Wedding caterers: Masters of mega kitchens

Chennai

It’s the season of summer and festivities — lined with auspicious dates to tie the knot, the month of May has seen a lot of weddings. The one thing most guests remember is the food served at such events, so we speak to four caterers from the city who are known for their ‘kai pakkuvam’ to find out what goes on behind the scenes in these massive kitchens.

It all starts off with the families placing orders. “If some guests wish to taste the food beforehand, we either deliver samples to their home or they can visit our outlet,” says S Krishnakumar of Chennai Biriyani Caterers. His partner Muhammad Ali Khan and he take pride in the quality of their food; this is what attracts customers to them, he feels. “Our mutton biriyani and Muslim style bread halwa are our specialties,” he smiles.

Sridhar Natarajan, managing director of Arusuvai Arasu Catering, says that procuring quality ingredients is next most important part of cooking a wedding meal. “We’ve been in this business as a family for about 65 years, so we’re in contact with vendors who we’ve procured produce from, for the past three to four decades. Where we get our vegetables from varies — Kodaikanal and Ooty and better known for English vegetables while we get the rest from Benglauru and Chennai,” he shares.

The mandapams is usually handed over to the family by 11 pm a night before the wedding, so it’s rush hour from early morning until the wrap-up, says Roberts Bhaskaran, proprietor of Ennwyn Caterers. “We end up staying awake till the wee hours of the next morning also, when too much food gets left over — say a family anticipates 3,000 guests but 500 or so don’t turn up. Two full chattis of biriyani get left over (one chatti serves 200 people). 

Wasting food is never an option for us so we usually hire a vehicle at our expense to distribute the food to some slums nearby,” he says. What if there’s a shortage of food though? “I’ve noticed that at any wedding, men constitute 50 per cent while women and children, 30 and 20 per cent respectively. We cook according to this ratio so we can stretch up to 50 plates extra,” says Roberts.

Wedding catering is turning over a new leaf as awareness about health and fitness has increased. “Around 15 years ago when we started the business, clients would get offended if they didn’t see a layer of ghee floating on top of any dish. Now, there are many takers for a specialised salad bar where organic veggies and micro-leaves are used,” says Pratha Gupta, sales and marketing manager, Sar v Sri Caterers. “Coupled with this, exposure to different international cuisines has made guests pickier of what they want. So we send a team to different parts of the world to train in cuisines like Lebanese, Japanese and even Korean or we hire expert chefs for such orders. From within India, Kannadiga food is a new favourite,” she sums up.

— AR

Bread halwa

Ingredients:

1 large-sized bread packet (400gms) | 750 gm sugar | 200 gm condensed milk | 200 gm sugarless khoa | Oil to fry the bread | 50 ml Ghee | 50 gm cashew nuts | 50 gm cucumber seeds 

Method:

• Spread the slices of bread on a large plate and allow it to dry under the fan for 20-30 minutes so that the moisture dries away. 
• Cut the slices into four pieces each.
• Heat a pan, add oil, allow it to heat for frying.
• Fry the pieces till it becomes golden brown and keep aside.
• In a vessel, add sugar and 1.5 times the water. Keep in on the stove and turn on the flame. Stir it well so that the sugar gets dissolved completely. Keep it for 10 more minutes even after the sugar gets dissolved.
• Now, add the fried bread to the sugar. Add condensed milk and khoa and stir well. Switch off the stove.
• In a pan, heat the ghee and fry the cashew and cucumber seeds in this. Finally, add it to the bread halwa and stir well.

Cocktail kachori

Ingredients:

300 gm chicken mince | Refined flour (maida) dough as required | 1 tablespoon Oil and for deep-frying | 2 medium onions finely chopped | 1 medium tomato finely chopped | 1 tablespoon ginger-garlic paste | 1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder | 1 teaspoon red chilli powder | 1 teaspoon cumin powder | 2 green chillies finely chopped | 1 tablespoon mutton masala | Salt to taste | 2-3 fresh coriander sprigs | 2-3 fresh mint sprigs 

Method:

• Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a non-stick pan. Add onions and sauté till they turn golden. Add tomato, mix and cook till it turns pulpy.
• Add ginger-garlic paste, mix well and cook for 2 minutes. Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, cumin powder and green chillies and mix well. 
• Add chicken mince, mix well and cook for a minute. Add mutton masala, mix well and add ¼ cup water and salt. Mix again and cook for 2-3 minutes.
• Reduce heat, add chopped coriander and chopped mint, mix well and cook till the chicken is fully cooked and the moisture is fully evaporated. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature.
• Heat sufficient oil in a kadai. Divide dough into small balls. Flatten them and roll out into small discs. In the center, put a portion of cooked chicken mince, gather the edges, pinch and shape into kachoris. Deep-fry them.

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