On the cover, dressed in an aubergine and red Kanjeevaram silk sari with a golden border, Madhur Jaffrey looks squarely at the potential buyer, her slender arms resting daintily on a chopping board. This was her first book.

An Invitation to Indian Cooking turns 40 this year. With more than 200 recipes, it introduced Delhi cuisine to the West. Subtitled Classic Indian Dishes—Mostly The Subtle, Spicy Cooking of Delhi, it was hailed by The New York Times as “the final word on the subject...perhaps the best Indian cookbook available in English".

View Full Image A reprint edition of Madhur Jaffrey’s first cookbook

Published in 1973 by Alfred A Knopf, Invitation was edited by the legendary Judith Jones, who worked on the books of culinary greats Julia Child, James Beard, M.F.K. Fisher, Marcella Hazan, Claudia Roden and Edna Lewis.

In the book, Jaffrey tells the Americans that she is giving them a “chance to understand and cook the food of one specific area—the region in and around Delhi, including the adjacent sections of Uttar Pradesh". She traces the origins of Delhi’s cuisine to the royal kitchens of the Red Fort, where the richly cooked Persian meat and rice favoured by the early Mughals was combined with Indian spices and vegetable dishes. From the empire’s heart, the recipes travelled to Hindustan’s lesser maharajas.

Although Delhi’s first internationally renowned cookbook does not have a recipe for nihari, a staple of Mughal-era Dilli, it can be read for its vignettes, the scenes that infuse the recipes with a special flavour. “Under the shadow of Jama Masjid’s massive walls, surrounding it on all sides, are hundreds of tiny stalls," writes Jaffrey. “They sell everything—pots, pans, bedcovers, saris, lungis, and of course all the different kebabs." The glossary consists of terms as charming as “Dey Dal May Pani" (“put water in the dal"), “Quon Bhai Chai Hojai" (“Well now brother, how about tea?") and “Sharabi Kababi" (“one who likes to eat and drink").

Flipping through Jaffrey’s book, author Sadia Dehlvi says, “Like all Dilliwallas, my pride in our cuisine borders on arrogance, and I hesitate to put my stamp of approval on it." Stopping at a recipe, she looks horrified and says: “Keema (mince) in baingan (eggplant)! I will never do that!"

Handing the book back to me, Dehlvi, who makes excellent aloo gosht, mourns the disappearance of keema bhare karele and kachnar ke phool ki subzi. “Even shabdeg is dying," she says.

View Full Image Nihari and paya outside Jama Masjid. Photo: Mayank Austen Soofi/Mint

Perhaps like the one that Charmaine O’Brien wrote in 2003. “I researched for Recipes From an Urban Village: A Cookbook From Basti Hazrat Nizamuddin by spending four months in the basti and visiting families where traditional dishes would be cooked for me," says the Melbourne-based author about her book, which focused on the home kitchens of a central Delhi village. “I recorded the recipes passed on from mother to daughter orally."

O’Brien, who has also written Flavours of Delhi: A Food Lover’s Guide, has not read Jaffrey’s first book, but she was influenced by her more popular A Taste of India. “The opening chapter is about Jaffrey’s growing-up years in Delhi and it inspired my curiosity about the city’s food history."

Only a stubbornly thin Delhiite would be left unmoved by Jaffrey’s nostalgia. “But I am not sure I would follow her recipes," says Anoothi Vishal, a food columnist who curates community cuisines in the Capital. “Some of them are so basic that they may appeal only to foreigners."

To Vishal, who hasn’t come across any book with satisfying versions of Delhi dishes such as bharwan pasande, ishtew, shabdeg and besan ki subzi, a truly engaging book on Dilli ka khana is still to come. “Not only should the writer document the recipes of different communities, including smaller ones like the Anglo-Indians," she says, “but she should also investigate if there are common dishes across community cuisines in the city to justify the ‘Delhi cuisine’ tag, instead of the Mughal/Kayastha/ Baniya cuisines that are community centric."

View Full Image ‘Paratha’ being fried at Matia Mahal. Photo: Mayank Austen Soofi/Mint

Like many British cooks of her generation, Timms learnt authentic Indian home cooking through Jaffrey. “ Even in that first book, she was telling readers to avoid curry powder and embrace whole spices," she says, “urging us to try dishes like baingan bharta and gajar ka halwa—neither of which British or American readers had tasted in Indian restaurants of the time."

Today, Invitation is a rare sight in book stores, though Jaffrey, who lives with her violinist husband in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village, US, has become an industry—she has written more than 30 cookbooks. Responding to my congratulatory email, the 80-year-old author said: “I didn’t even know it has been 40 years! How very nice of you to do a story on my first book."

The best tribute we can pay her and to our city’s other food chroniclers is to regularly dip our fingers in Delhi’s oil-filled gravies.

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Old Delhi’s best

Lounge columnist Pamela Timms recommends her favourites

The street food joint which set me off on my Old Delhi food journey is Ashok and Ashok (the Shokkys in my book). Their amazing korma is still one of the best plates of food you can eat in the city.

Warm kheer at the morning hour in Bade Mian’s kheer shop in Lal Kuan. The owner, Jamaluddin Siddique, sits me down in the back of his shop with a little plate to nibble at while he packs a tub for me to take home.

For a great breakfast, it’s hard to beat the ‘bedmi aloo’ at the Chaina Ram sweet shop at the Fatehpuri mosque—a great place to sit and watch the madness of Chandni Chowk. Fabulous sweets to take home too.

To get away from the mayhem, I often stop for lunch at Adarsh Bhojanalaya in Haveli Haider Quli. A quiet little shop where, for a few rupees, you can sit and enjoy a delicious, all-you-can-eat vegetarian thali.

Another refuge is the Jain Coffee House off Chawri Bazaar where you can park yourself on a sack of grain and enjoy a fruit sandwich made with whatever’s in season (mango, apple, pomegranate) and a chikoo milkshake.

I end every day in Old Delhi at the Old Famous Jalebi Wala. This has done nothing for my waistband or blood sugar levels but has brought the wonderful Jain family, who have been making their sticky sugary treat in Chandni Chowk since 1884, into my life.

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Emerging classics

New Delhi foods you must try

uTandoori Momo

Started by QD’s, an eatery in Delhi University’s north campus, the momos are roasted in a tandoor and served with mint chutney. Another outlet is in south campus’ Satya Niketan.

uCocktail samosa

Mini samosas stuffed with potatoes that are cooked with peas and groundnuts. Sold by two street vendors near Scindia House, Connaught Place.

uLitti Choka

A very healthy delicacy from Bihar served in style at The Potbelly Rooftop Café and Kitchen in Shahpur Jat Village. The accompanying ‘chana dal’ alone is worth the money.

u Set Dosa

One of the most authentic dosas found in Delhi. A spongier smaller version of the usual dosa variety served in a set of four, it is a specilaity at Mathew Café, outside Tamil Sangam in RK Puram.

u Honey & Fig Ice cream

The most loved dessert at the India International Centre, the flavour of the braised fig is passing but its memory endures.

u Aloo Tikki in olive oil

The final frying of the tikki is done in front of you in olive oil; finished with yogurt and pomegranate seeds. Served at Bittu Tikki Wala in Pitampura.

Also Read: Madhur Jaffrey | ‘All I knew then was Delhi food’

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