Osama Jalali talks old recipes and wedding feasts, ET HospitalityWorld

Restaurateur, chef, and food historian Osama Jalali is a busy man. ET Hospitality World caught up with Jalali while he was doing one of his Lost Recipe promotions at Leela Bhartiya City in Bengaluru to find out what was driving him crazy. . Jalali is currently running a series of food promotions across Leela’s properties in Bangalore, Kovalam and Udaipur. And probably Gurugram, and JW Marriott Kolkata, and a plethora of wedding catering.

He added that the restaurant chain he is associated with, Chupa Rustam, is also growing and is looking to expand to Delhi-NCR. “I am also working on a project in Singapore. If everything goes well, I plan to open a local fine-dining Indian restaurant there soon,” Jalali said.

He shared some very interesting insights about another fast-growing business – wedding catering, where Jalali has been involved in preparing banquets for thousands of people.

“Most of my clients are vegetarian Gujarati families, and through research I unearth lost vegetarian recipes from the Mughal era and many regional vegetarian Mughlai-style dishes. “They are not vegetarians,” Jalali said, adding that they are not vegetarians.Use asafoetida (or hin) Their cooking and tempering are very different. The food he serves includes bulgur kebab, Shahjahani Korma, Nargishi Kofte, Garashiand Kundan Kariya.

Also on the cards for Jalali and his midnight obsession is the release of at least one of the three books he has signed. “I have almost finished writing the biryani book and it will be published this year,” he said.

“We are looking to expand Mughal Plate (Jalali’s delivery business from Noida to Delhi-NCR). The ‘My Biryani Land by Chef Osama Jalali’ franchise that I started has also expanded to Goa and Indore. , has grown with an outlet in Delhi (the first outlet was started in Gurugram),” Jalali said, adding that the biryani restaurant was a fully franchised business.