Famous Indian Chef Imtiaz Qureshi: A Culinary Legacy

Imtiaz Qureshi, one of India’s most creative chefs, brings a taste of Nawabi Lucknow solid Cuisine on the world map and also became the first practicing member of his fraternity to receive the Padma Shri in 2016, died on Friday at the age of 93.

An uneducated cook who started working at the age of nine, Qureshi, known for his trademark handlebar moustache, Santa Claus-like personality and the sacred Urdu in which he used to narrate his stories from the kitchen, invented dishes such as Whose ideas he would learn from conversations with mentors and fellow professionals.

His influences and inspirations ranged from the empress of ghazals, Begum Akhtar, for whom he invented the dessert called Lab-e-Mahshoukh, or pistachio kulfi with sour cherry sauce, to the French chef Roger Moncourt, who created the Continental Ruled the kitchen. Delhi, from where he learned the secrets of the sauces that give French cuisine its distinctive personality.

Qureshi started training to become Wrestler (wrestler) but he ended up as a trainee maestroS, Haji Ishtiaq and Ghulam Rasool, and started working with a Lucknow-based catering company that was serving the Indian Army during the Chinese War in 1962.

Then Qureshi got the opportunity to serve Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, who was being hosted by the Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh CB Gupta. To make the occasion special, and in honor of Gupta’s vegetarian sensibilities, Qureshi, known for mutton and fish dishes, invented Turush-e-Paneer, escalopes of cheese stuffed with dried plums and oranges, tomatoes. Quilted in plum sauce.