Note: This article is a humble effort to document India’s diverse regional cuisines. In pursuit of this, we may refer to various regional, religious, and caste communities to celebrate their unique culinary heritage. Please note that our intent here is to celebrate everyone’s heritage and learn from it—never to reinforce hierarchies or exclusion.
Aaj dinner mein kya ban raha hai?
This was a regular topic of discussion at home.
… while we all sat together having lunch.
I don’t think I have seen any community as obsessed with food as the Kayastha community is. They. Love. Food. Not only are overall recipes sacrosanct, but even the smaller aspects like how a specific vegetable has to be cut and what it has to be eaten with. Festivals are more about what will be cooked, than what rituals will be followed.
It is a unique cuisine which is a mixture of both simple home cooking and recipes inspired by royal and colonial kitchens of India- borrowed by Kayastha community members who often served as administrators, ministers and record-keepers in Mughal and British offices.
Consequently, the Kayastha cuisine food is exceptional, and absolutely unapologetic about its extravagance in terms of the richness of its gravies, the painstaking effort to craft certain dishes and the luxury of its ingredients.
Table of Contents
The Ancient Record-Keepers
Documenting the history of any community in a country as paradoxical as India is always a complex matter. And while covering history is not the objective of this article, it is useful to gather context about the Kayastha community in light of how their journey through the ages helped design their cuisine. So here we go.
The Kayastha community story is full of contradictions. They are a caste, but not a caste. They have a mythological history, or a practical economic one.
Mythological Background
As per mythology, Yama – the god of death and divine judge of justice complained to Brahma the impossibility of tracking every soul’s karma. To help him, Brahma created Chitragupta, the divine scribe, for universal record-keeping. Chitragupta is said to be the first Kayastha, made from Brahma’s own Kaya.
Material History
And as per material history, in ancient India, Kayastha was not a caste, but an occupational group of well-educated scribes and record-keepers in empires like the Gupta empire. By the medieval period, as the roles became hereditary, Kayastha became a caste, albeit outside of the traditional varna system.
No matter the origin, Kayastha community have, since centuries, been an urban-centred community who have mostly worked in various kingdoms in administrative and clerical roles. They have served as courtiers with the Mughals, the rulers of Awadh and Bengal, the Deccan sultanate, the Marathas and finally the Britishers. This led to the emergence of a unique curated cuisine which is an innovative mix of routine homely recipes developed at home as well as shared by neighbours, and elaborate recipes from royal kitchens.
Today, Kayastha communities lives in almost all states, but the most substantial populations reside in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, Delhi and Assam. Their cuisine, influenced by their surroundings, varies regionally. In this article, we have focused primarily on the cuisine of Kayasthas from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi.
Curate, Innovate and Stir
This tastes excellent. Let me try making this at home.
If one sentence could describe Kayastha cuisine, it would be this. For all their obsession with which-tadka-goes-in-which-dal, Kayastha community has been surprisingly open about trying new things to eat. Which meant that they often explored different dishes served in the royal and colonial kitchens and came back home to create their own versions.
Birbal ki Khichdi
There is a story that Birbal once tried to cook khichdi with a flame kept two feet away from the pot. While in the story Birbal did this to prove a point to Akbar, if you look at a typical Kayasthi dish, you would not be wrong to wonder if that was actually how he meant to cook the khichdi.
Because yes, Birbal was a Kayastha. And yes, Kayasthas do cook that slowly.
Given the passion of Kayastha community around food, taste is paramount and techniques which maximise the taste of a dish are practised to this day. Hence, many dishes of the Kayastha cuisine are cooked slowly. Masalas are freshly ground, and each spice is toasted slowly before grinding. The gravies are unabashedly rich, and the cooking techniques laborious. While the world makes dahi vade, the Kayastha community kitchen would prefer to make the two-times slower stuffed version dahi gujiya.
Truly in these households, cooking is not a form of survival, but of art.
Simat Jana
The concept of baasi khana, or leftover sabji or pooris is quite popular in Kayastha community. Some special curries like those made with mutton, chicken or legumes like chickpeas are actually believed to taste better after a day of cooking them. This phenomenon is called simat jana, meaning flavour integration. Resting a dish overnight allows all its flavours to meld together and get absorbed by the vegetables, legumes and meat. Reheating the dish the next day re-caramelizes the base onions of the curry and increases the umami flavour of the gravies. Additionally, mild enzymatic breakdown makes the curry more tender and smooth.
