Ustaad, not a chef: Imtiaz Qureshi, known for reviving the ‘dum pukht’ cooking style, dies at 93

“He was admitted in Lilavati for the last two weeks due to old-age issues,” shared chef Ishtiyaque Qureshi, his eldest son, adding that there were issues with his vital organs.

“He was a strong man with stronger willpower. Even in his last days, he had a smile on his face every time the nurses attended him or he spoke to his grandchildren on video calls. This morning at about 4 am, he developed some complications from which he couldn’t recover.”

Calling him a ‘guru’, Ishtiyaque, who owns Bandra-based Kakori House, shared that work was worship for him. “He was a gifted man who showed a path to thousands of people. In the past eight years since his retirement from ITC Hotels, we sat together and wrote things, performed experiments and played around with recipes. Even in the hospital, he was making plans of what we would do together once he returned home,” he said, adding that he taught his children the art of ‘dum pukht’, that it “can’t be contained to a menu but needs to be deep-dived into and further explored and expanded”.

“He would always talk about developing the cuisine further while retaining its authenticity, and saying that keep experimenting till it gives you satisfaction,” he said.

A descendant of khansamas of the Mughal rulers and nawabs, Qureshi hailed from Lucknow and started his culinary journey as a nine-year-old during the British Raj. He joined his uncle who was charged with preparing food for 10,000 British soldiers without any fancy equipment or electricity. He later joined Krishna Caterers, which was responsible for feeding jawans in Lucknow during the India-China war in 1962. It was during this job that he was entrusted with preparing a meal, all by himself due to security concerns, for then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru for a state banquet in 1962. Such was the meal that Nehru went on to hire Krishna Caterers for the opening of the Ashok Hotel in Delhi, where he prepared kebabs, biryani, murg mussalam and a dal that eventually became ‘Dal Bukhara’.

His culinary prowess caught the attention of Ajit Haksar, the founder of ITC Hotels, who hired him sometime in the mid-1970s. He stood his ground to cook in copper vessels, something that ended up becoming an integral part of cooking at the hotel chain. It is here that his cooking technique of ‘dum pukht’ got attention and his dishes became the name of the restaurants he established and successfully ran, earning him many accolades over the years. In 2016, he was conferred with Padma Shri, the fourth-highest civilian award.
“He may have been from Lucknow but the world was his oyster,” said Diwan Gautam Anand, who was the banquet manager at ITC Maurya when Qureshi worked there as the master chef.

“He wasn’t making just one cuisine but would pick up dishes and recipes from conversations with various chefs from India and abroad, or from visits to different regions, and make them his own. I remember having ‘Saat Nizam Ki Dal’ which he picked up from Hyderabad,” shared Anand, while crediting Qureshi for bringing “a renaissance to Indian food”.

“He understood that the trick lies in ingredients. He was particular about the quality of ingredients – he had his own potli masala – and water so much so that he would check the pH,” he said.

Having retired from ITC Hotels as Grand Master Chef a few years ago, Anand called him a large-hearted man who “would go to the table and ask his guests what they like and ensure that they have a good experience.”

Restaurateur Zorawar Kalra, whose father, late culinary maverick Jiggs Kalra, and Qureshi, were contemporaries, says that the latter was “majorly responsible for popularising North India’s favourite Dum Biryani”.

“He showed the essence of a man in love with his craft. In some sense, he was India’s first celebrity chef. He worked closely with my father to bring about a renaissance in Awadhi cuisine. He was a doyen and his indelible mark will always remain and he will always be considered India’s foremost culinary ambassador,” said Kalra.

Chef Ranveer Brar, who also hails from Lucknow, recalled growing up hearing stories about Qureshi and his legendary kebabs.

“We idolised him. Wherever you went in the city, people had stories about him, like where he lived, where he cooked, and his legendary kebabs. But because he had moved to Delhi by then, there was no way I could have them. So, when I was working as a trainee chef at Taj Palace in Delhi, I took my salary of Rs 612 and went to ITC Maurya next door to have his famed Galouti Kebab at Dum Pukht. That moment was huge for me because, finally, I had reached the space where I could taste his kebabs,” shared Brar, adding that Qureshi brought such a flair and panache to the Lucknowi cuisine that it is indebted to him.

Brar, who eventually went on to work with him on several projects, admitted initially being intimidated by his aura. But what stood out for him was Qureshi’s curiosity. “I met him last about a-year-and-a-half ago for MasterChef and he was constantly picking up something or the other, thinking how he could treat a particular ingredient, he was constantly thinking.”

Sadaf Hussain, a Delhi-based food consultant and one of the contenders of MasterChef India in 2016, shared how he was an ‘ustaad’ and not a chef. “The difference between the two is that chefs have a culinary degree and an air around them but ustaads are giving. Because Qureshi came from such a lineage, he never showed off and went on to elevate food the way only he could.”

“Chefs can give you a recipe but ‘ustaads’ will give you life lessons in the kitchen. They will share the recipe when they think the time is right and when they know that it will stay with you… he was very giving towards the later years of his life,” added Brar.

Stating that Bukhara won’t be the same without him, Delhi-based historian and author Rana Safvi said, “At a time when not much was known about Awadh’s food, he defined the way Awadhi cuisine was perceived by people. His Dum Biryani and kebabs are legendary.”

“Very few chefs in the world have attained the status of institutions,” said celebrity chef Vikas Khanna, adding, “Chef Qureshi is forever immortal. His contribution to the global domination of Indian cuisine is infinite.”