Although the ruling class and administrative elite of the Mughal Empire could variously identify themselves as Turani, Irani, Shaikhzada and Hindu Rajput, the empire itself was Indo-Persian, having a hybridized, pluralistic Persianate culture. Decorated Indo-Persian cookbooks and culinary manuscripts adorned the personal libraries of the Mughal elite, serving as both culinary guides and for aesthetic value. One example was the Ni'matnama, a 15th-century work illustrated with Persian miniatures. This was commissioned by Sultan Ghiyas Shah, a sultan of Malwa in modern-day Madhya Pradesh, and features Central Asian dishes such as samosas, khichri, pilaf, sikh, kabab and yakhni, as well as western and southernIndian dishes, such as karhi, piccha and khandawi. From the Mughal period itself, one popular culinary work was the Nuskha-i-Shahjahani,a record of the dishes believed to be prepared for the court of Emperor Shahjahan. This Persian manuscript features ten chapters, on nānhā, āsh-hā, qalīyas and dopiyāzas, bhartas, zerbiryāns, pulāʾo, kabābs, harīsas, shishrangas and ḵẖāgīnas, and khichṛī; the final chapter involves murabbā, achār, pūrī, shīrīnī, ḥalwā, and basic recipes for the preparation of yoghurt, panīr and the coloring of butter and dough. Another famous textbook was Ḵẖulāṣat-i Mākūlāt u Mashrūbāt, perhaps dating to the era of the emperor Aurangzeb, while another was Alwān-i Niʿmat, a work dedicated solely to sweetmeats. Divya Narayanan writes:
These include varieties of sweet breads such as nān ḵẖatā̤ʾī, sweet pūrīs, sweet samosas, laḍḍū and ḥalwā. The cookbook introduces each recipe with a line of praise: for instance saṃbosa-i yak tuhī dam dāda is declared as being ‘among the famous and well-known sweets; pūrī dam dāda bādāmī is said to be ‘among the delicious and excellent sweetmeats, and nān ḵẖatā̤ʾī bādāmī is noted for being ‘among the rare and delicious recipes.
There are even many commonalities between Indo-Persian cookbooks used at the Mughal court and contemporary culinary works from Safavid Iran, such as the Kārnāma dar bāb-i T̤abāḵẖī wa ṣanʿat-i ān of Ḥājī Muḥammad ʿAlī Bāwarchī Bag̱ẖdādī. Mughlai cuisine is renowned for the richness and aromaticity of the meals due to extensive use of spices like saffron, cardamom, black pepper, dry fruits and nuts, as well as rich cream, milk and butter in preparation of curry bases. This has influenced the development of North Indian cuisine.
