Kolkata's best versions of Rezala

Our serious search for the city's best versions of an Awadhispecialty
It was a muggy, rainy evening in Kolkata. I was at Shiraz, the iconic restaurant at Park Street. Bengali friends had spoken fondly of Sunday afternoons spent here. The half-hour wait became worth it when a plate of mutton rezala arrived at the table. It was served in a bowl -a thick, mildly spiced yoghurt-based gravy, slightly thicker than stew with tender mutton.It was love at first bite. In Kolkata, rezala is eaten at specific eateries -Royal, Sabir's, Nizam's and Shiraz. With origins in Awadh, this dish is now included in the bouquet of Bengali dish.
Mumbai, of late, has seen a surge in eateries offering food from the east. And so, a hunt for the perfect rezala was warranted. There were a few false leads -some featured it on the menu but had stopped making it due to lack of demand. Others served `chicken' rezala. But here's where they make it with fall-off-the-bone meat.
Kolkata express
In the book Oh! Calcutta, hotelier Anjan Chatterjee writes about how rezala became a part of culinary history. “The story goes that when the Nawabs of Awadh and descendants of Tipu Sultan were exiled in Bengal, they carried their cooks along. They were responsible for the Islamic touch to Bengali cuisine, namely the use of spices, ghee and mutton. Awadh cuisine also liberally used essences like kewra. The rezala is the perfect example Tardeo.
of this tradition."
At Oh! Calcutta's two Mumbai outlets, the rezala is one of three mutton curries served (kosha mangsho and railway mutton curry are the others).
The rezala here is fabulous, coated with a layer of ghee that can be unsettling for some, so it is a good idea to give the gravy a toss before serving. It has stew-like consistency and is fragrant with whole spices. The mutton is tender, and Chatterjee recommends eating it with roomali roti. But it works equal ly well with luchi. “The rezala owes its taste to the 20 ingredients that go into it," says Chatterjee.
These include whole spices, kewra water, condensed and regular milk, mawa, sweet attar and coconut.
Chatterjee puts down the popularity of rezala in Kolkata to the fact that Bengalis prefer a tinge of sweetness to their food. “Here, it doesn't enjoy the popularity of the kosha mangsho, but is a favourite of a select few."
It's a best seller
At Iti, cooking mutton rezala is a ritual that involves four hours of marination, 19 ingredients and two hours of cooking. They make it fresh every day and are sold-out within hours. “Bengalis are very particular about their food so we keep things as authentic as possible," says Purnendu Bose, Iti's owner.
Two star ingredients -milk and kewra essence -make it what it is. The mutton is marinated in yoghurt, salt, onion paste, haldi, red chillies and corn flour. The gravy is prepared using homemade ghee, chopped onions, oil and full spices. The mutton-gravy mixture is then cooked till the meat is tender. When nearly done, a glass of milk, some more ghee, kewra essence and boiling water is drizzled in. “Once yoghurt and milk have combined, the dish spoils easily. So, we prepare it fresh," says Bose.
The dish arrives at the table with whole red chillies and lachha parathas. The gravy is dark brown, excessively creamy and a bit sweet, despite the generous use of spice. The mutton is always made using the breast of the goat.
“We have customers who come here only for rezala and biryani. If these aren't unavailable, they will leave without a meal.
They won't try anything else," says Bose.
It’s Moghlai
The six-month-old Lazeez Xpress is part of the Shiraz Hotels group, the firm that owns Kolkata's Shiraz. It made sense to start my journey here. As I waited, corporate chef Sarfaraz Hussain (in picture) told us about how often, the dish is confused for an authentic Bengali preparation. “It is a Moghlai dish, originally from Lucknow but so popular in Bengal that people there consider it their own." Hussain's father hails from Calcutta, and his childhood memories are specked with days his mother would prepare the rezala at home over charcoal. Hussain left the city 17 years ago to find work as a model in Mumbai, and worked his way through several Moghlai restaurants.
Although he stresses that the same mutton rezala recipe is used at all their chains, differences persist. Lazeez's mutton rezala sees a stronger use of spices and the inclusion , of saffron, giving it a colour deeper than creamy white. The curry is thick, and dea, spite the ghee, surprisingly light. The mutton is soft but does not fall off the bone. The light gravy is best scooped up with thick parathas.