The Arab influence penetrated southern India through the Moplah cuisine when the Arabs came to India to trade in spices. Abida Rashid, 45, a chef, has a rambling bungalow on the outskirts of Kozhikode where she cooks north Kerala’s Malabari Muslim food for tourists. “I’ve tried reviving Moplah recipes but some are way too difficult,” she says, referring to Enthu Pudi which is made with cycas plant, a shorter and thorny version of the date palm. “It gives fruit after 10 years of planting.” Cooking it is an elaborate procedure. Rashid, whose cooking is highly sought-after by five-star hotels, is sceptical of how well this recipe will endure in the future. The fruit was wrapped in bundles and hung on top of chimneys for a year. “When I was young, the whole family would sit together and make small dumplings from the crumbled fruit. It was then steamed and cooked with coconut milk, fish and rice flour. It was a rare treat,” she recalls.

Chef Rasool, an Awadhi cuisine expert, currently working with the Jaypee Siddharth hotel in Delhi, feels the essence of Frontier cuisine has changed dramatically. It’s more like fast food now. To understand Mushq-e-Tanjan, a sweet biryani, a visit to the kitchen of Chef Rasool is a must. He trains cooks in Awadhi cuisine and participates in food festivals in India and abroad. Mushq-e-Tanjan translates to fragrance of paradise (mushq) and treasure trove of riches (tanjan), and for his unusual recipe, Chef Rasool cooks meat as a qorma and rice as zarda (sweet rice), before combining them in layers. “Mushq-e-Tanjan was a favourite of Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh,” says the 70-something chef, who is best known for the sumptuous Awadhi dastarkhwan he spreads out. A student of Ustad Haaji Ishq, a biryani maestro, it was tough grasping the nuances of cooking even for Chef Rasool. “Chefs those days snobbishly maintained secret recipes. They made us work as a masalchi (spice mixer) and never allowed us to touch the preparations,” he recalls. “But now I cannot do that, I cannot hide recipes from cooks. Otherwise, the cuisine might die with me.” Like chef Rasool’s master preparation Lahsun ki Kheer in which garlic miraculously turns sweet and tastes almost like almonds. “It’s Ratan Tata’s favourite but it’s not documented in Awadhi cuisine,” he laughs, and adds, “You have to be innovative and move with changing trends.”

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