Deep within Chennai’s biryani heartland of Triplicane, a cauldron of biryani is starting to burn. “Remove it from the fire and place it on the floor,” M Lookman Ali instructs his team on the phone. He is far from perturbed. “Nothing will happen to it, we have caught it right on time,” he adds.
The 54-year-old owns Amrin, a small biryani outlet on Triplicane High Road. In the business of biryani, he is known as ‘master’: a skilled cook trained to make biryani by the kilo with help from a team. These men command much respect in their circle; there are 500 of them in Triplicane alone, with an estimate of 50 each in Royapuram and Periamet, the other neighbourhoods popular for biryani.
Lookman has been a biryani master for almost 20 years now; he cooks at his outlet, as well as at celebratory events based on order. “A master knows everything,” he says. “But in the kitchen, he will only give instructions to his team. He will take over during the crucial moments, to check if the meat is done and salt and spice levels are in order.”
