She loves to cook. And she loves to serve. For Home Chef Shahnoor Jehan, that defines her passion for Hyderabadi cooking. While her finger-licking-good preparations always had a fan following in her children, her cooking soon gathered more admirers from outside the home. Friendly requests translated into small catering orders from friends and relatives at the behest of her daughter who was quick in identifying the unique talent her mother had for conventional Hyderabadi cuisine. Shahnoor finally took her cooking to the next level in 2015, with the birth of KHASSA, a brand that has brought many hidden treasures from authentic Hyderabadi cuisine to commercial acclaim. 

Lovingly called Noora, this true-blue Hyderabadi home chef only aims to give the world the true taste of authentic Hyderabadi cuisine through recipes that has become a family legacy and kept alive by only a few like herself. Even though she is no professional chef, this BA graduate always had her unique ways around the kitchen. As Shahnoor reminisces on her learnings from her mother Faiq Jehan, she is constantly in touch with her royal roots. Shahnoor’s inspiration is her grandmother late Muzaffar Unissa Begum. Shahnoor is proud that she has managed to inherit her grandmother’s cooking techniques which has apparent hints of early Mukalla (erstwhile Yemen) cuisine to it and date back to her times at the old home Shah Manzil now known as Rajbhavan, then belonging to the late Shahzore Jung, her great grand father. Along with this Shahnoor has also picked up some unique lessons from her mother-in-law Shaheda Begum’s kitchen. While she is proud of her royal maternal lineage, this daughter of a humble IAS officer- Shaukat Ali Khan, can never forget her deep roots in the City of Pearls.