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He wouldn't be running this stall if not for the fact that he enjoys it, and he's named the stall after his granddaughter, he reveals. Just two stalls away, his wife operates the Nurul Nasi Padang stall, so the couple are there at the food centre from early morning till late afternoon.
Singapore, December 5, 2009
CEO'S HAWKER GUIDE
THERE'S an art to scooping up nasi briyani and heaping it onto a plate, as you will notice when ordering the dish at hawker stalls instead of restaurants.
At Allauddin's at Tekka Market for example, the server dishes out your briyani from large aluminium drums.
First he spreads rice over the plate, scooped from the pot in front of him which also has mutton in it, picks a piece of meat-on-the-bone on top of that rice, then covers the mound with a scoop of rice from another pot.
This is done deftly in just a matter of seconds - and voila, you have your heaped dum briyani on a plate.
It's a far cry from the quaint little shiny copper pots of dum briyani served at Indian restaurants. But while hawker stalls lack the finesse, that doesn't stop the lines from forming for a $4 to $5.50 plate of meat and carbo goodness.
The beauty of basmati rice is that it's not as starch-laden as jasmine rice, so it doesn't really sit heavily on the tummy. But for health reasons, it's a dish best shared with one or two other people - which is in the spirit of why and how it was first created.
Nurul Nasi Briyani Power
Block 3, Changi Village Market & Food Centre, #01-48
Tel: 9696-0893
Monday to Saturday, lunch only 10am to 3-4pm
ONE usually judges the popularity of a food stall by the queue, but unfortunately - or fortunately - not in the case of Nurul Nasi Briyani Power because it's tucked away in a narrow corridor and faces a wall. Plus, it's in Block Three (with the market) instead of Block Two, where the main food centre and the queues for nasi lemak are.
But don't be put off by the location. Nurul Nasi Briyani is 'dem power' as the army boys up the road would say - with the aromatic rice really topping the taste test on dum briyani stalls done this week. The lovely mix of orange, yellow and off-white basmati rice grains are cooked with spices like cardamom and subtly sweetened with raisins as well, while a generous smattering of fried shallots are there to turbo-boost the fragrance and taste.
The rice grains are loose, with just the right touch of dryness, so you don't really mind that stall owner Ahmad Mohd Ali doesn't add so much gravy to the rice when he dishes out the mutton or chicken pieces.
The mutton is fork-tender, and the gravy is thick. The accompanying curry is however a watery version of a vegetable curry much like a rasam, but it works well to balance out the rich dum briyani - given that it's sourish. If you want to, you could also ask for the intensely sweet and tangy mango chutney that Mr Ahmad makes and gives to customers who ask for it.
Mr Ahmad, 60, opened the stall just about five years ago, out of a passion for cooking. 'I love to cook, and somehow I just managed to come up with my own way of making nasi briyani,' declares the former SIA engineer. He says it's been cooked the way Singaporeans would like it, rather than being authentically Indian. There's a homemade feel, and the subtle balance of spices makes his dum briyani appealingly yummy.
Ali Nachia Briyani Dam
The Railway Station, Tanjung Pagar
Tel: 9389-2615
Monday to Saturdays, lunch only 10am to 1.30pm
Ali Nachia opened his stall in 2001, but he's been cooking dum briyani since the 1970s - as a wedding caterer. Father of former national footballer Rafi Ali, he or his wife dishes out the dum briyani at the railway station, while there's the occasional corporate order for office parties.
Coming from a family of butchers, he knows his cuts, and Mr Ali's 'secret ingredient' is using meat above the belly because it's more tender. 'I seldom use the thigh meat,' he explains.
The mutton briyani gravy is packed with flavour, which makes it difficult to put your spoon down as you're chipping away at the meat and the gravy to go with the loose-grained basmati rice. The rice also comes with raita (cucumbers in yogurt) and achar pickles, while the accompanying dalchar is like a tangy vegetable curry.
What's truly noteworthy is the mutton - with its moist and succulent meat peeling off easily when you fork it, but yet it still has a gelatinous consistency to it. And it's also flavourful - having absorbed the spices with no hint of gaminess.
You don't have to be catching the KTM train for a taste of this dum briyani - you just have to go there for lunch and you're on a palatable journey already.
Allauddin Briyani
Tekka Market Food Centre, #01-232
Tel: 6296-6786
Daily from 10am to 7-8pm
NOW that Tekka Market has had its $10 million refurbishment, and there's a brighter and airier feel to the spanking new place, dining there could actually be a pleasant experience - in case you're wondering.
There are several briyani stalls of course - you can recognise them by the variety of large aluminium pots on the counter - but of course, one of the more famous ones would be Allauddin's.
Haji Mohd Sheikh Allauddin's grandfather started the business, and the enterprising hawker now has two other stalls selling drinks and chapati in the food centre.
He sells some 200 to 300 plates of mutton briyani a day, he reckons, although the main drawback is that it's served on styrofoam plates with plastic cutlery that don't really do a good job in cutting through the meat.
The rice here is the starchier, puffier version, rather than loose-grained - probably from having been boiled - although the gravy is as tasty as you get. The slightly stringy mutton isn't as succulent or moist as at Ali Nachia and Nurul's though, while the lentil-rich dulcha is like the type you get with roti prata.
Queues at lunchtime are purported to be 10 to 20 deep, but when we dropped by on a Sunday afternoon, tea-time, we didn't have to contend with a crowd at all.
Singapore Zam Zam Restaurant
697, 699 North Bridge Road
Tel: 6298-7011
Open daily from 8am to 11pm
YOU only have to pass by Zam Zam to know that this is a thriving business. In fact, the operation there is so slickly-oiled and catered to the consumer that if you're driving, and come to a halt in front of the restaurant - say you're waiting for someone - there'll be a waiter coming up to you to ask for your order.
'It's the best drive-through service in town!' declares a friend who recently had that experience.
Having been around since 1908, Zam Zam is definitely an institution; a microcosm of Indian Muslim fare in Singapore - as it serves everything from prata to fried bee hoon.
It has an air-conditioned dining room upstairs, but it's the bustling coffeeshop demeanour - usually packed - downstairs that gives it its mass appeal.
Though not as famous as its murtabak, the dum briyani there is still popular and the plate comes heaped with yellow and orange-stained basmati rice covering a piece of mutton, with dulcha on the side and pickles. It is your classic mutton briyani with its robust flavours.
It's really the semi-chaotic dining experience here that makes Zam Zam stand out so don't drive through, try to grab a table if you can.
See more pictures of famous briyani eateries
