Thanks

Dine Like the Sultans is the fulfillment of a dream. Besides dreaming about creating a cookbook, I talked about it, scribbled a few notes and regularly procrastinated. If it wasn’t for the insistence of my children, I may have never put my wishful talk into action. 

But it wasn’t just insistence my children provided, it was also limitless support. Thank you Aeyliya and Eric, Samie and Henna, and Atiya for always asking for updates, testing recipes and sharing ideas. Moreover, thanks for keeping me afloat.

Of course, where would I be without the unconditional love of my four grandchildren: Adam, Dinara, Haleh and Noor. Whenever I cook something I love and then watch them gobble it down with a smile and ask for more, it confirms my path. Even the hodgepodge lunches I throw together are regularly validated with joyful exclamations of “put it in the book.”

Of course, my greatest source of inspiration has always been Ami Jan. My maternal grandmother was so particular about food and fed us in such a way that her cooking has become part of me. Most of the family recipes I know are based on the flavours she fashioned. I just wish that as a child I spent more time soaking up the details of her kitchen choreography.

It was at the insistence of Ami Jan that I get some training. Thanks to her I was paired with one of the Nizam’s chefs after I married. Over the course of a few weeks, that one disciplined and discerning chef provided me with the technical foundation that has carried me this far.

Creating DLTS from scratch has taken much longer than anticipated. Along the way, I have been blessed to have received calls, texts and emails from far and wide from friends enquiring about the status of the book. All of it kept pushing me forward. Thank you to my brother Ali Athar and his unfailing interest and constant guidance. He always has a solution to my culinary problems. Strength and input from my sisters, Batool, Mariam, Zehra and Khadija, was unwavering as well. I know Zehra was waiting eagerly for this book. She was an excellent cook herself and a loving fan of my food.

Special thanks to Anees and Catherine Ahmed, Husna apa, Abbas Hassan, Yasmeen Siddiqui, Kalpana Nadkarni Bhide, Shadbano Ahmed, Rabia Mathias, Batool Qizilbash, Shaheen Ali, Najma Ataullah-Jan, Brigitte Khan, Uzma Siddiqui and Yi Liu for your support, tips, recipes and feedback. You all know how much you mean to me.

And when we needed photographs, Javeria Saleem and Anushka Qizilbash came in and provided energy and creativity. Your art is appreciated.  

There are so many other thoughtful friends who I have not mentioned here but who have motivated and advised me along the way. You have my gratitude.

Mostly, I would like to thank Talib Qizilbash for his dedication to this project. His vision and persistence encouraged me to create different recipes beyond those that I originally planned. He pushed me, expanding the scope of this project, and gave me the confidence to share more of myself. My personal stories took on new life because of him. In fact, his experience in both business and journalism made him the ideal collaborator for me. He diligently formulated all my recipes, double- and tripled-checked every detail, edited every narrative, took on endless research and created (and still manages) every inch and page of this food blog. I am so grateful for his expertise and devotion. This project exists, this important milestone reached, because of it.