Meaty Vegetables & Umami Spices
When it comes to the ingredients used and the flavour profile of Kayastha cuisine, there is clear duality. While one set of recipes are derived from royal kitchens and are elaborate and rich, the other are simple quick recipes made at homes in the Kayastha community. However together they create a well-balanced plate of indulgence and nourishment.
Pure Non-Vegetarian Restaurant
My husband and I were quite amused to see this signage on one restaurant in the outskirts of Lucknow. As we delved deeper, we were not surprised to see that this was a Kayastha restaurant.
Given the exposure to non-vegetarian kitchens at work, unlike many other Hindu religion communities, there is heavy reliance on non-vegetarian food in most Kayastha kitchens. Mutton is the go-to non-vegetarian meat. If you go to a formal Kayastha party, mutton will be the star dish of the dinner. Any honest Kayastha community member will unabashedly tell you that the other dishes- a dry vegetable and a dal or vegetarian curry- are merely served to ‘fill up the table’. Apart from mutton, fish is also a favourite. Some of the most iconic non-vegetarian dishes of Kayastha cuisine include bhuna gosht, do pyaasa mutton or chicken, mutton kalia, and fish curry (in the Kayastha masala mentioned below). Various kebabs like seekh kebab and shami kebab were also traditionally made in some Kayastha kitchens.
Behrupiya Cuisine
Earlier, the exposure to non-vegetarian food was limited to the Kayastha men who worked outside. The women preferred to remain vegetarian. It is astounding to see how many Kayastha community women, including my amma (paternal grandmother), did not eat mutton but could dish out the best mutton dishes without tasting them!
Because most of the food experimentation was done at home by women, they also made vegetarian alternatives to the non-vegetarian dishes. This is what I like calling behrupiya cuisine, a cuisine where a richly umami non-vegetarian dish was actually a vegetarian dish in disguise. It was quite common in my childhood to hear, “Kathal ki sabji kha lo, bilkul mutton jaisa bana hai” – eat the jackfruit sabji, it tastes just like mutton.
Rare Vegetables & Simple Spices
Vegetables
The vegetables used by the Kayastha community, especially for the behrupiya cuisine dishes, are hence slightly different compared to the regular North Indian fare. Jackfruit, raw banana and lotus stem are used a lot in gravies for their meaty texture. Apart from these, simple stir-fries from the other simpler side of the cuisine are made with regular vegetables like potatoes, gourds, okra, and of course, lots of seasonal greens.
Spices
When it comes to spices, in the simplest recipes a combination of only asafoetida and dry red chilli is used. In more elaborate recipes, a typical Kayastha masala of turmeric, red chilli, coriander seeds along with garlic and onion are heavily used. Recipes like pulaos and kebabs go a step further with usage of cloves, cinnamon, black pepper, green cardamom and black cardamom.
Oils
Mustard oil remains the oil of preference, with pure ghee being used in special recipes and desserts.
Typical Kayastha Cuisine Thali
Sookhi sabji mein gobhi aloo banega par uske saath curry mein kya banayein?
Given the fondness for food, meal planning has traditionally been a very structured process in Kayastha community. It is nostalgic to hear somebody mentally planning what the curry would be along with xyz dry sabzi. In fact, meal structures varied for different meals.
Breakfast
Breakfast was the simplest- heavy on carbohydrates and vegetables, with some form of grain, be it in the form of breads like poori or porridge like dalia, accompanied by some vegetables.
Lunch
Lunch was the most elaborate meal with dal and/or some vegetarian or non-vegetarian curry served with a dry vegetable sabji and rice and rotis. Accompaniments included a bowl of curd, some seasonal chutney and salad. Another quicker variation of this protein-carb-salad combination were comfort one-pot meals with very specific combinations. Like matar pulao with green chutney, curd and onions. Or urad dal khichdi with chutney, curd and freshly pickled tomato-onion.
Dinner
While lunch was elaborate, dinner was festive. Dinner was the time when some households settled down with kebabs and a drink, especially when socialising. Even a simple dinner at home involves especially crisp (karaare) parathe with a dry seasonal vegetable or greens, pickle and leftover curry from lunch.
