Maharaja Cuisine Food Festival at Sattvik, Saket

Sattvik is one of the first names in Delhi to have understood the needs of vegetarians and introduced variety and flavour, beyond the paneers and the dals, to the vegetarian platter. Now, about 8 years into operation and still satisfying it’s patrons, with minimal change in the ambiance and more experiments with the flavours, Sattvik, Select Citywalk, Saket, has organized Maharaja Cuisine Food Festival, which brings the best of vegetarian delicacies inspired by traditional recipes from the royal kitchen of India. The menu has been curated by Food Connoiseur Ravi Pratap Singh Ranawat, who has years of experience with royal cuisine. To create a royal and special experience, musicians have been specially called from Jaipur and they will be performing through out the festival, which is from September 17 to 27, 2015.

The royal thali consists of 2 starters, 5 main course dishes, biryani, Indian bread, and a dessert along with a welcome drink and a glass of chaach.

The royal journey started with a orange-garlic welcome drink in a shot glass, followed by a glass of thick and yummy chaach flavoured with cumin, ginger and mint. While we were sipping on the chaach, the thali arrived. It is a big golden thaal, along with a semi-circular tray containing the 5 bowls with the main course dishes. Our sides consisted of the small pickled onions, chutney and achaar masala.

We began our food journey with the two starters, Palak ke Shami and Paneer Sula. Palak ke Shami is a vegetarian twist on the Shami Kebab. It is made with spinach and chane ki dal. It is really soft and tasty. Paneer Sula is very different from the paneer found at most food outlets. It is marinated with an exotic herb which is used in the royal kitchens.

In main course, there is a good variety of dishes, the common thing being that most of the vegetables have a curd based gravy.

Dahi Palak is refreshing like raita, but is actually a main course. It is spinach in curd, tempered with laung (clove), elaichi (cardamom), and other spices. It is yummy, but you need to be careful as you might get a clove or two in your mouth. Badam Paneer Korma is rich in flavour, creamy, and truly royal. The gravy is made with curd and almonds, and the dish tastes wonderful. Makai ka Korma is corn in curd gravy. It is a bit toward the sweeter side due to the corn, but it is still delicious. Maharaja Yellow Dal is as expected delectable. Su Sa ke Aloo is a very spicy dish. In old times, travel used to take time. So the easiest thing for the royals was to use potato, chili, and salt, and savour this dish. This one really satisfies the taste buds of the people who like spicy food.

We enjoyed the main course along with bread and Kabuli Biryani Rice, which had Kabuli chana. The platter also contained some green salad and some tomato-onion kachumber and papad.

After we wiped out the yummy, albeit very heavy thali, we moved on to the dessert. Gulab ki kheer is so flavourful, smooth, creamy, and mouth-watering. We finished off the whole thing in under a minute. The meal ended on a sweet and refreshing note with a Meetha Pan (people have the option to take Saada Pan as well).

The festival gave us a very royal and exclusive experience of enjoying the food that the kings and the queens have experienced. Head over to Sattvik to experience it for yourself.