Lizzie Collingham's "Curry: a tale of cooks and conquerors" said:
In 1784, Oudh was struck by famine and Nawab Asaf-ud-Daulah responded by paying the hungry to work on the building of the Great Imambara (the Shia form of a mosque). Thus he was able to prevent his subjects from dying on the streets while he continued to beautify the city to his own glory. Nambais (bazaar cooks) were charged with the difficult task of supplying the workers with warm food at any time of day or night. They used the Mughal technique of dum pukht (meaning to breathe and to cook),