Haleem season: how our Ramzan kitchen works
Wheat, mutton and twelve hours of stirring. What happens behind the haleem counter every evening of Ramzan.
Ordering biryani for a party: how many degs and what it costs
A full deg feeds ten. Here is how to work out quantities, sides and budget for 20, 40 or 80 guests.
Party orders are a quarter of our business, and nearly every host asks the same question: how much do I need? The answer depends on who is eating and what else is on the table, but a few rules hold.
A full deg serves 10 adults, with about 250 g of rice and two pieces of meat each. If biryani is the only main dish and your guests are big eaters, plan for 8 per deg. If there are starters, a curry and a dessert, 12 per deg is usually enough. Children count as half.
For 40 guests at a family dinner with kebabs before the meal, four degs are right: say two mutton and one chicken, plus one vegetable dum biryani for vegetarian guests. Mutton degs are ₹4,200 and chicken ₹3,200; the vegetable deg is ₹2,600. That is ₹14,200 for the biryani. Each deg comes with salan and raita for its ten servings. Add 40 seekh kebabs at ₹85 a piece, ₹3,400, and khatti dal for ₹900, and the meal costs about ₹18,500, or ₹460 a head.
Order at least 24 hours ahead, and two days ahead on weekends and during wedding season. Degs leave the kitchen sealed and travel in the copper pot, wrapped in cloth, so the biryani stays hot for about two hours. We collect the empty degs the next morning. Within 8 km of Somajiguda delivery is free; beyond that we charge ₹400.
