HYDERABAD: You know what they say about Hyderabadi food, it is never cooked well enough until hours are spent in the kitchen. The secret behind the delectable spread of paya, nihari and marag served fresh with hot dil naan is that there really is no short-cut. ‘Itminan’ or patience is the byword followed by the chefs who make it. The launch of a new Hyderabadi Irani menu, as a tribute to the Nizami traditions at
SodaBottleOpenerWala, Hyderabad was another reminder of this fact. “You can’t cook this fare by a recipe book, it takes painstaking hours of cooking and a whole lot of love to put these delicacies on the table,” says Shaaz Mehmood, partner, SBOW.
From this week onwards, the Jubilee Hills-based Irani Cafe has been serving two kinds of cuisines-the usual Parsi Bombay fare and the Hyderabadi delicacies along with liquor. If this strikes a chord with the food lovers in the city, the plan is to replicate it in the other outlets through out the country. “It took three months and copious hours in the kitchen for us to train our chefs. My mother, my partner Shiraz’s mother, my grand-mother’s cooks, my fiancé’s grand mother’s cooks, over six households got together to come up with the dishes,” informs Shaaz.
For starters we tried the mutton varqi luqmi with mint and tomato chutney; this could be the perfect companion for your cuppa of your signature Irani chai. The baked Irani specialties also include Osmania biscuits, macrom, badam biskoot, naan khataais.
What came next at the sampling session was the paya, nihari and marag with dil naan and zabaan. The spice level was muted but it allowed us to savour the flavour even better. The talihuwi arbi and talahuwa gosht, would go well with your baghara khana and khatti dal. One must pair the kaddu ka dalcha (a warm and wholesome variant of dal with gourd) with steamed rice. The Irani haleem, somewhat different from the characteristic preparation that you get almost every nook and corner in Hyderabad during Ramazan. Served with chopped mint leaves, a squeeze of lemon, fried onions, and green chillies, this dish had a fresh taste. The biryani, both mutton and vegetarian were not the usual spicy variation but stayed true to the authentic Hyderabadi taste. The dum ka murg was distinctly smokey as this dish is meant to be. The meal ended on a sweet note with khubani ka meetha and kulfi-falooda that was creamy and melt-in-the-mouth.
The new menu lives up to the promise of serving food that is truly Hyderabadi in every morsel. For your next relaxed meal with conversations that go on for hours, this could be an apt bet.