It was the name on the pamphlet that piqued my interest – Ramapuram biriyani. I have heard of Malabar biriyani, Thalassery biriyani, Thalapakettu biriyani, Lucknowi biriyani, Hyderabadi biriyani…but never Ramapuram biriyani. A Google search failed to bring up results too.
I call the number given below. The man, who introduces himself as Aravind Mohandas, answers. He tells me to come over to his take-away counter at Manacaud. It is lunch time and I am at his counter – Take Away. Aravind introduces me to his friend Arun Sidharthan. Arun, he says, is the brains behind the enterprise.
Without beating around the bush I promptly ask what Ramapuram biriyani is. “It’s a brand we have come up with. We want to create an image in the diners’ mind when they hear Ramapuram biriyani, just like Thalassery biriyani or Hyderabadi biriyani,” says Arun, shyly.
A man who enjoys dining on biriyanis, Arun says that although he has tried nearly all the famous biriyanis from the various regions, he could never find one that truly met his expectations. That is when he decided to enter the kitchen himself. After playing around with ingredients, he finally came up with a “winning recipe”.
As Arun believes in letting his food do the talking, he takes out a plate and serves me a helping of chicken biriyani from one of the neatly packed take-away containers. The rice used for the biriyani is the fragrant khaima rice. Unlike most biriyanis that are less on gravy, this one has generous spoonfuls. What makes the Ramapuram biriyani different from the other biriyanis in town, according to Aravind, Arun’s business partner, is its masala and its rather interesting salad. “The masala is a special blend of spices Arun has created and is free from additives,” says Aravind. The aromatic masala, I soon discover is not spice-laden or too spicy. The salad is not curd-based, the mixture is more creamy and reminds one of mayonnaise. The salad tastes quite a bit like coleslaw. Although I was sceptical if the salad would go with the rice, it surprisingly did. The sweetness contrasts well with the salt from the pickle and the faint spice from the masala. The chicken pieces were tender, juicy and well marinated. There is no boiled egg served in this dish and the biriyani is not too heavy on the stomach.
A computer engineer who was working in Maldives, Arun returned to the city during a recession in his company. Wondering what to do next, he started an enterprise but his heart was not into the venture. A foodie, Arun decided to enter the food market with sandwiches. “Sandwiches are perfect on-the-go meals. Since my family like my sandwiches, I decided to start supplying them to various bakeries in the outskirts of town. Technopark is one place I supply my sandwiches too regularly.”
He began by introducing only one kind of sandwich – Traditional Italian and went on to add varieties on to the menu. The secret to the sandwiches success, he says, lies in its sauces. “The sauces are my own special blend.” Just like the masala in the Ramapuram biriyani, which no matter how much I badger him for the ingredients, he refuses to divulge.
The enterprising man has now three lines of food – Chick Marine, Ramapuram biriyani and Elephant Huts. While Chick Marine serves sandwiches, Ramapuram biriyani has varieties of Arun’s special biriyanis and dishes such as Dragon Chicken and Aripathiri. Elephant Huts is mostly traditional eats.
Right now, the focus is on turning Ramapuram biriyani into a brand name, says Aravind. “We hope to have counters like this at various parts of the city and its outskirts soon,” he says. Take Away serves chicken, vegetable and mutton biriyanis and eats such as dragon chicken, aripathiri and mutton chaps. Mutton biriyanis are only available during weekends and vegetable biriyanis are usually on order.
