This system of cooking proved to be the most convenient method to provide meals to the large number of workers as well as make for them a flavoursome meal without using excessive spices, which were in short supply then.It was on one such day when a pot was left to slow cook that the delightful aroma from the dish caught the Nawab off guard and he at once ordered his shahi cooks to make the same dish in the royal kitchen. Many people volunteered for the initiative, and to feed the masses through day and night, the cooks employed the method of dum pukht, wherein meat, vegetables, rice and spices were put together in large vessels or handis, sealed with dough and left to slow cook for hours. He wanted to construct a Moghul architectural marvel - the Bara Imambara, which was one among the many structures that the Nawab planned to build in the city. In 1784, during the great famine, the Nawab introduced a charitable initiative for his people with a food-for-work programme. There are many stories about its origin, but the most popular one links it to Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah, who was the wazir or ruler of Oudh/Awadh during the late 1700s. This style of cooking, traditionally known as dum pukht, is of course not just restricted to biryanis, but various other preparations such as korma, nihari, haleem, raan, other meat curries and even dal.The ancient practice of dum cooking is commonly associated with Mughlai cuisine and is often believed to have stemmed from Persian cuisine or Central Asia. The slow cooking works like magic to beautifully infuse the flavours from the various spices and herbs and make the meat unbelievably tender. Dum Biryani is a favourite, which is a one-pot dish of aromatic spices and delightful flavours - a result from slow cooking the ingredients in a sealed, heavy bottomed vessel for hours or even overnight in certain cases. Whenever the thought of biryani crosses the mind, a word that is almost instantly linked with it is ‘dum’.