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Food Spot: The biryani bloom

October 03, 2014 07:26 pm | Updated May 23, 2016 07:41 pm IST

Biryani and korma are fast becoming Delhi’s state food — with foodies going out of their way for a taste of a new kind of biryan

I am not sure this is what Comrade Mao meant when he urged a thousand flowers to bloom, but I can’t say I am complaining. I am talking about the thousands of small biryani counters that have opened up across the city. Biryani and korma are fast becoming Delhi’s state food – with foodies going out of their way for a taste of a new kind of biryani; and bawarchis – big, small and medium; and good, bad and ugly – happily fulfilling this demand.

I thought of this the other day when I visited a friend in an east Delhi apartment. She was celebrating a series of events at home, and had organised chicken biryani from my favourite meat shop in Mayur Vihar Phase 2. I was surprised for I never knew the meat shopwallahs cooked biryani on order. But they do, and it’s not bad either. I tried out a spoonful and found that it was rather nice. So one of these days, I shall ask them to cook some biryani for me. And you shall hear about it.

Meanwhile, I must tell you about another celebratory event, and the biryani that was served on the occasion. My friends — a couple — had both turned 50 and their daughter had turned five – which was a good reason to celebrate. And we celebrated in style with some chicken biryani, chicken korma and vegetable biryani (apart from delicious home-cooked stuff). The food came from Simran Caterers in Trilokpuri (Phone: 9968161677 and 9971571121). The ustad is a gentleman called Zafeer Ahmad who had cooked for some of our other friends earlier.

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Zafeerbhai came over with huge cauldrons covered with cloth to prevent the steam from escaping. I opened the lid of the biryani pot and was greeted by a wonderful aroma of spices. When I had a taste of it a little later in the evening, I was quite impressed – the rice was not just long grained, but had been cooked just right, the chicken was spicy and the juices had blended well with the rice. And it had been topped with a generous helping of browned onions and nuts. The chicken korma wasn’t bad either – the gravy was rich and thick, and mildly sweet, as it should be. The makhaney in the gravy gave a nice touch to it, and though I am not greatly fond of chicken, I quite enjoyed mopping the gravy with thick pieces of the sweet khameeri roti that came with the food. The vegetable biryani – though I admit that’s an oxymoron – was rather nice, and was filled with pieces of paneer.

The rates are reasonable, too. The chicken biryani is for Rs.200 a kilo and mutton biryani for Rs.250. The veg pulao is for Rs.150. Chicken korma comes for Rs.400 a kilo and mutton korma for Rs.600. Zafeerbhai also cooks chholey, kadhi and other such dishes.

The chairman’s thoughts about flowers are bearing fruit in parts of Delhi. I feel the flowers can take their own sweet time – meanwhile, let a thousand biryanis bloom.

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Rahul Verma is a seasoned street food connoisseur

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