Dining with Jhabua Royalty
Dining with Jhabua Royalty
What a spread they lay out! And the warmth of the Singh family only enhances the traditional meal
Text & Photographs: Farzana Contractor
Being of blue blood quite naturally follows that among other pursuits of the good life, good food will certainly feature high. As is the case with Arunima and Ganesh Singh and their children, and their children!
There are some people you can sit with and converse for hours. Ganesh Singh Jhabua is one of them. He may be of royal clan but please, let’s address him as Sheikhu, as he would like us to, and all his friends do.
Spending an afternoon with him at his most unpretentious and super classy home in Indore was not just enjoyable, it was enlightening. He is so full of knowledge and lovely little stories, of both the past and the present. Little wonder that he is a popular guy in the social circle of Indore, a city he was born in.
His wife Arunima, though not blue-blooded, comes across as the most royal among the entire family. She has an air of dignity about her. She is gentle, graceful and soft-spoken. It takes just a few minutes of interaction to see that she is also a kind and compassionate woman, who expresses herself with ease. And that she is in full command of the kitchen in her home.
It didn’t seem like I had only just met the Jhabuas, and for the very first time. It was thanks to mutual friends in Bombay that my team and I were at their home for lunch. To see just how a local table is laid. I can tell you that the table that awaited us showed warmth, care and sufficient thought. The menu was balanced, showcasing the Jhabua cuisine which Arunima explained to us, patiently, in great detail.
Joining us at the table were also two grandsons, Rudra Pratap and Shaurya Pratap, a nephew Adiraj and their daughter Vijaya, who had come down to visit her parents. Vijaya lives between Chandigarh and Nahan in Himachal Pradesh, married as she is, into the royal family of that state.
It was a happy buzz that was created. All thanks to the sumptuous table and the fact that each of them is a foodie, including the two young boys who knew exactly what they wanted served to them, even as the grandmother, or NaniSa, as Arunima is addressed, fussed over them.
Once the photos were done, very quickly, as I always do, we all sat down to eat. I cannot begin to express just how good the lunch was. As we were advised, we started with picking a paniya, the Jhabua bread. It’s stepbrother to the Rajasthani batti, except this is considered more superior. A delicacy typical of Jhabua, the paniya is first steamed and then wrapped in khakra leaves and carefully put under burning coals, so they are allowed to slow-cook, roast and get just a bit brown and toasty. Unlike the batti which is crusty. Of course you don’t eat either without slathering them with pure, home-made ghee.
With all that was on the table to go through, one nibbled at the paniya judiciously, it is after all rather filling. The Achari Aloo and the Khatte Meethe Baingan were the next two that we tried and none of us could decide which was better, so I did. The baingan, I declared! Considering I am not a huge fan of aubergine, and I still rated it 10 on 10, you can imagine the taste of it. Basically it’s a simple preparation, just that you have to get the browning right. I have got the recipe from Arunima and have selected it as the best dish I have eaten this quarter. It is right there on the pages of Editor’s Choice (14-15), but I am quite certain you won’t get it right! Try making it and let me know.
Mutton is my kind of meat. As is with any discerning foodie (ahem!), and I was keeping the pasanda for the second last dish that I would try. Different, very different from the pasandas I have eaten. Also very good. But the pièce de résistance had to be the yakhni pulao. So aromatic. Such taste. Every grain of rice, slow-cooked in the yakhni of the meat. And the meat itself, moist, tender, falling off the bone.
As we moved to the living room after this most fulfilling but heavy lunch, I started to think of cows, enviously. Must be good to have four chambers in the stomach, right? Well, hot aniseed tea and more of the interesting conversation post lunch helped ease the feeling of having eaten too much.
We were curious to learn more about the Jhabua royals, now in their 16th generation. What was Jhabua history like? You will probably be as surprised to learn as we were that the Jhabua dynasty, with their roots in Madhya Pradesh, started in 1584, through the founder Jhabbu Nayak, a dacoit! That’s right, a dacoit who belonged to the Labana community. So labelled because the Labana people rose in mutiny against the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb in 1605. Interestingly it was Keshav Das, representative of the Mughals who led the Mughal army against Jhabbu Nayak, attacking and killing him. In recognition of his service, valour and success, Aurangzeb, the emperor, gave that area of land to Keshav Das as a gift. It was Das who named this conquered territory Jhabua.
