Eid special: Kadi patta in biryani and Odia rasagola in my sweet vermicelli

The Brahmapur version of Lab-e-Shireen has Odia rasagola in addition to vermicelli, dry fruits like almonds, pistachios and raisins, milk, custard powder, vanilla flavour, sugar, cream, fruits and rooh afza.

Did you know that Brahmapur (also known as Berhampur) and much of the eastern coastline of Odisha were once part of the Madras Presidency under the British? Or that the food here, particularly the Muslim cuisine, is heavily influenced by Tamil Nadu and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh?

“Brahmapur was once Brahmapore and its administrative offices were manned by Tamilians and the Andhraites,” says Souvik Dash, historian, documenter of Odia and Bengali cuisines and professor at Berhampur University.

The Arabic influence comes from a mediaeval trade route that existed between Ganjam, a city an hour away, and parts of the Arabic world. Parts of Brahmapur, today, fall in the reorganised Ganjam district along with Ganjam city and some other towns.

Chef Anees Khan, founder-chef of the Mumbai patisserie Star Anise, grew up in Brahmapur. He says, “The Muslim cuisine of Cuttack or Bhubaneswar is very Odia-influenced, but the food, habits, even the way we speak in Brahmapur strongly reflects the influence of erstwhile Madras (now Chennai). The food in Puri and Cuttack is heavily influenced by Jagannath Temple; the chefs trained at the temple often travel outside the state to neighbouring Bengal and have left their imprint on Bengali cuisine. But in the Brahmapur belt, the food is much lighter. It isn’t too heavy on spices and nor is it deep-fried. Instead, due to the south influence, there is the use of curry leaves, lemon, tamarind, kalonji, mustard paste and lentils even in meat dishes.”

On Eid, and during a few days of Ramadan, the Muslim community cooks a variety of dishes that are different from what is cooked in the rest of India. But there are two that stand out:

Gosht ki Ganji or Ganji Biryani

Dash says this unusual-sounding biryani most likely evolved in Ganjam, once known as Ganj-I Am (or common marketplace, underlying its importance as an economic nerve centre). Interestingly, Gosht ki Ganji is also made by Tamil Nadu’s Muslim community, who call it Mutton Kheema ki Ganji. Dash says, “No one is sure where the dish originated — in Madras or Ganjam/Brahmapur.”

At home, during Ramadan and on Eid, Chef Khan’s mother cooks this lamb biryani, a subtly spiced dish made with yellow lentils, mutton kheema, and spices such as turmeric, cardamom, coriander, red chillies, and panch phoran or five-spice that’s a mainstay of Odia cuisine. “It is cooked in mustard oil over a slow flame for a few hours,” he says. “At the end, it is tempered with curry leaves.”

Gosht ki Ganji, also known as Mutton Kheema ki Ganji, is made in Odisha and Tamil Nadu during Ramadan and for Eid.

Lab-e-Shireen

This Ramadan and Eid dessert, popular in Brahmapur, reflects medieval Ganjam and Brahmapur’s ties with the Arabic world. According to Dash, “traders from the region, who traded textiles and spices with ancient cities in the Arabic world, brought back the recipe with them. But it was tweaked in Odisha by adding the Odia rasagola”.

The Arabic/Pakistani version of Lab-e-Shireen has ingredients such as vermicelli, dry fruits like almonds, pistachios and raisins, milk, custard powder, vanilla flavour, sugar, cream, fruits and rooh afza.

The Brahmapur and Ganjam Muslim make it by adding their favourite rasagola. “We cook the vermicelli custard the evening before we want to eat it, add all the other ingredients and chill the dessert. The next day we add jelly and chopped rosagola. The Odia rasagola (now GI tagged as having originated in the state in the 11th century, within Jagannath Puri temple) is very different from the Bengali rasagola; it is far softer than the spongier Bengal version,” says Chef Khan. He is serving the traditional dessert as part of his ongoing Ramadan menu at his patisserie, Star Anise, in Mumbai.