Dindigul Biryani

Till you meet people like M. Nallathambi, you
wouldn’t know the worth of Dindigul biryani. He
travels 20 km daily from his native village to
Tamil Nadu’s biryani city to relish a plateful of
mutton biryani at Dindigul’s oldest biryani
restaurant, the “Thalappakatti”. “Unless I am ill
or caught up in something important…,” says
the 60-year-old.
And there were many more like him who filled
up the small restaurant on East Car Street. The
time was 11.30 a.m. So, was the biryani a late
breakfast or early lunch? Till I went on this
assignment, I did not believe biryani could be
eaten thrice a day.
It is said that true seekers of biryani must visit
Thalappakatti, established in 1957. And to this
list now are also included Ponram Biriyani,
which came up almost two decades later in 1973
and the fairly recent, Venu Biriyani. Apart from
the trademark biryani they sell, what is common
to them is their respective army of customers
who swear by their names.
I started my biryani sojourn at Ponram’s. The
dining area was redolent with the aroma of rice
and spice. Naghendran, who grew up watching
his grandfather V. Ponram Yadav and father P.
Ramachandra Yadav making biriyani, ushered me
into a narrow alley where the master cook
looked as though he was in a sauna. His day had
begun inside the wood-fired kitchen covered in
layers of soot. He had to get 10 kg of biryani
ready for the first round in the next two hours.
“My grandmother’s recipe is zealously guarded
and followed here,” smiled Naghendran. But the
cook hardly spoke or looked up. He was a
picture of concentration as he moved from one
aluminium pan to the other to check, mix or stir
the various ingredients that go into the making
of the famous biryani. He makes them in
instalments of 10 kg — which goes up to 25 kg
during festivals — from breakfast to dinner
time. Ponram restaurant with two sit-ins and
two take-away joints sells 200 kg of biryani
everyday and 1,000 take-aways.
“We use our home-made masalas. We rear our
own goats to get good quality mutton. The
seeraga samba rice used for making biryani is
grown in Kodaikanal waters,” was all Naghendran
shared about the success of his family brand.
He insisted I taste the biryani first and also
suggested the best way would be to start with
few spoonfuls of “empty” biryani and then move
on to the full. This was done to explain how the
seeraga samba rice used in Dindigul biryani
absorbs all the flavours of the ingredients.
Each grain of rice is uniformly marinated in the
masalas. And since the meat added to the
biryani is always more than the quantity of rice,
the seeraga samba soaks in the taste of all the
spices and flavours of the meat.
I overdosed on Ponram biryani. The strong
aroma of cloves and cardamom, and the
accompanying raita made with rich and creamy
curd was value-addition.
Biryani recipes are no doubt age-old and the
method of preparation too is. The biryani is
always slow-cooked over firewood. Once the
rice is semi-cooked, it is transferred to the dum
style — hot coal is placed on the lid of the
vessel so that heat spreads evenly on all sides;
the meat inside becomes melting soft and
succulent and the grains of rice stay separate.
Thalappakatti’s story too is about exploiting a
housewife’s talent in preparing the unique style
of biryani. Nagasamy Naidu who used to run a
betel nut shop felt that his wife’s special
blending of spices could take him places. So he
opened a small shop — the Anandha Vilas
Biriyani Hotel. While the biryani sold out fast,
interestingly his customers did not refer to the
joint, which could seat four people at a time, by
its actual name. The proprietor who always sat
at the cash counter attired in white shirt-dhoti
and turban lent the name as customers
spontaneously called it “Thalappakatti”. The
small shop still remains on the East Car Street,
but sells only takeaway parcels now from 4 p.m.
to 6 p.m. daily. The new restaurant is bang
opposite.
“Our emphasis is on taste which comes from
meticulous selection of ingredients,” said
Thalappakatti manager Dhanapal.
Earlier all the ingredients were apparently
prepared by Thalappakatti Naidu himself, but
today quality masala products are used.
What distinguishes the generic “Dindigul biryani”
is the quality of water used in its preparation.
The Kamarajar Lake water from Athoor is said to
enhance the flavour of Dindigul biryani.
Source : Hindu