MISS FOODIE DIARIES: LUCKNOWI FOOD FESTIVAL AT ZAFFRAN

Awadhi cuisine (Hindi: अवधी भोजन, Urdu: اودھی کھانا‎) is a cuisine native to the city of Lucknow, which is the capital of the state of Uttar Pradesh in Northern India. The cooking patterns of Lucknow are similar to those of Central Asia, the Middle East, and Northern India with the cuisine comprising both vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes. The Awadh region has been greatly influenced by Mughal cooking techniques, and the cuisine of Lucknow bears similarities to those of Central Asia, Kashmir, Punjab and Hyderabad. The city is also known for its Nawabi foods.

- WIKIPEDIA

There is an ongoing Lucknowi Food Festival spanning over 45 days and it started on the 14th of February, a one of a kind festival to be held at Zaffran, Kasbah-N-2

Greater Kailash-1.

This Lucknowi Food Festival brings out the authenticity and beauty of awadhi food and showcases the best delicacies of this cuisine.

Had gone there to cover the festival few days back and here is my entire experience.

First of all, Zaffran is a beautiful looking restaurant which serves some brilliant food. For the best dine in experience, one should surely visit this place. They have a wide range of dishes in their regular menu and most of those dishes are worth trying.

We started off with some drinks, some cocktails and mocktails which were fresh and delicious.

THE LUCKNOWI FOOD FESTIVAL

1. DUM AWADH BOTI

Mutton marinated in yoghurt and then cooked on tawa till its soft and just on point. The moment you dig in you realise how soft this is and then once it goes in your mouth, it melts. This dish provides justice to the festival because this is how dum awadh boti is supposed to be. Still drooling.

2. VEG SHAMMI

The only kebab for the vegetarians were the shammi kebabs. They were so tender and soft that you had to be very careful while picking it up or else you'll break them. Vegetarian kebabs are not my thing but this one surely was delicious and worth a second try.

Along with these, we also got Peshawari Roti which just completed the entire process of eating these two heavenly kebabs.

3. MUTTON AWADHI SEEKHS

Steward mutton seekh grilled with Qureshi Masala on the sikdi.

These kebabs were so juicy and tender and were so delicious that I finished them all. I've had kebabs several times but this one surely won me over after the first bite itself. I am still wondering, how can something be so good? A question that can only be answered once you try them. Full Marks.

4. KOI AWADH

This was chicken with bone cooked in a smooth saffron gravy and was a really delectable dish. The gravy was so good and the chicken pieces were really tender. The gravy was a little on the sweeter side but it was droolworthy for sure.

For dessert, they had this cute little Nawabi Halwa which was milk and mawa halwa which had eggs in it and is a speciality of the awadh cuisine. It might not be very healthy but by taking one bite into this you will travel to some other world only. What a magical dessert it was. A must try.