My Episode Of Nasi Beriyani

Last weekend I was busy preparing an order from a production team of 20 people for their breakfast and lunch meals. For breakfast, they ordered Egg-Mayo Sandwiches and for lunch they ordered Nasi Beriyani with Chicken and Papadom.

Fyi, it was my first time accepting orders for Nasi Beriyani. In fact, it's not often that I accepted offers to cater. However, lately, I gained the confidence to start accepting orders for small scales.

Since I had to cook for quite a number of people, I decided to do everything at my parents' place. My parents let me use the kitchen while they took care of my kids.

To tell the truth, it was not easy indeed to complete such task. There were many unexpected challenges that I had to endure during the process of making the Nasi Beriyani last weekend. At first, everything went well especially in the preparation stage, ie, preparing the ingredients. Mind you, it was a one-man show. Yes, I was the only one doing everything from scratch (why did I accept in the first place? hmmm...). Anyway, after making sure that everything was in place and sufficient, I started the cooking part. I fried the chicken first and while doing that, I made the beriyani paste mixture at the same time. While doing that too, I washed the rice. Then, I mixed the paste to the rice and switched on the rice cooker. Let it cook on its own. Okay, done with the rice. Now, the chicken had all been fried and it's time for its gravy. Since I was making Ayam Masak Merah, I started with the chilli paste first. While stirring it away, I noticed that it didn't simmer like it's supposed to. I took a look at the fire and there was none! Yes, there was no fire coming out from the stove! Alamak, gas dah abis!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My hubby was not around as he had to work on that day. I quickly called my dad. He came to the rescue and he told me to relax because there was a spare gas next to the cabinet. My dad took out the gas from its compartment and lifted up its head. But, it refused to budge. My dad tried twisting it left, right, up, front, backwards and in circles, but to no avail. I tried the same thing too but nothing happened. How to use the new one when the old one wouldn't give in!!!!! My dad tried calling the guy from the company, apparently, my dad changed the head to a new and modern type of head and there was a special lock for unlocking it which my dad had totally forgot the steps in doing it. Oh no!!! I started to imagine things like having to move everything back to my house and cook there, borrowing the neighbours' kitchen, using my auntie's kitchen and I also imagined going to the restaurant, buying Nasi Beriyani and pretending that I cooked it all........

While waiting for my dad to call the guy, I noticed that my rice was ready. I quickly got to the rice cooker and stirred the rice. My, I had the most horrible shocked of my life when I tasted the rice. It was not properly cooked!!!! Nasik mentah!!!!!!!! I almost cried but managed to compose myself......I hurriedly poured in some more water onto the rice and closed the lid and waited while praying that the rice would turn out to be nice and fluffy.

On the other hand, my dad managed to get hold of the guy after trying like hundreds of times. But, the guy said that he was not working on that day and he was not even in KL and there's nobody else to do it. Oh no! Now what???????? We were like wondering onto space for inspiration and the house went silent for a few minutes. The kids didn't dare to make even a tiny sound...heheheh.....

Suddenly, my dad ran back to the kitchen and he laughed out loud. I went to the kitchen and was very curious when I saw my dad lifting up a table cloth from a.......gas cooker which my mother seldom used. It had four stoves, an oven and its own gas. Why didn't any of us thought about it before? That would have saved the time tickling by and all those cursing and panicking!!!!

Without wasting much time, I quickly transferred the pan and started making the gravy for the chicken. After which, I fried the papadom and prepared myself for the rice. I was standing near the rice cooker and wishing for the rice to be fine. But, no, it's still not properly cooked!!!! Urgh!!!! I looked at the clock and realised that I only had about half an hour before delivery. I had an idea to transfer the rice to a bigger pot and to just cook it on the stove. And that's what I did exactly. I put all the rice into a normal pot, poured in some water and left it on the stove for a few minutes. In the meanwhile, I prepared the things needed for packing the rice, chicken and papadom. After a few minutes, I took a look at the rice and I was relieved that the rice turned out to be okay. I quickly got it ready to be packed and started the packing process.

Although I was a few minutes' late, everything was delivered well and I managed to smile in the end. Well, that was quite an experience for a first-time Nasi Beriyani caterer like me. Everything that had happened did not washed away my determination to do better and to be more prepared in the future and I would certainly accept orders again.......

Comments

ZR said…
go girl...ehehheh wish u good luck
test said…
wow, what a work...
tanx sayang for the lovely catered briyani...
the production really love it...
youramirah said…
kak liza...
kelakar gile lah! mmg nak jadi cite betul..kalu saya ada kt tempat kak liza, saya g syed je beli..wahahahaha..btw, supply le kt sini plak..hehe
Nic said…
Dikny, oh my.. what a tale to tell when u're a successful caterer nanti! hehe.. amin
rapheydhillo said…
salam dikny,
semoga lebih gigih & berjaya... all d best!!

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