Restaurant review: Midsummer Mughlai Gamal Nkrumah hunts for the hidden jewels of Mughlai cuisine in Cairo Tasting Bukhara's Mughlai tidbits is a risk worth taking. The ancient Silk Road was a pathway where risk-takers reaped rich rewards. Bukhara was a frontier outpost perched between Persia and South Asia with an unpalatable tendency to export political instability. On 21 April 1526 Dhahir Al-Din Mohamed, better known as Babur, routed the armies of the Afghan ruler of Delhi and Agra, northern India, Ibrahim Lodhi. The battle, like Maadi's Bukhara, was a searing lesson for vegetarians. It was to change the face of northern India forever, including its culinary delights. The scribes at Moghul courts translated Hindu classics into Persian, the court language of the Moghul Empire. From their hybrid haven in northern India the Moghul chefs created a cuisine reminiscent of their beloved Bukhara -- a blend of unforgettable flavours. The Moghul potentates desired something special, prepared only for them. Theirs was a game of contacts, of discovering a new playground -- the South Asian Sub-Continent, fabulously rich and sophisticated. However, to follow the drift of the intoxicating scents of Mughlai cuisine, one must hark back to Moghul history. The raison d'être of the Moghul emperors was the satisfaction of the impulse to indulge. Legend has it that Babur routed the Hindu Rajput princes of northern India. Once he rid the region of Rajput hands, he was presented with the world's largest known diamond, the Koh-i-Noor. In due course, his Sikh and Hindu subjects paid obeisance. Babur, descendant of Tamerlane, or Timur the Lame, and the legendary Genghiz Khan, ruled northern India with an iron fist. His son, Humanyun, succeeded him and under their descendants Akbar and Jahangir Mughlai cuisine was perfected. Chefs competed to secure their services, while connoisseurs oohed and aahed in utter reverence. They concocted the beguiling blend of dishes on offer at the courts of India's fabled Moghul emperors and enraptured courtiers. Those were the days of plenty. The Moghuls (derived from the Persian Mughal) were a primeval warrior people who had conquered and adopted the ways of their infinitely more superior subjects: the Chinese, the Indians and the Persians. Mongols whose invincible armies sacked the then Persian- dominated legendary cities of Central Asia such as Tashkent, Samarkand and Bukhara, pushed further afield into the Iranian plateau and across Afghanistan into South Asia and adopted Islam as their newfound religion. They mingled with the Hindu majority population, but retained their Islam. And, hence the critical characteristic of their cuisine -- unlike their strictly vegetarian Hindu subjects, was the introduction of a wide variety of meat dishes, for they were decidedly carnivorous, but with a spicy Indian twist. And by the time the wandering warrior-kings adopted an opulent and sedentary lifestyle, they turned omnivorous. Maadi's Bukhara aspires to serve a sample of the fabled Moghul cuisine. It attempts to recreate the delectable wonders of authentic Mughlai cuisine -- the curries, the delights of the tandoor (clay ovens), and much more. Alas, the finer fruits of India's culinary heritage are found elsewhere. The Moghuls, aspiring to duplicate most sophisticated aspects of civilisation, fostered the arts and the sciences, and their culinary tradition was both medicinal and utterly entertaining to the five senses. The dishes were a spectacle of colour. The aromas mouthwateringly enticing, the textures were varied and always exciting, the taste sublime. Mughlai chefs had no qualms about employing meat in abundance. They had none of the prohibitions and inhibitions of their strictly vegetarian Hindu subjects. Lavish lifestyles demanded dishes such as murgh makhani, chicken cooked in tomato, butter and cream sauce; ghost shahi tikka, boneless meat marinated overnight; tandoori prawns; reshmi kebab, minced chicken rolls cooked on charcoal fire; and last but not least, pudina paratha, layered bread drenched in butter, mint and subtle spices. As the meal drew to a close, we were dizzy with the heady-scented delicacies. We walked away munching cardamom and cumin. Bukhara 43, Misr Helwan, Agricultural Road, Maadi Tel: 2380 5999 Dinner for two: LE350
