Indian Street Food in LUCKNOW - Kebab Burger, Nihari & Biryani!!

Finally we've come to the chicken masala. Lucknow is maybe the greatest food city in India that the world still hasn't discovered. For 250 years this was the capital of royal Indian cooking, and today we're eating our way through some of the most incredibly delicious food this city has. Oh wow. Including a special kebab cooked on a giant griddle and turned into a burger. Lucknow's own version of biryani that sells out within a few hours. This is the favorite in all over Lucknow. And that chicken masala? Just wait until you see how they make it. And we're starting this morning with one of the ultimate, one of the world's greatest breakfasts. Welcome to Rahim's. You come down the lane opposite the mosque right across the street. Since 1890, fourth generation I believe, and they are legendary not just in Lucknow but throughout India for their nihari and served with kulcha. So right at the front they're making the kulcha which are these this type of local bread that we're going to eat with a nihari. Okay, this is a duff. Yeah. So the upper part is made, milk's mixed with maida and milk. Okay. And then the down part is oil and ghee. Ah, okay. We call it ghee. So there's milk? Yes. So basically in kulcha, the kulfi white comes from the milk. Ah, okay, okay. And you know, the rough part is coming from the ghee. Ah, I see. So there's like two parts to it. Yes. And then you go downstairs to the To the basement. For the eating, and I think the nihari should be down here. Oh yeah, what a spot. And come downstairs and you have all the nihari and the payas. A nihari is a rich, thick, meaty stew and they have two different versions. One is buffalo, one is mutton, and then they also have paya, which are the trotters, probably mutton, maybe mutton and beef. But the aromas, the meaty stews, it's so thick, it's so rich, it smells so good. And then when he assembles it, he grabs the meat, he grabs some of the gravy, and then some of the oil. The red oil on top and they finish it with a little bit of usually ginger and coriander. The special thing about Lucknow is the kulcha, that bread. And you feel that bread. It's like perfectly bubbly. It feels so flaky. It smells amazing. I can't wait to try the bread, but also the combination. And I couldn't make a decision, so I had to go with both the buffalo and the mutton. Let's try the buffalo first. But a lot of people said you cannot miss the mutton. Oh, oh, oh, oh, you sink your fingers in. The tenderness, the juiciness, the meaty gravy. Oh, oh. When it clings to your fingers like that, that's always a good sign. And when the meat just melts off, oh, and that bread is just made for soaking up that nihari. Okay, first bite in Lucknow. Oh, wow. Nihari is something that never gets old. It's just one of the most warming, meaty dishes on earth. And I love how, I mean, no two versions of nihari tastes exactly the same. Everyone has their own recipe anywhere you go. This one, it's like you taste the thick, it's like melted meat. Again, like liquefied meat. It simmers overnight, cooks in its own juices and fat. The meat is fall apart tender. It's like at the end, you taste like a little bit of a, I think it's from that red. the animal oil on top that just kind of like tingles your throat a little bit with a little bit of chili in there a little bit of heat with finishing off with that flavor of the ginger but what also really stands out here is that bread is as good as everyone says it is you will absolutely be amazed at how flaky and crispy that bread is while still being pillowy soft at the same time almost like biting into a croissant and you have all these different layers that just kind of crunch and flake in your mouth grab in and you want to scoop in with all that meat All that gravy. That buffalo melts in your mouth. More of that bread. And for the mutton we have, I guess, I'm not sure if it's goat or if it's sheep. Although we have the whole rib. Oh, look at that gravy. It's so thick. Okay, let's actually, we'll come back for the rib. Let's go in for this chunk here. Plus the thickness of the gravy. Oh, the mutton is awesome as well. I mean, they're very similar, but mutton is a special meat, that's for sure. Again, melt in your mouth tender. The spices in there, like mild blend of spices, yet all together it's this complex mixture, seasoning, the masala. So good, yeah. And again, that bread is, it really is special. Okay, for my next bite, they said you can squeeze on some lime. We gotta go in for these ribs. Piece of meat. Oh, oh, it just slides off the bone. And then let all that bread just absorb that, that graviness. That nihari was spectacular but really it was that kulcha bread that completely transformed it and it turns out Lucknow is serious about bread because just down the street there's a whole lane named after a different type of bread and one family has been baking it there for about 200 years. So I was curious to find out could any bread top that kulcha? Wow, we have made it and this is an entire street that's dedicated to this bread which is called shirmal and this this entire street is incredible energy is starting to pick up now in Lucknow. There's so many bread, there's fires going, but we're looking for one place