Tradition of Dastarkhawn: A Culinary Tapestry of Eating Together

“DASTARKHAWN” IS A PERSIAN AND TURKISH term, meaning tablecloth or a big ceremonial dining spread that was laid out on the floor meticulously. It was so highly regarded that it could be used to place serving utensils on. Historically, the dastarkhawn originated in the palaces of Iran and was brought to India by the Turks and Mughals, who ate in a rich and extravagant manner. Their dining etiquette was a reflection of their social status. Food is served on the dastarkhawn, which is placed on the floor, ground or over a low table known as a ‘thakat’ or ‘chawki.’

Zeenat Rizvi of Riverview, Florida, cannot help but smile reminiscing over her childhood when asked about the dastarkhawn. Many core memories unlock as she remembers the joy of eating around a dastarkhawn. She grew up in the small north Indian town of Barabanki, twenty miles outside of the state’s famous capital city of Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh (Awadh region).

“The ronak (liveliness) around a dastarkhawn growing up was unlike anything else,” recalls Rizvi, who holds a Master’s in Urdu Literature and finds great contentment serving food and hosting guests as her love language. “There was a place for everyone, and you felt special sitting together and enjoying a delicious, fresh meal with one another.”

Breakfast, lunch, dinner were all served around the dastarkhawn in Rizvi’s family home. Her village foods included different types of soups, lentils, rice dishes, cutlets, flatbreads made with lots of ghee and flour mixed with milk like roghni tikkiya or the deep-fried warqi parata or the flaky sweet-tasting sheermal, creamed yogurts, soft biscuits, spiced chutneys, veggie curries, and potato patties to name a few.

Some popular dishes made from lentils, pulses, and beans, are maash ki daal, an ivory-white split urad daal, shahi daal, arhar ki daal or toor daal made from split pigeon peas, and kyunti daal, which is a mix of urad and toor cooked in fresh onion and ghee with garlic, ginger, salt, and chili powder. A speciality was to serve daal inside a flatbread cooked on an inverted pan called the ultay taway ka parata. Chutneys like kachumber made with raw onion, vinegar or lemon juice (depending on the season), salt and crushed red pepper, aam ki chutney (from green raw mangoes), or naw rathan ki chutney containing nine different spices may be found on the dastarkhawn.

Lucknow is renowned for its rich cultures and traditions and is celebrated for its culinary heritage. It was the seat of power for the Nawabs in the 18th and 19th centuries, who really valued and honored eating around a dastarkhawn with at least 12 dishes served on it. There was a certain order, manner and grace with how they ate food. Their chefs, also known as bawarchis or rakabdars, developed complex cuisine that was refined for the Nawabs with finesse and slow-cooking methods.

One legendary dish that came from that era is the melt-in-your-mouth Galawati Kebab. When Nawab Wajid Ali Shah grew old and lost most of his teeth, his royal chef (khansama) created this special kebab that held all the rich flavors without the need to chew. Some say the authentic kebab had over 150 spices, packing it with flavor but also to aid with digestion. The Galawati Kebab therefore feels light despite its richness.

This delicacy along with meat stews like beef nihari and goat korma, a variety of pulaos, and other non-vegetarian saalans such as gosht made with potato (aloo), bottle gourd (loki), or taro root (arvi) were reserved for special occasions or for guests on Rizvi’s family’s dastarkhawn.

“We hosted guests often,” shares Rizvi, mother of three adult children and seven grandchildren. “We would stage everything on our beautiful yellow dastarkhawn, which was made of a thicker cloth and covered with red printed floral work and some supplications. The daily use one was made from cotton to make it easier for washing, while the fancy one with intricate embroidery was saved for guests. We had one special dastarkhawn inherited from my paternal grandmother that we all loved.”

The pulaos are prepared with a variety of spices but are generally less spicy than the popular biryani rice. The meat, either chicken or lamb, is boiled with yogurt, onion, ginger, garlic, and some garam masala, creating a hearty broth called yakhni. This broth is layered with rice and steamed until softened. Pulaos are typically served for simpler meals at home, while biryani is reserved for festive occasions. The spiciness and additional complementary flavors come from the accompanying raita, and some kewra water may also be added for aroma.

Aside from delicious foods, their dastarkhawn was adorned with copper vessels instead of glasses and a clay water jug called a surahi with a wide base and narrow neck. The surahi was placed at the corner of the dastarkhawn and kept the water cold and fresh-tasting.

A pink tea called Gulabi Chai was also served on the dastarkhawn. This tea is known as noon chai or Kashmiri chai and is made with gunpowder tea, milk and baking soda. The tea compliments desserts like Shahi Tukray, crisp fried bread slices soaked in sugar syrup and milk, sheeranay made with sweetened potato or eggs, rasawal, which is prepared with sugar cane juice, rice and ricotta cheese, or kheers and halwas garnished with thin, tiny pieces of edible silver foil to symbolize the royalty and wealth of the Nawabs.

