The world of online ordering has opened a whole lot of avenues for home chefs to now flourish. For the past few months I’ve been ordering from very niche home chefs who cater to local cuisines. There have been weekends where I’ve surfed across platforms and found cuisines of Malvani, Konkani, Odia among others which would be very difficult to source in a restaurant.
But one such group of home chefs who’ve done well are the ones making Hyderabadi food. The city has a huge dearth of restaurants and cafes serving Hyderabadi food that has people reminisce about is the last shaadi-daawat they’d attended. There has even been difficulty in sourcing the original kachi gosht ki biryani which feature only in the menus of mostly star hotels.
I had once ordered for the shikampuri kebabs from Mujtaba Irfan about two years ago and have since become their regular client. Most of these small scale catering businesses were born out of necessity and passion. His mom, Khatija Seema had a home catering business when they were growing up in Coonoor. Being the only ones who made Hyderabadi food in Coonoor then, most of his vacations were spent helping his mom. With the summers, as the influx of tourists increased, so did their orders.
But that all changed when they moved back to Hyderabad. The orders were small and reduced but that didn’t deter him from pushing his mom from restarting the business along with his sister. As he explains that social media has been a boon with ability to now penetrate areas with a strong delivery model. The shikampuri kebabs that I’ve ordered time and again are outstanding and also are their nargisi koftas. Other than the regular Hyderabadi biryani and Haleem, his mom makes exquisite Hyderabadi delicacies like the dum ka chicken, daalcha and dum ka raan.
Last weekend I had the fortune from ordering from another home chef Naaz Anjum. A textile engineer by profession, she quit her daily job to start a family after moving to Hyderabad. As she tells me that she’s always had a feeling of completeness whenever in the kitchen. Bringing with her recipes from Maharashtra, she also picked up Hyderabadi food at her in-laws. Then about three years ago, she kicked off her home delivery business which now has regulars.
I had ordered the paaya with homemade char koni naan. The Paya was just outstanding with that beautiful stickiness among the fingers and a heavenly aroma. Paired with the char koni naan which she has since started making herself using a tandoor built at home. But that is not all, she also makes a delectable naan khaliya, a dish which traces it’s origins to Aurangabad.
These are just few of the home chefs cooking up a storm in the city of pearls. There was a time when such dishes would have remained in the confines of home. But with interest among people rising now for authenticity of food, it has created prosperous home caterers. I’ve not looked at the Hyderabadi biryani from the multitude of cafes the same way after tasting the ones made at home.
— The writer is a well-known food blogger. His Instagram handle is @fooddrifter
