Here's your chance to taste the authentic flavours of Murshidabad, the foodie capital of Mughals

Mughals did their bit to enrich the Indian cuisine. Murshidabad, now a small town in West Bengal would vouch for it. Established by Murshid Quli Khan, an aide to Emperor Aurangzeb, Murshidbad is known for the richness of its flavours and spices.



Chef Syed Mustaque Murshid, who's himself from Berhampore near Murshidabad, has come up with his interpretation of the cuisine. We checked it out and found it pretty exciting to dig into the traditional Bengali food that imbibed a lot of changes because of its rulers.

Influenced to perfection
Though Murshidabad is in West Bengal, the recipe is not completely Bengali. Since the city was ruled by Mughals, it's largely influenced by Islamic tastes. Desserts, which were traditionally prepared with
jaggery and sugar gradually graduated to milk, cream, sugar and expensive spices like saffron and cardamom. Unlike typical Bengali food, the focus is more on mutton than chicken and fish. The use of garam masala is another inherent feature of Murshidabadi food, which wasn't the case before Murshidabad was made the capital of undivided Bengal during the Mughal rule. Even the presentation of the food items is more extensive.