Hyderabadi Dum Biryani (Chicken). Pics courtesy/The Deccan Dining Room

Back in the ’60s and ’70s, 52-year-old Seema Mitra would spend much of her time in the kitchen at her home in Hyderabad, keenly observing an elderly cook, Mohammed Husain, whip up kebabs. “We would call specialised cooks to prepare meals at home. One was hired only to cook biryani,” says Mitra, who migrated to Mumbai three decades back.