How a Failed Indian Emperor Created Modern Asian Cuisine

We set out to film a video on famous Thai Muslim dishes, and ended up following the threads to one Indo-Persian empire that intentionally spread and combined ancient dishes from the Arabic world through south and central Asia, and eventually through Malaysia and into Thailand.

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0:00 - Lokhande Muslim Restaurant
2:55 - Bangkok Halal Food Festival
4:38 - Thai-Pakistani Food: Ameen Biryani
5:40 - Introducing: The Mughal Empire
7:37 - Explaining Today's Food
9:51 - Mughlai Cuisine in Little India
11:37 - Jahangir: The Food-Obsessed Emperor
13:49 - Mughal Food History with Ret. Cdr. Anand Khandelwal

Restaurants featured:
Lokhande Restaurant
Ameen Biryani
Basmati International
Punjabi Sweets
all Bangkok, Thailand

[OTRontheroad]

Let me make a couple points here as I want to clarify a couple things that seem to have confused a few viewers- probably my own fault.

First- the point of this video is NOT that the Mughal Empire brought anything to Thailand or SE Asia directly. That's not at all what this is saying. The point is that the Mughal Empire was the period in time when Persian, Arabic, and Central Asian cuisine all combined into what is now considered by foreigners to be "Indian food", and so that is the cuisine that would eventually come to Malaysia (and ultimately Thailand) through both South Indian and Punjabi traders. That's all.

Second- That route of how food came to Thailand/SE Asia is not the only path it took. There are multiple periods of migration, including to the north through Myanmar, that brought dishes to this part of the world. This was only a narrow focus on one of those.

All of that said, I'll be honest- I should have expressed all that more clearly. This video is a bit of a mess- I mean, we interview my tennis partner for goodness sake. It was the third video we ever filmed, and the first two (Nonthaburi and Talad Phlu) were both just walking-around-one-area videos. I'll stand by everything in this video, it's all documented fact. BUT it's also incomplete and brushes past a lot of centuries, and if we'd done this better, we could have told a more comprehensive story that would have eliminated any confusion. I'm still proud of this video as it's really important in what OTR is now- this was the first time that we set out to film a video, then got sidetracked by some fascinating point in history, then just went deep down that rabbit hole. We'd never come back out. But it's also the only video where we did our research retroactively (after filming, before editing), as we hadn't set out to take on this subject at all. But if it wasn't for this video, we'd probably have never become the channel we are today.

At some point in the future, we'll get back into this subject and tell the story better. Again, this was one we filmed more than a month before we even put our first video online. We were still in the womb. Please forgive me for anything that is confusing or could have been expressed better- it was a major learning process...and it's still a chance to showcase three of the best places in the entire city: the Lokhande massaman curry, the biryani stand, and Basmati's masala tea. So get mad at me if you want, but please go patronize those three businesses, they deserve it.

Cheers! -Adam

[samsungnvA]

Massaman Curry is actually South Indian (Tamil and Kerala) curry (of anything, meat, seafood or vegetable) with coconut milk as a base and slow cooked over a couple of hours. It was taken to South East Asia by Arab traders and is called Massaman Curry in South East Asia. Its consistency is thicker and never used dairy but freshly squeezed coconut milk.

[popinjay]

ive been to thailand dozens of times, but never heard of these places..such amazing info to have. thank you!

[Iammine]

"We don't really study pre-impreial India in American public schools, 20 miniutes ago, all i knew about the Mughals was from some references in Civ 6" I burst big laught and tear of joy. Nice work for you. you earn a sub and 1 thrumb up from me.

[francisadams-ul]

This is a very helpful video. It helps me to understand how Thai food developed. Also, Lao, Cambodian, Burmese, and Indonesian.

[dondobbs]

Your work is the best. I learn more from one of your episodes than watching a dozen others.

[TimChuma]

Malaysian seems to have a mixture of several different cultures. Before a franchise took it over there was a Malaysian place I used to go to with Tamils doing the roti exclusively and other people from different countries doing the drinks and food.

