The man behind Chennais favourite sambhar

CHENNAI: The quantities of provisions that Kaliaperumal, the 58-year-old Sambhar Chef at the famous Ratna Café, quotes is simply mind-boggling. Over the past 35 years, ever since he joined the restaurant, the fame of his delicacy has spread so wide that today, on an average, he cooks 3,500 litres of sambhar that is supplied to the various branches of the eatery across Chennai. However, whether it is morning or evening, Triplicane or Velachery, the taste remains absolutely the same. Hailing from Trichy, Kaliaperumal, along with Kandaswamy, joined the restaurant (then only in Triplicane) after working in several smaller places “to learn the trade of hotel cooking”. He says that in the first few years, the “Iyers”, who were the chefs in the restaurant then, taught the secrets of adding the right flavours and nuances of cooking on a large scale. When the owners of the place realised the speed with which Kaliaperumal learnt the “tricks”, he was slowly promoted and soon became the chief Sambhar Chef. While the mode of cooking has evolved from fire wood stoves to the latest steam-based cooking devices, the chef says that the secret behind the consistent flavour of the Sambhar is the uncompromising attitude towards quality of the provisions used. “We have a set pattern that we are using. The same amount of dhal, the same amount of masala cooked in a particular time, and the other provisions ensure that the customer does not feel any difference,” he says. His experience is such that he claims he could find out if there is lesser salt or lesser spice just by the smell  that emanates when the sambhar is cooked. However, Kaliaperumal still gets nostalgic when talking about the old days. “The best times were those when we used brass vessels polished with “Eeyam” and cooked on firewood. You could never get back those flavours,” he says.