in particular that's the original bright yellow and orange colored breads, the shirmal. That's been making it for seven or eight generations and I think it's coming up pretty soon. Oh, we found it. You have to come pretty much all the way to the corner of the street where it turns the corner and this is the oldest place for shirmal bread which is saffron sweet milk bread cooked in a tandoor over coals and they have just this huge basket of all the All the bread's ready to go, ready to be bought and consumed. Since 1830, they've been specializing, they've been mastering this type of bread in Lucknow. And it starts with the dough, which is a special dough. I think it's gonna be flaky and layers as well. But he rolls it up, he pokes it to give it that airflow. Tosses it over to the tandoor station and the master of the tandoor, he whips that out onto the little pillow and slaps it against the wall of the tandoor. But here's when things get like special. Again, he takes like a handful of milk and splatters it onto the tandoor to hydrate it, keeping the walls non-stick. And then the absolute greatest move is he has this bucket of saffron water. Oh, he just like hand showers it. Wow. Oh, the entire fire in Tandoor is just completely bathed in saffron water. That steam, that saffron, that yellow color. It's been cooking for four or five minutes. Again, it's a slow cook. It's not a fast cook. This one is piping hot. Oh, it's burning my hand. This is literally right out of the flaming, coal-burning Tandoor. Yeah, you can see the bubbliness of it. I'm gonna grab a piece. Oh, you see that poof of steam? This is my first taste of Lucknow-style shirmal, oh whole hot Mm, mm. Oh, it's not really sweet, but it has that incredible aroma of like smoky saffron. It's so aromatic. The bread itself, it's unbelievably flaky and completely gooey on the inside. Oh man, that is right out of the tandoor. It's so good. I love that combination of the gooeyness and the flakiness and that incredible aroma of the smoky saffron. Wow. So this this place Ali Hussain it's just a it's a bakery and people will come here to buy it and then you can take it you can eat it with anything. You can add it with any item you want. Oh okay. It's not mandatory to have it with a specific dish you can have it with tea, curry, any type of gravy stuff. Okay amazing. So yeah it's such a versatile bread it's like it's like a A daily bread staple but it is very special. A very special bread, yeah. I was reading like a thousand shirmals a day but they said sometimes on busy days 10,000 shirmals a day like on like during festivals or Ramadan or celebrations. Okay wow that was another incredible food experience. Oh I'm loving Lucknow and I am dripping in sweat now after being backed by that tandoor. Respect to the bakers. The shirmal was excellent, but for me, that kulcha is hard to beat. I'm realizing that the people of Lucknow are master bakers. However, they also take their rice just as seriously. And still coming up, we're trying a biryani that sells out in a few hours. But first, I couldn't miss tasting Lucknow's famous kebabs. I had no idea what I was getting into. Oh yeah, things are definitely picking up in Lucknow now. And we are on our way to the next spot. We made it to the next spot and Lucknow is a meat lover's paradise. Man, we're going to be eating many kebabs as we spend a few more days in Lucknow. But we're going to get our first taste of a Lucknow style kebab. But it's going to be probably a little bit different from any kebab you're expecting. So welcome to the famous Karim Kababi. And this place is amazing. They have the big iron pan on the fire right out the front where they make all the kebabs. Right now he's making a batch of the boti kabob, but they actually have something here that they're very famous for is the bun kabob. So it's like a burger. It's like a smashed patty burger. Man, that smells incredible. Raging over a wood fire so the heat is so high. It's blazing. And then all the staff here are super friendly. Family run still, and then the station over here, the aroma. This is what people come for, what a spot. And I think after he's finished making this boti kebab, we have a pan of the Galouti kebab here that's gonna go on. Okay, the boti is ready. Now we're gonna move on to more of the Galouti kebab. Oh, he gets a whole scoop of it. It goes onto the hot griddle. Oh, that's pounded to a paste. Oh, he scoots it around. It's like a dough, a meat dough almost. Into the fat. And that's gonna be a slow roasting process, but within that minced meat guaranteed, there is a multitude of spices and seasonings that's gonna make it so tasty. Now that just kinda slow fries, he rotates the pan over the fire, evenly distributing the heat. But I think the real key is when he showers it with ghee, and then he keeps frying it, and then he flips over the meat so that it's sizzling, so you have all those crusty seared edges within the meat, and then folded into the meat. The Maillard reaction on the next level, just the crispy fried bits and then he grabs a piece with that iron kind of trowel, smashes it into the center of the bun and then just gives it a little smash down and it's ready to go. Lucknow's most legendary bun kebab. Okay, oh wow. Oh, boti and Galouti. Okay, thank