[PohThanyachanok]

Love your channel! I’m on a mission to watch every single one of them 😄

[pishetshotisak]

There was a record that King Narai reigned in mid 17th Century has an Indian chef in his palace and serve his Persian guests with Indian-Arabic cuisine so maybe the curry food might come in this region earlier than 19th Century

[greenmaillink]

You've gotten me hooked since the episode about Pad Thai. Now I anxiously await more history + food history. Awesome work and great story telling.

[ZaidCiddiqui]

Really loved the effort here! Just a small note — this doesn't quite look like traditional Mughlai Paratha, which is usually stuffed and more layered, almost like a savory pie. Maybe checking with someone familiar with the dish could help next time. Still, great work overall!

[RangKlos]

1:17 You do know that King Rama II himself wrote a poem describing Massaman curry for his royal barge chant, don't you? On any Thai dining table, Massaman was never a simple dish. It's a crown jewel. Not because its Muslim origin or anything but because it's the fanciest one. One with the most exotic ingredients and time consuming preparation. That's how the Thais perceive it.

The biryani restaurant at Chakkrapong mosque was my mom's favorite so I still visit it whenever I go to BKK. When the shop was not busy, the lovely old lady liked to sit down next to you and chat away. I hope she stays strong and healthy though it's a bit concerning not seeing her in the VDO. Haven't been there myself since the pandemic.

[brucetidwell]

I'm from the US. I LOVE Thai food but I had no idea that it is this complex. We just go to Thai restaurants (of whatever authenticity) and there is no notation or distinctions between these subtle variations. It's really interesting. I guess it would be like a restaurant serving buritos, Jambalaya, Fried Chicken, and Hot Dish, and saying it's "American" without defining the significant cultural distinctions between all of it.

[pseudonym]

This was a nice video, even though there maybe some historical inaccuracies, one cannot overlook the impact Mughals has had on the culture and cuisine of the sub-continent area. The "Indian food" that people love would not have happened without the Mughals.

[yingluckypupuu]

Biryani rice with saffron is another good example of Persian dishes In Ayudhya and Rattanakosin. Shake Amad turned Bunnag Muslim family in Rattanakosin called ข้าวบุหรี derived from Biryani with saffron. Massaman curry is not the only one. During Ayudhya and early Rattanakosin, Siam colonized part of today Malaysia, there were not much food cultural exchange but some Peranakan Chinese dishes between Penang, Songkla, Ranong.

[misubi]

That Zha Jiang Mian shirt is amazing! Want!

[kraicheamsawat]

I just came across your channel lately, I can see that you poured a lot of your effort in making videos about food and history and I really enjoyed it! Hope to see a lot more like this in the future, thank you!

[Pike]

17:40 completely wrong. South Indian presence had already been in SEA for almost a thousand years of recorded history, during the Sriwijaya Empire era, trade guilds from South India were well established and many married into local royalty. And South Indians you are referring to are primarily Tamils and Keralities. They have very minimal influence of mughal cuisine, they were not under mughal influence, you see their cuisine is completely independent. Lots of staple foods in Malaysia, South Thailand were also brought by Tamil communities of South India and Sri Lanka. Roti canai, prata is one such example. Fish head curry is another one. Beef Rendang also has a South Indian origin, Tamil merchant guilds brought the dish first, later muslim merchants innovated it in SEA. Several curries in SEA made with coconut milk are of South Indian origin. Prata is actually parotta from South India, it is derived from Turkic cuisine and adopted by muslim Tamil merchants of Sri Lanka who later introduced it to South India via family and business ties with mainland Tamils, now the dish is popular across South India and SEA. North Indian paratha has its origins in present day Lahore, a completely Punjabi origin dish. Stuff like puttu, appam, etc are from pre-sangam era, atleast 300 BC, as several Sangam era Tamil literature mentions them, a period when Kerala has not created its current language of Malayalam.

[Ron.xionzre]

Before my fellow Indians get their nationalist hard on, the ancient world had a lot of trade. We have incorporated as many foreign cuisines and culture as we have exported. Just appreciate the beauty of history, don’t be cringe.

[krissoliongco]

Where Muslims are a minority, their food always slaps. I'm from the Philippines and have only recently tried our local Muslim cuisine and it's the bomb.