Suresh Kumar, 44, tosses and shapes a ‘parotta’ patty until the dough billows out like a large handkerchief, as master Mohamed Mohideen looks on, on the premises of Success Coaching Centre on Airport Road. At a live cooking station, another student gets to grips with a wok to cook Indo-Chinese dishes.
“Parotta stalls and noodle shops became a part of Tamil Nadu’s street food culture long ago. But there is a shortage of skilled labour in this field and many eateries have to down shutters when the master cook is unavailable. I began this coaching centre two months ago, because it can help many small businesses grow,” Mr. Mohideen told The Hindu.
For a fee, students can learn parotta making in a seven-day course or Indo-Chinese cooking over 10 days. The school provides the ingredients required for all the classes, besides accommodation for outstation students. Applicants are taught how to make dosa and idli commercially on request.
Mr. Mohideen, a graduate in business administration, comes from a family of parotta makers based near Dindigul and has spent over 15 years in the restaurant trade as a cook and trainer. “When we were growing up, parotta stalls usually functioned from the front of the chef’s homes, and there were very few of them. I used to spend all my free time training under the parotta master. Once a student develops the knack of tossing the dough, he can start learning the other techniques,” he says.
Students are first taught how to knead the dough, made with refined flour (maida), salt, and water. They then learn how to make the ‘salna’ or gravy to go with it.
Tossing the dough patty after pressing it out by hand, is essential to aerating it, said Mr. Mohideen. Students practise for two days with a cloth napkin in front of a mirror before moving on to the real thing.
For Indo-Chinese training, a wok is filled with rock salt that students roast with a heavy ladle on a high flame.
The school has trained over 100 students in the past two months with several queries coming up through social media for parotta classes. Mr. Mohideen takes online lessons. “A huge variety of parottas is made across the world and Tamil Nadu has some 10 versions in vogue,” he says.
Mr. Kumar, who works at a restaurant in Canada, is hoping to better his prospects when he returns with his new skill. “I have been a dishwasher for a long time; making parottas can open the doors for me in my own workplace,” he says.