To uphold Islamic teachings of washing the hands before and after the meal, guests would remain seated around the dastarkhawn while a water pot (chilamchi) was brought to them for washing. It was a sign of respect, and Rizvi appreciated this daily tradition.

In southern India, the dastarkhawn is readily used as well. Originally from Hyderabad, India, Sultana Quadri was raised in a town called Amravati in the state of Maharashtra. She and her family would visit her maternal and paternal relatives at least twice a year in Hyderabad.

“I absolutely loved sitting around the dastarkhawn with all my family at my grandmother’s house,” states Quadri, who is a mother of four grown children and works as an elementary teacher in Illinois. “We had up to three generations sharing a meal together, but in actuality, we were creating such close and unforgettable bonds and lifelong memories.” She remembers the dastarkhawn there to be very festive and a rich red in color. Hot, steaming dishes like kidchi keema, papad, achaar, omelets, haleem, khatti daal, mirchi ka saalan, meat cutlets, kebabs, marag, biryani, meatballs, tomato katt, talawa gosth (fried meat) were placed on it and served family style, not like a “buffet.”

This form of communal eating is highly encouraged in Islam and a sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ), who said, “Eat together, and do not eat separately for the blessing is in being together” (Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 3287). We see this especially in our mosques during the holy month of Ramadan. A simple form of a dastarkhawn is rolled out in rows on the ground for the evening iftar meal, where people of all stature sit side-by-side, breaking their fast together. Quadri makes sure to carry on the dastarkhawn tradition whenever her grandchildren, ranging from age 5 to age 20, come to visit her.

“It makes me so happy to see them all sitting together and enjoying each other’s company and grandma’s cooking,” Quadri says. “It takes me back to my own childhood and all the great times we had together around the dastarkhawn.”

Nigora Aminova, from Khujand, Tajikistan, mother of two and grandmother of two, shares how having a dastarkhawn is “mandatory” in her culture and an important way to honor one’s guests. It can be for daily use or brought out on special holidays like Eid and Navruz, which is typically celebrated on March 21st to welcome the spring season. Loved ones get together and prepare sumalak from flour, wheat, sugar and boiling water. It can take up to 24 hours to cook and requires group participation. Mostly in southern Tajikistan but in some northern parts as well, they have to display dishes or food items on the dastarkhawn that start with the letter seen and sheen, seven of each to be exact.

“Every weekend felt like a holiday to us, because we would always have family over,” says Aminova. “We would fill the entire dastarkhawn with all types of traditional foods like baked sambusa for appetizers, osh pilav as the main dish layered with meat, rice and carrots, and chak chak made with fried dough and honey, which is usually served with choy (tea). My mom would make fresh bread in the tandoor and there would be an assortment of fresh foods, salads, and fruits. You could have the same set up indoors or outdoors like picnic-style.”

In the Tajikistani tradition, the dastarkhawn is handmade from luxurious fabrics like velvet and silk with gold embroidery added onto it. Another simpler fabric is sewn under it to preserve the original material. It can be in the shape of a full-sized tablecloth or a table runner. There are also some dastarkhawns that can be placed directly onto a dining table to uphold the tradition in modern homes. Clear plastic with hanging tassels on the edges is placed on top for easy clean up. Aminova’s mother makes beautiful dastarkhawns by hand, which can take up to a month to craft.

“Anything to honor and uphold tradition,” Aminova adds.

In Somalia, the tradition is not so different. According to Rukia Sheikh-Mohamed, most households do not use a dining table. Instead, they use a mat called dirin, similar to the concept of a dastarkhawn, which is handmade by the mothers of the family.

“All foods, meals, teas and coffee are served on it,” says Sheikh-Mohamed, who is a mother of one from Columbia Heights, Minnesota, and works as an operations developer. “In some homes, instead of a formal living and dining area, families meet in the fadhiga to sit, gather, or eat together. When I think back to sitting around the dirin at my grandmother’s, all I remember is laughter and joy as our elders shared their stories with us. Some of my fondest memories are sitting and eating around it.”

Today, many households around the world still eat around a dastarkhawn or a variation of it, making the atmosphere more intimate and less formal. Meal time is a special time, and the dastarkhawn is a symbol of eating together. It brings together families and communities, where food is shared and dishes are passed around, everyone looking to serve one another. In this way, each person has a place and a role around the dastarkhawn.

Tayyaba Syed is a multiple award-winning author, journalist, and Islamic studies teacher. She conducts literary and faith-based presentations for all ages, serves on the board of directors for Rabata, and is an elected member of her local school district’s board of education in Illinois, where she lives with her husband and three children. Learn more at www.tayyabasyed.com.