Let’s take a look at the Kayastha thali one element at a time:
Breakfast | A Good Beginning to the Day
My memories of Kayasth breakfasts are mostly laidback breakfasts served by my nani in my maternal grandparents’ house in West Uttar Pradesh. While everyone else rushed about for school or work, nana and nani stayed back at the dining table, having relaxed conversations with everyone while they ate breakfast. Typical breakfasts of the Kayastha community would include the following varieties:
1. Fried breads with side dishes
This includes namak ajwain poori with aloo and/or aam ka achar. Instead of namak ajwain poori, aloo ki kachori would also be served at times.
2. Baasi parathe with vegetable stir-fries
Baasi parathe with fresh sabzi is a popular breakfast utilising leftover parathas from the previous day’s dinner. Vegetables like pointed gourds and potatoes would be stir-fried in light spices to eat with the one day-old parathas.
3. Healthy chaats
Chaat is famous in Uttar Pradesh, and some breakfast items of the Kayastha community tend to emulate the basic characteristics of chaat, albeit remaining healthy.
Amongst these are protein-rich breakfasts like dry moong dal with vegetable toppings. In this breakfast, moong dal is tempered with asafoetida, cumin and dry red chilli, and then topped with crunchy fresh vegetables like onions and radish, some mathris for additional crunch. It is then topped with chaat masala and lemon.
An interesting variation is namkeen dalia (broken wheat) with the same tempering of asafoetida, cumin and dry red chillies. Like the moong dal above, this is also served with crunchy fresh onions and mathris. It is then garnished with chaat masala and lemon. In some Kayastha community households, instead of the chaat version, tomatoes, onions and green chillies are added to the dalia to make a porridge-style namkeen dalia.
Another popular breakfast is chhuki matar, where fresh peas are stir-fried with asafoetida, ginger, green chillies and cumin. This can be served with a topping of mathri, or with buttered bread on the side.
4. Quick breakfasts
When breads became more mainstream, Kayastha community households started using them for quick breakfast or tea-time snacks. Some famous combinations include bread with thick malai on top, with an additional pinch of salt and pepper. Other households also served sweet buns with white butter.
Various Shades of Dals
Dals or legumes are where Kayastha cuisine is the most creative. Dals in the Kayastha cuisine are mostly simple, but have very specific temperings in combination with each dal. The tempering is always done with ghee. The consistency of the dal is also specific, with urad dal always being khili khili while dals like arhar dal and moong are mashed well. Tomatoes are not added to any of the dals.
Everyday dals of the Kayastha community include:
1. Simple Tempered dals
- Arhar dal is cooked with turmeric, salt and a simple ghee tempering of garlic and whole dry red chilli.
- Moong dal is cooked with turmeric, salt and a simple ghee tempering of asafoetida, cumin seeds and whole dry red chilli.
- Urad dal is cooked with asafoetida and red chilli. This is the only dal which is not mashed and all individual lentils are visible (known as khadi urad dal).
2. Dals with Masala
- Whole masoor dal is cooked in a more elaborate manner. The dal is pressure cooked with a ground mix of onions, garlic, whole coriander seeds, dry red chilli, raw mango powder and turmeric. This mix is then tempered with ghee and asafoetida, cumin seeds and dry red chilli.
3. Dals with Vegetables
- With greens: Dals like moong, urad or chana dal are boiled with greens like spinach and tempered with garlic, asafoetida and dry red chilli
- With vegetables: Chana dal is also cooked with summer vegetables like bottle-gourd and a simple tempering of cumin seeds and dry red chilli
4. Elaborate Dals
An interesting elaborate dal preparation is a dal kadhi, where both the curry and pakora base is urad dal. Soaked urad dal is ground into a fine paste and tempered with asafoetida, fenugreek seeds and dry red chilli. Urad dal fritters are made on the side and soaked and served in the main curry.
This dish, with minor variations, is called Karail in Mainpuri and Allahabad area and Urad dal jhori in Bareilly area.
