Buried in a bed of fragrant rice, flavoured by spices with meat cooked to succulent perfection lies a perfect love story. That of the Malayali’s relationship with the biriyani . Without flaws, without fights, always steadfast. Even as culinary revolutions raged all around, the biriyani remained ensconced in its privileged slot.
The spurt in the number of biriyani places in the city is indicative of this love. Every turn of the road has a biriyani joint. Apart from Kochi’s very own Kayee’s biriyani, others have come in – from Thalassery, Kannur, Kozhikode and Chettinad. Kayikka’s biriyani, or popularly Kayee’s, has acquired legendary status so much so that it has become synonymous with the city. Biriyani Hut, Khader’s biriyani, Naushad’s biriyani, Jeff’s biriyani, Just Biriyani, Pandari’s biriyani, Aluva’s Grand biriyani, mostly catering outfits, are some of the city’s popular biriyanis/biriyani joints. Most of these are catering businesses
Biriyani means many things to the Malayali – if it is ‘a rich food’ for some then it is ‘the complete, affordable meal’ for others and the poetic hear a story in every biriyani, in its every grain and flavour. “It is a one-stop experience of a whole meal – the accompaniments add to the story. It is like this message from the person who has cooked it, a story that the chef wants to tell those of us who partake in it,” says entrepreneur Krishnan Menon. For him the perfect biriyani is one where the flavours communicate the ‘story’.
Hisham Kabir’s exclusive biriyani place is 10 years old. His kitchen sends out 150 to 200 biriyanis daily and the number rises on weekends. He saw potential and branched out to biriyani. “In the old days it was a superior dish, you couldn’t find biriyani just like that. People would wait for a wedding to eat it . And the mutton version was more popular.” Mutton costs more than chicken, making chicken biriyani the economical option. Beef, fish and prawn beside the vegetarian ones are the other options. A plate can cost upwards of Rs. 80 and for small eaters some places offer the half-plate option. Some of these places serve biriyani only for lunch; open shop around lunch time (11.30 a.m. – 12.30 p.m.) and close by late afternoon.
Each biriyani available in the city has a distinct character that draws its loyal fans. Dedicated fans look into and are particular about the finer details - the kind of rice used, the masala, the meats used, the cooking style and the accompaniments. While the ones from Malabar use smaller rice (khaima/jeeragashala), which keeps it softer, the Kochi biriyani uses long grained rice (basmati) and Chettinad biriyani (and most biriyanis originating in Tamil Nadu, says an expert) uses raw rice (pach-ari). “We use basmati, which has aged for two years because the starch content is lesser.”
The method of dum cooking too varies. The Thalassery/Malabar variety bears more of the Arabian influence, it is lighter and less spicy and the meat is cooked separately and layered for dum. “Some eateries serves nei chor with chicken/mutton/beef roast in the guise of biriyani, it is not. You cannot blame them because their’s might not be a dedicated biriyani place and they would have other stuff too,” says Hisham.
“In Kochi, people like the meat to absorb the flavours, the method of cooking rice and meat together doesn’t sit well with them. So I have had to modify the process a bit,” says Ramesh Balachandran of Chettinad Kitchen. His kitchen sends out around 200 biriyanis daily. Unlike the Kochi and the Thalasserry kind which is mostly white or pale yellowish green; the spices give the Chettinad biriyani a fiery red-rust colour. It resembles biriyani’s Arabian cousin Kasba, where the meat is cooked with rice, a popular at the city’s Thalasserry specialty eateries.
The latest to enter the scene are the Chinese biriyani and a popular pizza chain's interpretation of the biryani – a combination of biriyani and pizza. The Chinese chicken biryani, which an Indo-Chinese fusion joint has whipped up, tastes a lot like fried rice, but spicier and with whole pieces of chicken and red chillies in it. The biriyani-pizza, on the other hand, is masala rice under a pizza base served with tangy curry. These have vegetarian versions, too.
“Biriyani is a favourite. Chinese food, too. It is a combination of both and it is our signature dish,” says Mobin Joseph who manages the Center Square Mall outlet of China Mirch, a Chinese restaurant. “It has generated interest,” he says.
“Innovations are all good, but I say there is nothing better than a plateful of traditional Kerala style biryani,” says Maria Anna Jose, a homemaker, who rues that of late, hotels have given the customary boiled egg a miss. “Earlier, the biriyanis always packed in a lone boiled egg, which added to the whole experience of the dish. Now it is rare.”
Pizza-biriyani, Chinese biriyani, Arabian, Thalasserry, Kochi, Chettinad…innovated, modified or traditional the biriyani tops the charts and keeps us wanting more.
