Decoding Saoji Origins, The Uniquely Spicy Local Cuisine From Nagpur

A red-hot mutton curry that blows your palate with its spiciness might be nothing new to those familiar with Maharashtrian food. After all, the state is home to many local cuisines that predominantly play on the use of red chillies and other heat-generating spices. But while people across India would assume this super-spicy mutton curry to belong to Kolhapuri or Malwani cuisines of Maharashtra, the dish could easily belong to the lesser known but much spicier Saoji cuisine. 

Originating in Nagpur, the largest city in the region of Vidarbha in Eastern Maharashtra, Saoji cuisine is reported to be the spiciest in the state. Introduced to the region by a migrant community from another state, Saoji is Vidarbha’s favourite culinary gem—and an almost hidden one at that because not many know about it. We talked to experts who specialize in Saoji cuisine to understand the unique origins, hot flavours and the growing popularity of this culinary style rooted in Nagpur.   

Here’s everything these experts want you to know about Saoji cuisine. 

Saoji Mutton Curry. Image courtesy: Shilpi Gulati

The History & Evolution Of Saoji Cuisine 

“Saoji food goes back to the 1870s,” Chakraborti explains. “There was a weavers’ community called Halba Koshti in Madhya Pradesh. The women of this community created this Saoji masala with a blend of 32 selected spices. They used to make the masala paste with jute oil, which gives it a distinctive flavour. The community migrated to Nagpur around 1877 after Jamshedji Tata opened the Empress Mills here. Soon enough, Saoji food was a prominent part of Nagpur’s culinary tapestry.” 

So, Saoji food is proof that migrant communities like the Halba Koshtis can have a deep and lasting impact on the culinary culture of an entire region. Strangely enough, despite its roots in Madhya Pradesh, the community’s cuisine is no longer popular there, but is identified solely as a hyperlocal cuisine from Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region. However, with time, Chakraborti says that the cuisine has been diluted quite a lot in recent times. “Saoji food was cooked in earthen pots, and mostly the community used to cook mutton,” Chakraborti says. “Then they added a chicken version, and now people even make Saoji paneer dishes. Saoji is predominantly a non-vegetarian cuisine though.” 

This dilution has given those like Gulati, who hail from Nagpur, a chance to introduce the world to Saoji food. “There are a lot of North Indian and Chinese food joints around, but there are hardly any people making it commercially in Pune,” she says. “For people from Nagpur and Vidarbha, Saoji is the taste of home and those living here truly miss it. Even I tried a few places and realized they lacked authenticity, so I decided to make some difference myself.” Keeping with the non-vegetarian tradition of Saoji cuisine, Gulati cooks Saoji mutton, chicken, trotters and egg curries, apart from making a kathal or jackfruit version too. Beyond Nagpur and a few Maharashtrian cities like Pune and Mumbai, however, Saoji cuisine hasn’t really caught on—or is mistakenly confused with Kolhapuri food. 

The Saoji Thali at Le Meridien, Nagpur. Image courtesy: Instagram/lemeridiennagpur

Spices That Make Saoji Cooking Unique 

For people like Gulati, who run a commercial business on weekends mostly, making the authentic Saoji spice blend is a key aspect of overcoming any dilution. “The quantity of spices is unique to Saoji food and jute oil is used, which adds to a very unique taste,” she explains. For her, authenticity is everything. “I get all my spices and oils from a unit in Nagpur. Nothing I use is Puneri.” The spices, Gulati explains include peppercorns, star anise, coriander, cardamom, coconut, poppy seeds, plenty of red chillies, ginger, garlic, cloves, bay leaf, nutmeg, etc. In addition, Gulati explains, there are a few khada masalas or whole spices which are also pounded and added to the dish. 

Chakraborti and his team make their spice blends every day and use every Saoji trick needed to nail the flavours. “The coconut pieces are roasted until they turn almost black, which adds a dark tone to the masala paste. There are 32 different items which are very commonly available in Nagpur. None of it is rocket science like you have to get Kebab Chini from Lucknow or some spice from Kashmir. It’s all about the measurement and the proportion of spices. The spiciest notes in the dish come from black peppercorns, cinnamon and red chillies, which are used in a higher proportion.” 

So why is Saoji cuisine and its unique spice blend such a big secret? It isn’t, really. The issue is that people even in Maharashtra don’t identify the difference between the state’s spiciest cuisines. “People tend to confuse Saoji food the most with Kolhapuri, just because Kolhapuri food is also spicy,” Gulati explains. “There is also spicy food available in Solapur, which is entirely different by the way, so people mix it all up. And I don’t blame them because even I would make the same mistake if I didn’t know Saoji food intimately.” 

Chakraborti, on the other hand, says a foodie with a nuanced palate would be able to note the differences. “Malwani and Kolhapuri spice blends have a slight tanginess to them, which Saoji spice blends don’t have,” he adds. “I think the tanginess makes those spices less hot than Saoji masala. In Saoji masala, there is no tangy ingredient, so the spiciness is not diluted one bit,” he says. The result might be delicious, but without widely spread knowledge, Saoji cuisine has remained an almost hidden gem of a cuisine. 

Saoji food. Image courtesy: Shilpi Gulati

Saoji Food: A Cuisine Growing In Global Popularity? 

Much of that is slowly changing now. The authentic Nagpur Thali that Chef Chakraborti and his team offer has Saoji mutton or chicken along with other local dishes like zunka, bhakhri, masale bhaat and kothimbir vadi—but the highlight is always the Saoji dish cooked up with locally sourced and freshly made authentic spice blend. The response he gets from customers proves that Saoji cuisine is on the up and up. “We also do a croissant stuffed with Saoji chicken to appeal to the tastes of non-Indian and Western visitors,” he says. “We always insist that they taste the local dishes and they do appreciate the taste of Saoji chicken. We also have a lot of people who specifically come and ask for Saoji dishes.” 

“Saoji food is definitely picking up and the reorders we get proves it,” Gulati says. “Yes, sometimes we do get complaints because we make it how it is supposed to be. The spice can truly be too much to handle for some people. But with more knowledge about the cuisine, people have a better understanding of what to expect when they order Saoji food.” While people like Gulati and Chakraborti are clearly making a difference, so are other Nagpuri chefs travelling across and beyond the state. 

“Many of our chefs are doing Saoji tastings in Mumbai, Gujarat and other places,” Chakraborti says. “Of course, as with any cuisine, time and demand makes a huge difference, so now many chefs are also adjusting Saoji recipes to make them more palatable for people across India and the world. I’m sure that Saoji cuisine will be very famous in a few more years. I have learned Saoji cooking from scratch, and I’ve taken the recipes to my Mumbai home. This way, the popularity of Saoji food will spread as more cooks and chefs take it up and make it their own.”