S Giridharan remembers watching his grandfather B Ramasamy Naidu cook biryani in a gigantic copper cauldron at their ancestral home on Nettu street, Dindigul. “I was probably five or six years old then,” says the 46-year-old. “A paati in the neighbourhood would often drop by, bringing ghee that she made at home. Grandfather always bought from her.” Ramasamy learned to cook biryani from his father, P Bangaruswamy Naidu, and the dish became an instant hit in Dindigul in the 1930s when he established a small restaurant. Today, Giridharan, who has been in the food business for 25 years, hopes to recreate the dish in Chennai.
He has tied up with three cloud kitchens run by Coimbatore-based Pricol Gourmet in the city to supply Dindigul-style biryani. Bangaruswamy Naidu Biryani was started a little over a month ago and is Giridharan’s third attempt at establishing the brand in Chennai. “I set up our restaurant in 1998 and 2008 in Chennai, but had to close down both times owing to issues with space,” he says.
Dindigul biryani is made using short-grained seeraga samba rice, and has its own following in the city that loves the long-grained basmati rice version. Bangaruswamy, according to Giridharan, came up with the recipe after his travels in Hyderabad with a friend in the 1920s. “He formulated his version of biryani using locally-grown spices, meat and rice,” he says, adding that he too sources rice from Thuraiyur near Tiruchi and meat from Kannivadi near Dindigul.
