The moment we think of Hyderabad, the mouth-watering flavours of Dum Biryani come to mind. But the richness of this Deccani cuisine cannot be limited to a few dishes. The biryani is only the beginning of a unique experience that kindles the human palate to the brink of ecstasy.
Featuring rare delights from the extremities of Mukalla erstwhile Yemen are ancient royalties such as Kuzi. Her menu includes popular edits like Haleem, Rann Ghosht, Kairi ka Dopayaza and the famous Fish Salad. After a scrumptious main course, the menu serves up equally delectable sweet offerings such as Badam ka Khund, Sheer Khorma and Qubani ka Meetha.
A true-blue Hyderabadi, Shahnoor is the daughter of IAS officer Late Shaukat Ali Khan, while she gets her blue blood from her mother Late Faiq Jehan, who was of royal descent. While Shahnoor’s passion for gourmet cooking is quite evident from KHASSA’s menu, she also proudly owns the key to her grandmother late Muzaffar Unissa Begum’s secret recipes.
Shahnoor has successfully kept alive some of the blue blood line recipes that have travelled through time all the way from her grandmother’s old home at Hyderabad’s now Rajbhavan which was earlier known as Shah Manzil. Shahnoor’s true Hyderabadi roots and special ancient cooking techniques help her to infuse genuine aroma into her signature dishes such as Haleem, that she has bequeathed from her mother-in-law, Late Begum Shaheda Samad.
This Hyderabad-based kitchen began as a small venture in 2015 as daughter Nimrah Mirza pushed her mother to explore more and transform her home cooking experiments into a formal catering venture especially through her son Sohrab Mirza’s friends constant encouragement.
Shahnoor thought this was a great opportunity for her to showcase to the world, some of the inherited recipes that had been passed down through generations and were kept alive by only a few in the family. Since then, the brand has managed to carve a unique niche for itself as one that creates actual ancestral recipes from across Hyderabad. The brand’s uncompromising attention to detail, and the quality and authenticity of ingredients award it a one-of-a-kind presence in the industry.
This is a story of Shahnoor Jehan who started ‘Khassa’ which means ‘cooked food’ in Urdu is something along these lines. When it comes to true-blue Hyderabadis, it won’t be far-fetched to say that they tend to stick to the same biryani and paan guy/girl for most of their life. The same rule also applies to cuisines doled out by home chefs, adept at making authentic dishes whose delicate flavours get lost in the play of commercialisation.
“The recipes have been in our family for generations. My grandmother was the daughter of the former Sultan of Yemen and brought her own influences in the food when she came to the city. I don’t think anybody has even tried to make these dishes here,” says Shahnoor Jehan who counts among her clientele the old families of the city who yearn for authentic Nizami dishes which often don’t taste the same when had in a restaurant. Among them is Rani Indira Devi Dhanrajgir who Shahnoor sees as a ‘maternal figure’ and often sends over cooked food for her from time to time.
“Many guests who have tasted the food have told others about it, so slowly word spread about my food and the business grew organically. Now, people get food packed for the US, Norway, and the Middle East, apart from the orders I get here,” adds Shahnoor.
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