahjahani attributed to the kitchens of Shah Jahan and the later Bagh-e-Iram and Malfuzat-i-Kitchen traditions, remain foundational texts of the Mughlai culinary canon, and the halwais and bawarchis of the old cities of Delhi, Lucknow, and Hyderabad still transmit techniques of great antiquity through the family and apprenticeship traditions of the kitchen.

The cuisine of the Mughal court, like the rest of the imperial cultural inheritance, was transformed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries by the political decline of the dynasty, the rise of regional successor states, the colonial intervention, and the broader social and economic changes of the period. But the Mughlai idiom remains the most influential courtly tradition in the modern culinary history of South Asia, and the imperial kitchen, the bawarchi khana of the great Mughals, retains a central place in the historical memory and the contemporary practice of the food culture of the region.

Sources

K.T. Achaya, A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food (Oxford University Press, 1998).
Abu’l Fazl, Ain-i-Akbari, trans. Blochmann/Jarrett (1873–1927), vol. I, on the imperial kitchen.

For the broader context of Mughal cultural life, see the Mughal culture overview. The cooking tradition was closely tied to the court ceremonial of the Mughal festivals and entertainment, the textile and dress conventions of the Mughal costumes and personal adornment, and the multilingual literary environment described on the Mughal literature and languages page. The court culture that supported the imperial kitchen is treated in greater detail in the articles on Akbar, the great imperial patron, and the decline of the Mughal Empire, which traces the dispersal of the court culture into the regional successor states. The architectural setting of the imperial kitchen, including the diwan-i-khas and the diwan-i-am of the great Mughal palaces, is treated on the Mughal architecture overview page.