Nisaba Stirs Delhi Awake

HAMPARAN mutton may have become the country’s newest culinary obsession, but in truth there is no such dish in Bihar.

- VERNIKA AWAL

So only a few years ago, when regional Indian cuisine became most talked about, we realised that we needed a dish to champion our food as well. Thus, Champaran mutton became a thing, suddenly being sold everywhere. What we have on the menu is aclay pot Motihari mutton from the town of Motihari, which is in the Champaran district. A fuss-free homestyle robust mutton curry, the way it is actually made,” explained chef Manish Mehrotra when I visited his new venture, Nisaba, in Delhi’s Sunder Nursery on its very first day.

“You see, we in Bihar have always been so caught up in politics and bureaucracy that we never paid enough attention to our cuisine, which is actually so diverse and rich.The Motihari mutton has already become the talk of the town. Served in a clay pot, glossy with its own fat, accompanied by warm hing kachoris that crack open at the slightest touch, it arrived at the table carrying the unmistakable scent of a home kitchen. My Bengali husband took one bite and paused. It reminded him of the Sunday mutton his father cooked during his childhood in Kolkata, that slow simmering ritual that perfumed the whole house by mid-afternoon. “This is the second time I have tasted something this simil