In Press

King's Treat
From a secret in Saddam’s palace to being jealously guarded from daughters, the royal recipes of the erstwhile state of Sailana could have triggered wars in the past,
says JAYITA BANDYOPADHYAY. Photos by PRADEEP GAUR.
"Sailana Food Festival at Surajgarh"
Darpan Magazine (the in-flight magazine of Indian Airlines & Air India)
covered Sailana Food Festival at Surajgarh.

For the cacophonous brood of royal cousins darting through the labyrinthine corridors of the palace in Sailana, a former princely state in Madhya Pradesh, the one room that inexplicably remained locked was a source of much curiosity. It hid many ghostly tales and an iron trunk with its coded lock. The key to which was always guarded by the king himself. All the children knew was that the key could unlock a priceless heirloom. “A war will be waged over the treasure in the trunk,” was what the adults tantalisingly disclosed, doing nothing to satisfy innocent inquisitiveness. “It was years later that we came to know that the trunk was full of recipes collected by my grandfather, Maharaja of Sailana, Raja Sir Dilip Singhji, from over 500 Indian royal families,” remembers Sailaja Katoch, daughter of the Sailana family and now married into the Kangra royal house. At the Surajgarh Fort in Rajasthan, her Sailana Maharaja Digvijaya Singhji, who had come calling on darling daughter, but were disappointed as he was attending his ailing queen.

There’s something exotic and romantic about royalty that make us wonder about their lifestyles even though they hardly have any present relevance, shorn of their kingdoms and subjects. But this princess’ day out turns out to be a chef beginner’s course complete with spices, rose petals, sandalwood powder and romantic tales, some almost a century old. Dilip Singhji was a well know connoisseur and for 80 years he collected recipes. It was a consuming interest that was refined to scientific perfection. His son Digvijaya Singhji took the passion a step further and put down the gastronomic treasures in a much-loved book, Cooking Delights of the Maharaja Such was the fame of the recipes that during the US raids of Saddam Hussain’s palace, a copy of the book was found in one of the lavish rooms. Sailaja too, with help from her husband Aishwarya Katoch, the prince of Kangra, is trying to spread the word says. Part of the property he has converted into private quarters for his family, the rest is a commercial venture.

Aishwarya Katoch, 36, says: “ My luxurious single-suite fortress will be couples to honeymoon or rekindle their romance."

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