GLOBALIZATION AVANT LA LETTRE: NAVRATAN KORMA AND MUGHLAI CUISINE

Navratan korma is a vegetarian dish from India. The word navratan (derived from Sanskrit) roughly translates as 'nine gems' or 'nine jewels' because of the traditional presence of at least nine vegetables alongisde paneer (a non-aged soft cheese) and nuts as main ingredients. As for the word korma, it is the anglicized form of a Hindustani word meaning 'braise' and it refers to the cooking technique employed in the dish itself.

Navratan korma

Legend has it that white korma (probably so-called because of the presence of yoghurt and, maybe, even vark, that is, edible silver foil) was served to Shah Jahan (1592-1666) and his guest during the inauguration ceremony of the Taj Mahal. The legend itself is somewhat rooted in history, as Shah Jahan was a Mughal Emperor and korma is a quintessentially Mughal dish.

The Taj Mahal (Agra, Uttar Pradesh, India)

But what is Mughlai cuisine? To understand it, we need to fast backward to Babur (1483-1530), the founder of the Mughal Empire in the Indian subcontinent. Babur was a prince from the Fergana Valley - and don't be fooled by the fact that this valley is part of Uzbekistan in contemporary maps. Back then, it was an independent principality that was part of the Timurid Empire; as such, it was culturally Persianate, even though Turkic and Persian language-wise and dominated by a dynasty which was ethnically Mongolic (the Timurid dynasty owes its name to Timur, a.k.a. Tamerlane, an in-law in the line of Gengis Khan) and religiously Sunni Muslim. Well, this 'uzbeki' prince of Mongolic ancestry, Turkic language and Muslim faith allied with the Safavid Emperor and the Ottoman Sultan and, with their help, defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the Sultan of Delhi, on the battlefield at Panipat (Haryana, India) in 1526, thus founding the so-called Mughal Empire.

Babur receives booty and Humayun's salute after the victory over the Lodi sultans at Panipat Cleveland Museum of Art

The new Mughal rulers brought along their own cultural background - made of traditions geographically spanning across central Asia - even while absorbing local customs. The outcome was a rich and diverse melting pot of languages, religions, and traditions that can be rightfully be viewed as globalization avant la lettre.

Such cosmopolitanism was reflected also in the Mughlai cuisine, which brought to the Indian subcontinent dishes rich in aromatic spices (such as saffron from Persia) as well as in such indulgent delicacies as dried fruits and nuts. Its style of cooking was time-consuming and extravagant, tapping into techniques from Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Persia, among others. In other words: fusion cuisine avant la lettre. Other than korma, it established some staple dishes we still enjoy today, such as kebab, pilaf, biryiani, kofte... and even sherbet!

Pilaf

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