“Wowed by my food, when ITC chairman AN Haksar offered me a job in the Seventies, I already had an offer from Taj hotels. When they learned of the counter-offer, the people at Taj offered to weigh me in currency notes. But I told them, you already have years of experience in running hotels and you don’t need me, so let me go with ITC, who were new in the business.”
This is legendary chef Imtiaz Qureshi at his best, offering equally spicy fare outside the kitchen through many of his entertaining tales. At 86 years of age, chef Qureshi loves to talk. In fact, once you get him started, he can carry on tirelessly, recalling names and incidents in vivid detail. In the capital for the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Dum Pukht restaurant at ITC Maurya, all he needs is a gentle prodding for his juicy stories to come tumbling out.
One of his favourites is when he prepared a lavish vegetarian meal in the Sixties hosted by then chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, CB Gupta. The guests were then PM Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Lal Bahadur Shastri and Zakir Husain. He recalls with a chuckle how Pandit Nehru was alarmed to see ‘murg mussallam’, ‘fish’ and ‘shami kababs’ on the table. When the host confronted chef Qureshi in anger, he explained what he had done. The ‘chicken torso’ was actually jackfruit, its ‘legs’ were brinjals, the ‘fish’ was bottlegourd and the kababs were made of lotus stem. “Pandit Nehru had such a hearty laugh, and later told me he had never had a more tasty meal,” says the chef.
Credited with bringing the dum method of cooking to Delhi, there’s no better person to ask about the biryani versus pulao debate. Chef Qureshi puts an end to the endless dispute over the issue, saying, “There is no such thing as biryani. Every dish is a pulao. In every so-called biryani, rice is three-fourth cooked when added to either raw or cooked meat. So technically, all of them are pulaos.” The only dish he recalls where raw rice and raw meat are cooked together is the ‘yakhni pulao’ of Rampur, UP, which has the simple flavours of just black pepper and fennel.
When the masterchef speaks, one has to take his word as the final one. After all, just the name Qureshi is enough to guarantee a job as chef anywhere in the country, with many even taking up the name just to gain entry in the business. All of chef Qureshi’s sons are also chefs, “earning more than he ever did”, but it is his son-in-law Gulam Qureshi who is carrying forward his legacy at the Dum Pukht. “When my daughter got married to Gulam, I did not have much dowry to offer, so I inducted him at the Dum Pukht instead,” he tells us unabashedly.
We wrap up the conversation a good two hours later, but not before he gives us a parting tip. “I have worked honestly, without greed all my life. Maybe that’s why I am still in such good condition at this age.” He has the final word again.