Rahul enjoys Kalaan biriyani on TN cookery channel; video viral
A video of Congress leader Rahul Gandhi relishing a spicy ‘kalaan biriyani’ (mushroom biriyani) and a onion side dish he made, with a few villagers in true south Indian style, has gone viral. Members of the popular Village Cooking Channel from Pudukkottai, experts of non-vegetarian recipes, cooked the biriyani with Rahul during his visit to Karur.
The video showing the Congress MP sharing the meal, last garnered over 31.24 lakh views on the social media platform. The channel, run by a group from Chinna Veeramangalam near Aranthangi, led by their grandfather M Periyathambi, who mostly cook non-veg delicacies and air them on YouTube, has 72 lakh subscribers. Recently, Rahul met the channel members during his campaign at Karur and the Congress leader had asked whether he could cook with them.
Soon Rahul was made to prepare raitha, and like Periyathambi, whose loud and clear descriptions of the ingredients is a massive hit with viewers and is his signature style, the Congress leader was seen describing the ingredients that go into the making of a raitha, like onion and curd and crystal salt by their Tamil names, “Vengayam”, “thayir” and ‘kal uppu’. In the video, Rahul was seen mixing them and tasting and apparently being satisfied with his culinary skills. When, after tasting it, he said, “very good”, a young man pulled his leg in Tamil, saying, “You prepared it. So, it tastes good to you.” In his pre-meal chat, he also lauded the group and asked them what they want to do when one of them is seen saying he wants to go to the US, to which Rahul replied he could organise it through “good friend” Sam Pitroda.
Later, the Congress leader and the others were seen enjoying the spicy biriyani, in true Tamil style where the food was served on plantain leaf and all of them were seated on the ground. During the meal the Congress leader lauded the makers, saying the food was “romba nalla irukku” (it is very nice)even as he was seen enquiring what other delicacies they can cook. “I enjoyed the food very much.. excellent Tamil food, super. Romba Nandri from myself,” he said and wished the group before leaving.
Rahul described the ingredients using their Tamil names vengayam, thayir. He also lauded the makers, saying the food was romba nalla irukku