Chef shaeem entrepreneur journey with contemporary touch of modern Indian cuisine

Chef shaeem mohammad quraishi is freelancer consultant chef based in lucknow. he has more than two decades of hospitality experience. he is specialized in indian cuisine (awadhi mughlai, dum pukht, kabab, punjabi, hyedrabadi and kashmiri) with a contemporary touch of modern Indian cuisine. he keeps on travelling nationally to conduct food festival and opening of new restaurants specialising in north Indian kebab and other delicacies.

Chef shaeem began his culinary journey at the ashok (itdc) delhi. he moved to middle east and worked in luxurious properties such as marriott, millennium and copthorne hotel group. after gaining experience on overseas platform he return back to india and in india worked for itc fortune, sarovar froup and radisson. his strength lies in preopening Indian restaurant, qsr and cloud kitchen.

Chef shaeem, born and raised in city of nawbab’s, lucknow. he did his primary schooling and graduation from lucknow university. he completed his catering diploma from kohinoor catering college, dehradun and completed his mba from anna malai university. He began his culinary journey under the guidance of his father mohammad naeem quraishi at the tender age of 13. his father was a very well-known name in high end wedding and large banqueting for who’s who of the city and elsewhere. 

Shaeem witnessed at close quarters how and what his father mastered in culinary art. he carried out legacy and his memories of him to reproduce the same. he had watched his dad cooking and sometimes reinvented them. his first cookery lesson was to peel and cut onions in the commercial kitchen of his father, he taught him the right way to fry them

Message for new generation chef

Learn as much as you can from as many people as you can. Don’t worry about the future, just live in the now and work hard.”

Cooking is an art form mainly for the taste buds but also oftentimes for the vision as in some ways, it produces edible visual arts that could satisfy both the palate and the eyes. Chefs are artists in the kitchen, when chef invents a new way of cooking or a new type of dish that creates surprise or joy or pleasure for the person created it for. 

How chef can become an entrepreneur

A lot of people think that if they know how to cook they can open and run a food business, “They do not realize that being an entrepreneur is a different matter altogether. It involves a lot of organizational skills and multi-tasking.” “chef-preneur” can be an overwhelming experience where one is required to wear many hats — as purchaser, accountant, employer, public relations officer and, of course, chef. An added challenge is that “you exercise the creative side of your brain as a chef when you think up your dishes. Concurrently, logical thinking is necessary to succeed as an entrepreneur.”

How, then, does one find a perfect balance? “Inevitably, it can happen that either the chef’s creative instincts or his entrepreneurial side may become more dominant,”  “But with enough discipline and a willingness to learn, a chef can become business savvy without having to compromise his artistic side.”

Taar Korma

Ingredients

1 kg mutton cut into pieces, washed and patted dry

1 cup ghee

8 cardamom

5 cloves

1 tsp cinnamon, broken

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste

1/2 cup tomato puree

1/2 cup yogurt, whisked

1/2 cup onion paste, fried

2 tbsp almond paste

1 tbsp sunflower seed paste

1 tbsp cashew nut paste

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp black pepper powder

1 tsp saffron, crushed and soaked in 1 tbsp warm milk

1/4 tsp cardamom, powdered

A pinch mace powder

Method

Heat oil in a pan; crackle the whole spices. Sauté ginger-garlic paste till almost dry. Add the lamb, red chilli powder, onion paste, yoghurt, tomato puree, salt . Cook till the meat is tender. Remove the lamb and strain the gravy into another pot. Blend dry fruits and sunflower seeds paste with little water; add to the gravy, add more stock and cook for two-three minutes. Pour gravy over the lamb. Mix in saffron, mace, nutmeg powder, cinnamon powder and cardamom powder. Cover, seal with dough and cook on dum for 25 minutes. Serve hot.