Ni'matnama (Book of Delights)
- Year
- ms
- Era
- Undated
- Origin
- India (Malwa) · South Asia
- Language
- Persian
- Category
- South Asia
The Ni'matnama, or Book of Delights, is a late fifteenth- to early sixteenth-century Persian manuscript compiled at the Malwa court of Sultan Ghiyath Shahi of Mandu and completed under his son Nasir Shah. It records recipes for dishes, confections, perfumes and remedies, and is celebrated for its illustrations blending Persian and indigenous Indian styles. The British Library copy remains the principal source, made accessible through modern printed facsimiles.
Cooking from this book
Samosas
Signature dishThe Ni'matnama lingers lovingly over samosas, the small stuffed pastries that the Sultan of Mandu had prepared in numerous variations for his court. Filled with spiced minced meats, fragrant with musk, rosewater and aromatics, and fried until crisp, they capture the sensory extravagance of late fifteenth century Malwa. Their prominence in this illustrated manuscript, alongside vivid paintings of cooks at work, has made the samosa emblematic of the book's hedonistic vision of royal Indo-Persian cuisine.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
