LUCKNOW: "Dum pukht", Nawabi Lucknow's slow cooking style, owes as much to
Imtiaz Qureshi
, the grand old man of
Indian culinary arts
, as vice-versa. When Qureshi carried it from esoteric Persian manuscripts to the world map of gastronomy, the art of "
Dum Pukht
(cooked in its own breath)" catapulted the Lucknow-born
chef
to a fame previously unknown to any Indian cook. Qureshi, who became the first practising member of his fraternity to get a Padma Shri, in 2016, passed away in Delhi on Friday. He was 93.
Dum Pukht, the restaurant at Maurya Sheraton that became synonymous with the master chef and a standard-bearer for Indian fine dining, served as a food laboratory where Qureshi invested some of his signature dishes and raised the bar for Indian cuisine- much like his trademark handlebar moustache. Bukhara, another Sheraton restaurant that he founded, is still running.
Qureshi created an aura for Awadhi cuisine that made it a fad for global chefs. Most of his preparations carried stories of passion inspired by the city where he was born.
Intended to be a wrestler, Qureshi ended up as an apprentice to his ustaads, Haji Ishtiyaq and Ghulam Rasool, and started working with a Lucknow-based catering company, Krishna Caterers, which was serving the Indian Army during the Sino-Indian War of 1962. He moved to Lucknow's Clarks Awadh later.
Qureshi got to serve Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was being hosted by then UP CM CB Gupta. Out of respect for Gupta's vegetarian sensibilities, Qureshi invented Turush-e-Paneer, But it was at Delhi's Maurya Sheraton that Qureshi reached the zenith of his career.
His sensational melt-in-the-mouth kakori kabab, the signature dum biryani, and gravies like Koh-i-Awadh, lamb shanks cooked in a mutton paya soup, and Mahi Dum Pukht, red snapper fillet cooked in an almond and brown onion sauce, became global chartbusters.
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