Fascinating to hear the story as told by someone representing the royal clan. Sheikhu is the youngest among the three brothers of the 16th generation of the Jhabua royals. As the traditional rule of the Rajputs goes, his eldest brother Narendra Singh is the one who has the title, His Highness. He was crowned in 2002, when their father, the 15th Raja, Ajit Singh had passed away.
“Yes, I must say, our history is quite fascinating,” concludes Sheikhu. “But let me tell you the last bit. Jhabua was a tribal district, very rich in minerals, right until 1947. The Labana people, now more or less extinct, were a handsome lot. Don’t know how that came about, perhaps because of WWI or visiting foreigners to India, but their looks, beauty I should say, was a cross between Europeans and the locals.” Well Sheikhu, we don’t have to imagine, we just have to look at you.
A pity, royal titles in India were officially abolished in 1971. Some amendments to the Constitution should never have been made. But then you have to pay a price if you want a nation which is to be a fully democratic republic. Though one could still argue since there weren’t any ‘subjects’ left, royal titles and royal traditions could have gone on… the regalia, pomp and ceremony, could have continued, publicly. No harm there… but I digress. We can stay happy reading unbelievable stories and conjuring those regal, royal times of the great Maharajas of India.
The topic turned to the wife of HH, the late Ajit Singh. “My mother was someone to reckon with. Ah! What a woman! She was addressed as Rajmatasaheb. She was Loke Rajya Laxmi Devi of Jhabua who hailed from the Rana family of Nepal. She was a woman of great substance, wit and style and a true matriarch of the family. A very practical woman who told the boys to stand on their own feet and supported them when the joint family moved out of the family kothi in Indore to build their own individual homes. She was a fantastic cook, too, who wrote a cookery book, published by Roli.”
“Which is why,” says Arunima, as she joins us after finishing the supervision in the dining room, “our food at home is also influenced by Nepalese cooking. In fact, Nepalese as well as Kashmiri and Goan, or rather, Continental.”
Sheikhu, continues with the narrative, “Uff, I can’t begin to tell you how good John was. The best Continental food I have ever eaten anywhere in the world, mind you, has been at my own home. He made a great roast chicken, pumpkin pudding, and mutton steaks, but the taste and flavour of his scrambled eggs on toast is still there as strong as ever in my mind. God knows what he put in there but he did not give my mother any of his recipes when he left. ‘You are such a good cook and you have learnt everything’, he told her. He went back to Goa, where he wanted to die peacefully. He even asked for money for his coffin, his son was no good, he said!”
“But the Kashmiri cook left every recipe for us. He was so good also. Kabarga, mutton chops made in milk, we remember whenever we talk about him,” says Arunima.
It took some coaxing to make Arunima talk about herself. What she disclosed was rather unexpected. She hails from Punjab and actually studied to become a pilot. She has clocked 20 hours of flying and possesses a pilot’s licence, too. The two first met in Indore, at the Yeshwant Club when she was in school and he was in the first year at Daly College. A few years later, rather young, they got married. That was 45 years ago. They are parents to two daughters. One is the bubbly Vijaya, who is married to Sangram Sirmaur, of royal lineage from Himachal Pradesh and they have a son, Jaivardhan Singh. The other is Nandini who lives in Delhi and has two sons, the same ones we shared lunch with. Nandini is married to Pitamber Pratap Singh, whose father is Madhavrao Scindia’s uncle. Vijaya has a company called Gourmet Royal, where she showcases food from royal households at food exhibitions and Nandini has a passion for Gond art, and is pretty immersed in promoting tribal art and culture of Jhabua.
Adiraj, who has been our escort and guide, is Sheikhu’s sister’s son. He is a huge foodie with in-depth knowledge of Indore and can tell you everything you want to know about Indore’s food scene. “It was thanks to him that we managed to pack in as much as we did!”, I announced to everyone.
“Oh you have already been to Sarafa Bazaar, then?” asks Sheikhu, who I have just learnt is a total Red Label man, and once again the topic moves to food and drink. Yes sir, we have! “Mind-boggling, isn’t it? See, people in Indore love to eat. Every area will have its own speciality, street food eatery. And these are places people go to after they have eaten at home. It could be for a jalebior rasmalai, rabdiand so on. Often they also go to eat a chaat, some bhuttekikees, as a late night snack! There is no knowing what and when or how much Indorians can eat. But to be honest, food at home is so good, I don’t really feel like going out to restaurants. Our Rajput boys, most of them cook really well, like Adiraj, here!”
Does Sheikhu cook? “No!” comes the emphatic reply, “I love to eat, not cook.” And he went on to talk about food and more food…