you. Okay, here we go. Saw the process, it's so cool. The way they fry that meat mixture, which is a signature of the Galouti kebab of Lucknow. And yeah, I had to get it on a plate as well with that roti, that Mughlai roti, because it's so cool the way they make that. But first, we gotta try their legendary bun kebab. It is actually glistening. Oh, and when you pick it up, oh, that bun is fluffy and crispy on the top, and then on the inside, the kebab is just plastered within like a meat spread. Hey, can we talk now? Hmm. I'm even trying to process all the flavors that are going on. Okay first of all the actual meat it's so smooth that it almost has like a livery texture to it like a pate almost but then You get that underlying spice mixture, that blend, that nutmeggy, mace aroma and flavor. It's like a harmony of spices. All of those fried, crispy, crusty bits like folded within that mass of meat and then spread into the the burger. All with that ghee crispiness and oiliness. And then you can taste with some of the red onions. Also taste with a whole there's a whole plate of green chilies here that you can taste with. Oh yeah. To complete the entire experience in your mouth. A completely different kebab than I've ever had or ever like even thought about. For this bite I'll go with a little bit of the squeeze of the lime. Put an onion on top. Can't believe how smooth that meat is. Just melts in your mouth. Okay this one is the Mughlai roti. It's so cool the way he makes this outside. He slaps out the dough again and puts it onto this. It's like an upside-down karahi. Then I think he mops it with maybe ghee, and then he really presses it down hard using one of those kandur pillows, just presses it down onto that hot iron. A few seconds later, it's ready. It comes off the hot griddle. You can order the boti kebab. You can order the galauti kebab on the side to eat with this. Okay, so let's grab a piece of this. Oh, you feel the richness of this. And then let's go in with the galauti kebab. Scoop in, oh, this is where you can really feel the smoothness of it, the pastiness of that kebab. The stickiness, the smokiness, the char. Mmm. There's also a bit of acidity within that minced meat as well. It's not like a ground meat. It's typically, it's usually pounded. So every fiber, every piece of fat, all the muscle has completely broken down into a spreadable meat paste. Now that I taste it like that you can feel like the blend of aromatic spices. Taste that with the green chili. It's awesome. Okay grab some more of the roti and for the next I'm going to try the boti kebab. There's chunks of meat in here. There's like meat paste in here. There's crusty edges. There's so many things going on in here. It's like a little bit of a mystery all the different things that are are in here, but you can see how chunky a mixture it is. That is a unique blend. It has this acidity to it. It has both chunks of meat, which are still melting in your mouth, plus meat paste that's just like so smooth. So many textures, the spices, all that. Smoky, crusty bits folded within again. Okay, I'm gonna make a whole little bite here. I'll grab a bit of this. I'll go in for some of that galauti kebab. Add a piece of onion. Add some chutney. Finally add in a green chili. That's like unlike any other kebab I've ever had and it is so tasty. Okay, and then one more thing we got. Oh, this is cool pepper. It says from the city of Nawabs, Awadhi cuisine. This one is like a folded roti with some of the boti kebab on the inside that the owner made. Oh he spread it then added onions. Okay thank you. Take a look on the inside. Oh it's loaded with the boti kebab. Oh wow. Oh that's incredible. It's absorbed all that meaty fattiness into the roti. The crunch of the onions. It's so tasty. So flavorful. What a kebab. I can see why the people of Lucknow are obsessed with these melt-in-your-mouth kebabs. And as much as I wanted to take a nap right there on spot, we had to immediately flag down a rickshaw. Because if you get to the next spot late, you're completely out of luck. Oh, the bun kebab is rattling around in my stomach, but we're on our way to the next spot. This is something I'm very excited to try, the Lucknow version of it, and we're gonna get there hopefully at 4 p.m., right as this place opens for one of the great dishes of the world, but the Lucknow style. Welcome to Lala Biryani, although some locals say it's more like a pulao because of the way that it's prepared. More about that later. Anyway, this is going to be our first taste, my very first taste of a Lucknow style biryani. They're only open for a couple of hours per day, this place, and this entire intersection, this entire area, you can smell the perfume, the rosewater aroma, which is all coming from the pot of biryani in the back. People are starting to arrive for the opening of the pot of biryani. It smells so good. Right now that biryani is still steaming using the dum method, which was perfected in Lucknow where they seal the pot with dough where it steams all together but releases some of the vapor at the same time so that none of the vapor forms on the top of the lid making it soggy. But that aroma, that steam coming out just smells unbelievable. Oh, it's going to be good. Just wait till they