5. Dal Kebabs & Koftas
A unique aspect of the Kayastha cuisine is using besan and ground dals to make snacks with laga lipta masala (thick, almost dry masala) which have a distinctly non-vegetarian taste. The base masala for the three most common of these dishes is the quintessential Kayastha masala made of freshly ground onion, garlic, turmeric, dry red chillies, and toasted dry coriander seeds. An interesting trick of the Kayastha community is to increase the umami factor is to first burn fenugreek seeds in the mustard oil and then remove them.
- Besan ki kaleji is made by making a slurry of besan and cooking it slowly on a pan and then letting it cool. The solidified besan mix is then cut into diamond barfi shape and tossed in the masala above.
- The famous Kayastha dish, takke paise is made in a similar manner. Besan dough is rolled into cylinders and boiled in water. They are then cut into thin coins and stir-fried in oil to make them crunchy. The crispy besan coins are then tossed in the masala above to make takke paise.
- Masoor dal ki goliyan is another dish where red masoor dal is ground with ginger, garlic and green chillies, and then the dal paste is cooked in a pan. Once it is semi-cool, small golis (rounds) are made of the dal, and these are cooked in the Kayastha masala to make masoor dal ki goliyan.
- Atte ka meat is a rare dish of the Kayastha community, where a tight dough (double the tightness of poori dough) of wholewheat flour is made, and then washed with water to remove all gluten from it. The remaining gluten-less flour is chopped and stir-fried. The ‘meaty morsels’ are then mixed with this masala, and garnished with garam masala and fresh coriander to make atte ka meat.
Heavy Gravies & Light Broths
There are numerous variations of curries in the Kayastha cuisine, some of which are mentioned below:
1. Kayastha Masala Gravies
Many thin curries are made from the base Kayastha masala made of freshly ground onion, garlic, turmeric, dry red chillies, and toasted dry coriander seeds. This includes aloo-parwal curry, jackfruit curry, makhana aloo curry and beetroot curry (with added raw mango powder to balance the sweetness).
An interesting version is mooli curry, because the distinctive taste of radish builds further into the umaminess of the base masala.
Vadis and mangodis are sun-dried or fried dal dumplings commonly used in Kayastha cooking. Vadis made of urad dal and petha vegetable is also cooked in the same masala with potatoes to make aloo vadi sabji, while fresh mangodis made from moong dal are fried and added to this masala to make mangodi ki sabji.
2. Do Pyaaza Curry
Do pyaaza curries are onion and curd-based curries. The sweetness of onion is balanced with the tartness of curd along with the earthy notes of cardamom, bayleaf, cumin seeds and black pepper. Popular curries of the do pyaaza type are aloo do pyaaza, chicken do pyaaza and mutton do pyaaza. Cashew is added to the gravy to make them thicker, especially in the non-vegetarian versions.
3. Miscellaneous
- Lehsun ke aloo: A garlic broth with thinly sliced potatoes
- Uble aloo ki rasedar sabji: A light summer curry, where boiled potatoes are mixed with onions lightly fried in ghee. They are then seasoned with chopped dry red chilli, green coriander and made into a thin curry.
- Dahi ke aloo: A tangy thin curd curry of boiled potatoes and a tempering of fenugreek seeds and asafoetida.
Dry Sabjis | Simple, Crispy or Spicy?
Dry sabjis are not merely side dishes, but a big part of Kayastha cuisine. They can be eaten for breakfast along with parathas, or as flavourful accompaniments to dals and curries during lunch. During dinner in Kayastha community, they are the stars with crispy parathas. The sabjis usually leverage the crunchier/meatier aspect of some vegetables, hence many recipes use oft-ignored parts of vegetables like cauliflower stems and gourd peels.
There are different types of dry sabjis, but can be majorly divided into mildly spiced tarkan wali sabjis, the crunchy peethe ki sabjis and heavier masala sabjis. Menus are planned based on the spice level of the accompanying curry to create a balanced meal.
1. Tarkan wali sabji
These are mildly spiced dry vegetables with basic tempering of typical Kayastha spices like fenugreek seeds, dry red chilli — this is called methi mirch bagaar. Other recipes also include asafoetida, coriander seeds and cumin seeds. Some unique sabjis in this category are:
- Gobhi ke danthal aloo: A recipe using the often discarded cauliflower stems! In this recipe, cauliflower stems are julienned, and then stir fried in mustard oil with fenugreek seeds, onions, dry red chillies and potatoes.
