That Nawab Knew his stuff

The Rembrandt Hotel’s award-winning restaurant Rang Mahal never fails to please with its authentic and delectable Indian cuisine, but this week there’s a bonus with chef-brothers Irfan and Ashfaque Qureshi in the kitchen.
The dum pukht cuisine in which they specialise was already ancient before it came into its own in 18th-century Awadh, saving it from famine.
The old city’s ruler, Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah, initiated a food-for-work programme, turning thousands of hands to the construction of the exquisite Barn Imambara.
To feed the labourers, large cauldrons were filled with rice, meat, vegetables and spices, then sealed to make a simple, one-dish meal, available day and night. Nawab liked the aroma so much that he told his own cooks to make it.
And that was the recipe that, 200 years later, Imtiaz Qureshi, a descendant of that same family of royal chefs, rediscovered, unearthing the secrets of the unique flavours of dum and “frontier” cuisine.
Irfan and Ashfaque Qureshi now run Grande Cuisines of India, a food consultancy, and travel the world sharing what was rediscovered.
At the Rang Mahal they’re serving a big menu, but the most recommended dish is the Bt1,655 Maharaja Non-Vegetarian Set. It’s three courses – a platter of succulent chicken, a kebab of boneless fish and a pan-grilled kebab of spinach and channa dal stuffed with cottage cheese.
The main course comes with four different curries, various rotis and their brothers’ signature dum cooked with fine basmati rice. Have some murgh bemisal (chicken morsels and tandoori masala simmered in rich gravy of tomato) or dip a soft nan bread in koh e awadh – slow-cooked lamb shank in ginger and turmeric that gives off a divine fragrance.
There are also subz miloni, a m