Question - can it be assumed that cuisine that has its origins in India/Pakistan - and contains meat (i.e. tandoori chicken, chicken biryani, seekh kebabs, etc) are the product of Muslim chefs?
I’d make the assumption that they are, simply because Hindus and Sikhs don’t eat meat (or at least aren’t suppose to). Is this a valid assumption? Or do some of these meat dishes have their origin in the hands of non-Muslim chefs?
Achtung
Before or even after the arrival of Islam in north India not everyone was Hindu or Muslim in the strict sense of the words. There were lot of tribes like Gujjars,Jatts,Bheels etc who did not follow any particular brand of religion but a mixture of many things and many of them ate meat. Even some Sikh Gurus used to eat meat. Meat is not strictly forbidden in Sikhism. Meat was actually served in the langar at the time of first 2 or 3 Sikh Gurus. Later it became a problem because people attending the langar were from Hindu(who hated meat) and Muslim(he liked it) communities....which made it hard for them to sit in the same queue in the langar and have different meals..a middle path was followed...serve something that both can agree to eat.
Still, I think various types of Kebab and some other meat dishes common in North India and pakistan have been inspired or created by central asian or persian people....before or after Islam.
well i don't think most hindus r vegetarian. rajputs certainly werent and they were here before the muslim invasion. and sikhs can eat meat i believe.
Compared with it's history Vegetarianism is relatively recent for HIndus.
Infact Vedas speak about Beef!!!
SO i=I think it is the other way roung achtung.
The invading Muslims found out a lot about cooking from India, both Veg & Non-Veg!!
thats informative. Thanks guys. I wasn't really sure and I've always heard people talking and just assumed...if its meat it must be a Muslim invention - guess not.
You guys know the origins of butter chicken? That dish rocks.
And Chanmahi, do you know if Sikhs can eat halal meat? I've heard that they can't. And if they can't, why not?
Achtung
Butter chicken is the worst as for as fat goes..particularly restaurants add too much butter cream to it.
Achtung, Sikhs are supposed to eat jhaTka. I guess they have their reasons to it as you have yours to halal.