Ek Plate Organic Biryani!

Ek Plate Organic Biryani!

HYDERABAD: Hyderabadi biryani has gone a long way. Lots of masala, a pot of yogurt and ghee mixed with cooked rice along with meat of your choice is what biryani means to us. Taking this one step ahead is SM Mustafa, who opened a restaurant recently where they use organic ingredients to make biryani.

“My father SM Muqtadar is a dairy farmer since 40 years. As people here love Biryani, he decided to try and experiment with making organic Biryani. He started using dairy items made out of the milk we get at our farm. He tied-up with other farms for rest of the ingredients,” Mustafa explains.

After experimenting a bit, Muqtadar came up with a biryani recipe which he thought will be relished by people. They started with supplying Biryani at Haj House and at Andhra Pradesh Tourism Department. But with an aim to cater to each and every person in the city, they started a restaurant Shahi Dastarkhwan in Lakdi ka pul where they serve organic Hyderabadi Biryani.

“My friend Reza Asheerian is into restaurant business. We decided to bring together my recipe and his skill to start this restaurant.” The restaurant was inaugurated on Friday. As someone who understands the importance of healthy and unprocessed food and with an aim to target not just the elite, but also a daily wage earner, he decided to charge a nominal amount. “They are priced at `100 for 700 gms and `170 for 1,300 gms.” With a special team that he has been working with all this while, he works for close to four hours just to make one round of the dish (that includes marination). “After all the masalas are ready, it just takes half an hour to make it,” he informs.

So has he brought any changes to the recipe?  He says that he has not as this is the taste people relish. “We don’t use any essence as our aim is to cook organic food,” he assures adding, “Catering was far more easier than serving in a restaurant because for catering we had to make biryani only once, but for the restaurant, we have to keep ourselves ready to make it more than once,” shares the 27-year-old.  The restaurant also serves stuff like  kebabs. We make malai kebab, chicken kabab, mutton sheekh kebab and we are well known for pathar ka ghosht,” he recalls.  Though a commerce graduate, Mustafa who has been working with his father for 10 years now says his passion to eat delicious food and towards cooking in general is what has pulled him to start this business.

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