open the lid. Oh he's about to crack it open. Oh man the steam all revealing the biryani on the inside. Oh wow that steam is so aromatic. Oh gotta remove that dough, the sealed dough on the outside. It's actually a ritual opening a pot of biryani and you see some cloves, you see some cardamom pods floating around on the top on the surface and then that rice, you see how fluffy that rice is too. So now he's just kind of going down, reaching down to the meat now, scooping out the rice because you have to, when you serve it, you need to pair it with some of the meat below, which I believe is mutton. They make only one pot per day. Once it's sold out, you're out of luck. It's totally gone. After the full ritual, after scooping out the mutton from the bottom of the pan, arranging the different ratios, it's now time to start serving. And already there's a group that's gathered here to get takeaway, to eat in. Hello, hello. Hello. Oh, hello, hello. How are you? Yeah, very good, very good. It's good? Very, very nice. Very nice. This is the favorite in all over Lucknow. Yes, for sure. I'm excited. Lala biryani. Very excited to try it. The wait is over. Now he's starting to scoop it onto plates. Thank you, okay. It's the process. Every step along the way matters, but it's also the serving, dishing out. Look at that. They served it, all the different layers. The mutton is hiding below, but then he scoops in for some of the oily rice. He scoops in for some of the fluffy rice. He scoops in for some of that top fluffy, like saffron-infused rice. It's all there. It's all layered. It's a rice work of art. To say I'm excited is an understatement. So you gotta kind of like scoop into the rice. Get a little bit of everything before you reach that mutton. Oh, you see the cloves floating around. . Oh, wow. Yeah. That is juicy and oily, and fluffy, and gooey all at the same time. Infused with all the aromatic spices. And they say the Awadhi cuisine of Lucknow. It is loaded with spices but at the same time it's more on the aromatic side. So it's not harsh and in your face but it's more aromatic and that's exactly what this biryani is. It's like floral, it's aromatic, the cardamom, the clove aroma, the black pepper and then just the like every grain is kind of well that heavy grain from the bottom is more saturated and soaked with that fat and oil whereas the the top rice is more fluffy and and aerated. Mmm, and all together it's this perfect harmony in your mouth of spice, of seasoning, of mutton. Hmm. Oh. Yeah. It's tasty. And then the guys I met sitting next to me, they said the chutney makes it even better with the onions in the chutney. Mmm, oh wow. An immediate burst of acidity and sourness because that chutney is made with dried green mango. How is the biryani? Best. Best in luck now. Best in luck now? Yeah. Best in luck now? And yeah there's the ones who said you have Yeah. to eat it with the chutney but that does enhance it with that acidity. They're both good on their own but together it's even tastes very nice. Yeah it's very nice. And you can only find this for this type of chutney. Oh wow okay. So this is this chutney is special here. Something that's unique to Lala here. Oh man and we haven't even gotten to the mutton yet. Okay it's time for the mutton. Some pretty significant chunks of mutton, which I can almost guarantee are just gonna fall off the bone. Look, it slides. All the tenderness. Oh, it just completely falls off the bone. Oh, it's spoon tender. Oh wow. With that mutton, it literally melts in your mouth. It's been braising. In the oil and then the steam. And yeah, one of the things about the Lucknow style biryani is that I believe the components are made separately. So the meat is braised and cooked separately, the rice, then the spices, and then it's layered into the pot. And then it's steamed all together. So all the vapors, all of the steam comes together. But the components are... Cooked separately first, and so that's why it's kind of a biryani, kind of a pulao, but it's whatever the debate is, it is very tasty. Oh, with that mutton, that takes it to the next level. Now we need to try mutton with the chutney and the onions, the full, the full works. That is very rich, very tasty, and such a harmony of flavor. And just as they say, so aromatic, floral. And don't let the small plate deceive you. Even though it's a small plate, it's a mountain and it's really heavy and really rich. It's filling. Wow. That is filling and extremely tasty. I'm starting to realize why Lucknow is the capital of gastronomy. And we have met the owner here. Thank you. Thank you very much. . Thank you. How many years is it open? 47 years old. 47 years old, wow. Okay, wow, wow. Okay, thank you. Thank you very much. We made it to the next restaurant. This place is extremely famous. They have many different branches but we're at the Tulsi Theater branch. This restaurant is called Dastarkhwan and it is the house of Mughlai cuisine and they have a few dishes which we absolutely cannot miss. The main thing you come here for is frying on the tawas. So they have two big tawas going. They're making the different kebabs, the different masalas on the tawas, and he's getting ready to make a fresh batch of their famous chicken masala that you have to try when