- Lauki ke chilke aloo: In this recipe, thick peeks of bottle gourd are stir fried with potatoes in the same spices as above.
- Turai ke chilke aloo: This recipe uses the thick peels of tural, in the same spices as above along with ginger.
- Seasonal greens are lightly sauteed with mild spices. Almost all the of the greens are made in mustard oil and tempered with asafoetida and dry red chilli, with the exception of bathua in which ginger and garlic are also added.
An exception is sookhi arbi– a famous Kayastha recipe where colocasia is well roasted and tempered with ajwain and green chillies.
2. Peethe Wali Sabji
Peethe wali sabjis are an amazing way to add texture to otherwise ordinary vegetables. These are medium spiced sabjis in which vegetables are cooked with a slurry of soaked and ground rice and mixed with spices. Cooked on a slow flame, the slurry crisps up, and the resulting sabji is a mix of umami crispiness. Some interesting peethe wali sabjis are made with julienned cauliflower stems, bottle gourd peels and thick chaulai saag stems.
3. Masala-based Sabjis
Masala based sabjis use the Kayastha masala made of onions, garlic, whole coriander seeds, turmeric and dry red chilli. These dishes typically emulate non-vegetarian dishes, and use “meaty” vegetables like jackfruit, lotus stem, and even tender pea shells. A seasonal specialty is kachnar ki kali (kachnar flowerbuds) in same masala.
Another variation is to make vegetable keema. In this category, keema is made from vegetables like cauliflower and lotus stem, and cooked with peas in the same masala.
Chatpati Chutneys and Pungent Pickles
Condiments in Kayastha cuisine add a burst of flavour to the lunch or dinner meals, or as a standalone flavorant with pooris and kachoris. While all condiments can be mixed and matched, certain combinations are almost sacrosanct in the households. For example, peas pulao is always served with green chutney and fresh pickled onions, while urad dal khichdi is always served with ghee and a salsa-like fresh pickle of tomato, onions and green chillies. Following are some of the most common condiments of the Kayastha cuisine:
1. Chutney
Fresh seasonal chutneys are quite commonly made and served during lunch and with snacks. Some common ones include the pan-Indian green chutney made of coriander, green chillies, amchur and garlic. In summers, the mango powder is substituted with raw mango and mint. And in some versions, tomatoes are added to add to the tang of the chutney. Tomato chutney is made by grinding fresh red tomatoes with garlic and green chilli.
2. Pickles
Pickles made in the Kayastha cuisine can be both instant fresh pickles and preserved ones.
Fresh Pickles
Fresh pickles include sliced raw mango with red chilli, salt and asafoetida, or a pickle-cum-salad of chopped tomatoes, onions and green chillies pickled in lemon juice, salt and red chilli powder. The simplest of these are fresh green chillies roasted on an open flame of the stove and sprinkled with salt, and of course, sliced onions with lemon, salt and mint. A seasonal favourite is karonda pickle with dry spices and green chillies. This can be made both fresh or preserved in mustard oil.
Preserved Pickles
Some traditional preserved pickles are also made by the Kayastha community, and have a strong flavour of raw mustard oil. These include green and red chilli pickles stuffed with a mix of fennel seeds and coriander seeds, and jackfruit pickles.
3. Raita
Raita is often served as a coolant with lunch. A unique aspect of Kayastha cuisine raitas is the creamy consistency and richness. The curd is whipped well before mixing with other ingredients to ensure no lumps are visible, and milk is added instead of water to liquify the curd. Unlike most other raitas, a pinch of powdered sugar is added to the raita to balance the tartness of the curd.
Kheere ka raita with shredded cucumber and cumin seeds is the most common raita. A rarer version is aloo ka raita where boiled potato cubes are added to curd. A more elaborate and winter-specific raita is bathue ka raita. Bathua is a green saag available only in winters. The saag is boiled, ground and mixed with whipped curd upon cooking. A tempering of garlic, asafoetida and dry red chilli is then added to make a scrumptious and umami green colored raita.
Karare Parathe and Baasi Pooriyan
The primary bread types made in Kayastha cuisine are poori/kachoris, parathas and rotis.
