← Guftagu
The Recipe Room
Open an old book.
Put a new pot on the stove.
Sweet saffron rice, slow-stirred milk and a comforting bowl of dal. Meet three dishes recorded by Abu’l Fazl in the Ain-i Akbari, then explore our home-kitchen interpretations.

Adapted for a modern kitchen. These interpretations have not been kitchen-tested. The historical entries supply ingredients and quantities; the modern methods, cooking times and serving sizes are our own.

Keep a place at the table.
There is more to a recipe than the ingredient list. Meet the people, words and books behind this extraordinary kitchen.
- Akbar’s dastarkhwan — eight names to savour ↗
- Inside the royal cookbooks ↗
- The art of mehman-nawazi ↗
- Try Amba Pulao: an authorised modern cookbook excerpt at Atlas Obscura ↗
The Amba Pulao link opens a separate modern recipe. Our three historical excerpts above come from A’in 24, “Recipes for Dishes”, in the public-domain English translation of Abu’l Fazl’s record.