you're here. Okay, so all the chicken first goes onto the tawa, onto the hot griddle. Oh, this looks like bone-in pieces of chicken as well. Oh man, their chicken masala is a work of art. He starts with chicken deboned, but there's still bones within the mixture, but it looks like it's been like grilled chicken already. That goes onto the tawa, onto the grill, hello. And he just like fries that down in some oil until it's ready. Then he puts on like three full buckets of like the thickest, tastiest masala you can imagine and just starts folding it into the chicken, pouring on oil or ghee or juices, then just folding it in as it simmers in the fat. It just starts to bubble. It starts to bring out the aromas and all the spices of that masala. Just plastering and infusing and saturating into that chicken. I can't speak for the people of this village. Hi, how are you doing? It smells incredible. It's literally a mountain. That's one of their signature dishes. If that doesn't make your mouth water, I don't think anything will make your mouth water. Okay, this one is the shami kebab. Thank you very much. Okay, chicken masala. Oh wow, it looks phenomenal. Okay, I'm gonna go with this one, starting off with the Rumali roti, which I think is like a, it's a very thin, like a tissue roti, it's so thin. And you can kind of grab a piece and you even need to kind of like fold it because it's so thin. Okay, I'm gonna go in for the mutton first. This is the Mutton Rogan Josh. Oh, this is like a thick stew. Oh, I will break into that. Oh, you smell the yogurt as well. I'm pretty sure there's yogurt in this recipe as well. and then go in for a swim the rogan josh oh it's oh it's oily and juicy the mutton oh that's phenomenal it's so meaty you taste the richness of the yogurt and the creaminess of the yogurt in there the spice is like the clove floral fragrance of the spices and then the meat is tender that's so rich so heavy so good and before we move into the chicken masala Let's try the shami kebab. I really like this type of roti, this rumali. It's so thin and so light and the shami kebab is another type of Lucknow Awadhi kebab specialty. It's similar to the to the Galawati kebab but this one is a mix of I think buffalo plus usually chickpeas as well as maybe some egg to bind together as well as you see some green chilies in here as well. Again it's smooth like a paste. Mm. Mm. Mm-hmm. Immediately you can tell it has more of a beany taste to it and texture like it's not all meat. It has that starchiness, maybe from chickpeas, but wow, oh man, that's tasty. It's like a bean meat paste full of spices. You can taste the green chili in there. But it has like this nutmeg-y, Maybe a mace flavor to it. That kind of like tingles your tongue again. Oh, it's amazing. And again, just seared on the tawa, on the hot griddle, until it picks up so much flavor, starts to crust over, starts to get crusty, starts to get crunchy, and then like folded back into itself and to reabsorb more of that flavor from the iron griddle and the fire. Yes. Okay, finally we've come to the moment. The chicken masala, they're legendary. Oh, oh, it feels good when you sink your fingers into it. It's so thick. It's so... It's just clinging. All that masala is just completely plastered to the chicken. Look at that. Oh, oh wow. I kid you not. That's like half and half proportion. 50% chicken, 50% masala paste. And yet the masala is not overpowering. It's just this blend of pasty ginger, garlic, every spice masala you can think of in the entire repertoire of spices. All just clinging and saturating into that chicken and it is rich and heavy. I'm not sure if that was oil or ghee or they just poured on that it sizzles in, that tempers it down, that brings out the aroma, the flavor of the clove in there too. Mm, oh, that's incredible. Okay, and I couldn't resist getting a muglai paratha that they're making there at the front. Oh, you just blanket it and just scoop in, oh. and see what you got a whole handful of masala and for this one i think i will dab it into the chutney make sure you get a few onions along the way oh yeah that is on another level so good everything here actually all three dishes are stand out it's one of the things i like i look at looked in the menu and there's like a dozen different dishes half chicken half mutton that's all oh yeah never mind the shami kebab is mutton because there's no buffalo on the menu This is my first time to ever visit Lucknow and truly this is the real deal. An Indian food paradise. A capital of gastronomy and today we figured out why. But this is not the end of our trip. This is my very first day. We still have two more full days. Go check out the next video. We got our third video. I don't know if there are any more questions. Yeah we have a lot more legendary Lucknow Indian food. I don't know if anybody else wants to talk. Well, I guess for us it's like, yeah, this guy's a great guy. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. Thank you so much. You're not going to want to miss any of it. Go check out the video. Keep it cool. No problem. All right. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Bye-bye. Bye, bye. Bye. Bye, bye. Bye-bye. Bye, bye. Bye-bye. Bye. Bye, bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.