While plain pooris are most commonly made, kachoris made of urad dal filling, potatoes and bathua are made on special occasions.
Similarly, while crisp parathas are a go-to favourite, parathas stuffed with potatoes, onions, radish and even greens like fenugreek greens, dill, and drumstick leaves are made especially during weekend breakfasts. A rarer version is paratha with a spiced bottle gourd seeds stuffing.
Khile Khile Chawal
Fluffy, long-grained rice is the most common rice served in everyday meals. However, one-pot meals also consist of pulaos, tahari and khichdis.
1. Pulao
Kayastha cuisine pulaos are soothing, very mildly spiced rice dishes. Whole spices including green cardamom, black cardamom, cloves, black pepper, bay leaf, cinnamon, ginger and cumin are fried in ghee, along with onions. After that, the main vegetable is added and roasted well before the final addition of rice and water.
The two main types of pulaos made are matar pulao and kathal pulao.
2. Tahari
While pulaos have only one main vegetable in it, tahari is a spicier pulao with onions, potatoes, peas and cauliflower. The same spices as above are added in mustard oil, but additionally green chillies, ginger, garlic and turmeric are added.
3. Khichdi
Khichdi is comfort food in Kayastha cuisine, made without vegetables, and a mildly tempered mix of either lentils alone or rice and lentils.
The most common khichdis are moong dal khichdi and urad dal khichdi.
- Moong dal khichdi consists of well-mashed moong dal cooked with water, salt and turmeric, tempered with cumin seeds, asafoetida and dry red chilli. It is a simple comfort food served with ghee, green chutney and curd.
- Urad dal khichdi is a rice and urad dal mix tempered with ginger and salt. It is eaten with ghee and a fresh pickle made of tomato, onions and green chillies with salt and lemon.
Chai ke Alawa
Common beverages made by the Kayastha community include lassis, aam panna and the fermented holi beverage kanji. Two types of kanjis are usually made. The lighter one is made with black carrots and the more festive one is made with urad dal vadas.
Chai aur Nashta
Traditionally, evening tea was served with dry snacks made in bulk at home and a serving of fresh snacks.
Dry snacks included namkeen murmura (puffed rice namkeens), roasted makhanas with salt and pepper, mathris, etc. My favourite childhood memory is that of my nani’s secret storage room which had huge steel drums filled with homemade mathris, laddoos and other dry snacks.
Fresh snacks included mangode, which are fritters made of small potato cubes in a slurry of moong dal and asafoetida, buckwheat and potato fritters. An old time quick fresh snack was bread croutons with salt and red chilli.
Conclusion
Let’s face it- it’s amazing to try out new cuisines. And practical to eat what can be made quickly or without giving elaborate instructions to your househelp. But nothing can beat the intense nostalgia that hits you when you eat something so intrinsically a part of your family’s cuisine.
After my grandparents passed away, I had stopped eating the typical Kayastha masala gravies. But while writing this article, I made the radish masala gravy for the first time. And my first bite felt like I was back home to a home I didn’t even know I missed. While replicating the dinner Kayastha thali, I ate the crispy parathas with succulent kebabs and saag on the side. And suddenly it made sense why this specific combination works so well – the saag is almost like a palate cleanser! And since then, my intake of saag and increased manifold.
There’s something beautiful about all our ancestral recipes and something deeply logical about the traditional combinations they were served in. Whether you are part of the Kayastha cuisine or not, I do hope you try out some of the recipes above, and experience the magic of a unique Indian microcuisine.
Note
Special thanks to Mrs. Anita Jauhari, Mrs. Madhu Katru and Mr. Shekhar Jauhari for their detailed inputs on Kayastha cuisine for this article.
Please note that much like our regional cuisines, these articles are living documents and will continue to evolve with more food stories and information. In case other readers would also like to contribute to this article, please drop a message below or at rachnakarindia@gmail.com and we shall reach back.
References
- Detailed food inputs from Mrs. Anita Jauhari, Mrs. Madhu Katru and Mr. Shekhar Jauhari
- From Lineage to State, Romila Thapar
- Mrs LC’s Table: Stories about Kayasth Food and Culture, Anoothi Vishal
- Kayastha Kitchen – Raja Rasoi Aur Andaaz Anokha, Ranveer Brar
