It might have been spotted when the widely feared Turk-Mongol conqueror, Timur arrived with his army to the borders of India in 1398. The dish was part of war diet for his army. An earthen pot was filled with rice, spices and whatever meat was available and buried in a hot pit to be dug up and eaten by the warriors.
It held considerable sway in the Mughal era and its dining rooms. Mughal emperors known for their lavish lifestyles and epicurean tastes loved a good biryani with its tender pieces of meat and fragrant rice.
Another legend puts the dish back to 2 A.D. in the southern Malabar coast of India. Records of Oon Soru, a spiced rice and meat mixture were found in Tamil literature.
Yet another narrative attributes its invention to Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan’s beautiful queen, who found their soldiers looking undernourished and ordered the chefs to combine both rice and meat for their nourishment.
Biryani’s fan following since hasn’t diminished with delectable variations of the same dish modified to suit regional palates. Try proclaiming your region’s biryani as superior and you’ll watch tensions rising and full blown wars escalating. Clearly, biryani is a dish which plays heavily with people’s emotions. Here’s a look at the different varieties of biryani available throughout India.
Hyderabadi biryani
Passed down from the kitchens of Hyderabad’s Nizams, this much acclaimed biryani is fiery and comes in two varieties – kacchi (raw) and pakki (cooked). The kachhi biryani involves marinating the meat overnight in spices and curd and then layering it with rice next, to be cooked at a particular temperature. The pakki biryani involves the meat being marinated for a shorter time and cooked separately from the rice. The two elements are then layered together before being cooked by the dum method.
The dum method uses earthen pots with the biryani layered within and cooked on a flame with the top portion sealed off with dough. Hyderabadi biryani with its fragrant saffron-flavoured rice and piquant meat is best paired with an equally spicy saalan and raita as accompaniments.
Calcutta biryani
The Calcutta biryani with all its drool worthy, subtle flavours has a melancholic past. When Awadh’s last Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was banished, the connoisseur of food and expensive tastes brought along his entourage of cooks. With a considerably diminished amount of income, the chefs struggled to make do with what they had and introduced the humble spud to replace expensive meat in the biryani and it has stayed there ever since.
Relishing pure taste and flavor of Kolkata in Hyderabad. ‘Kolkata House’ of Kondapur, is now serving famous aloo biryani (chicken biryani with large piece of potato and a boiled egg; Hyderabadi biryani lacks these two ingredients) in nearby areas. Rich and unique in taste, this biryani will definitely take your heart away. Totally indulged in gobbling this exquisite dish! #puretaste, #flavorofkolkata, #hyderabad, #biryani, #kolkatabiryani, #relish, #sodelicious, #lovetoeat, #tastyfood, #comfortfood, #exquisitedish, #indulged, #foodie, #foodgasm, #foodporn, #chickenbiryani, #unique, #flavoroflove, #gourmet, #picoftheday, #mobileshot, #india, #indianfood, #indiancuisine, #plating
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Mar 1, 2019 at 5:40am PST
The star of the dish now is the potato, cooked beautifully with a crispy golden jacket that is pierced to give in to warm mushy potatoes goodness. There’s fluffy white basmati rice delicately flavoured with strands of saffron and rose water with chicken or mutton. You’ll find a glistening egg hidden in the middle.
Lucknowi biryani
The Lucknowi biryani is a legacy of the Awadhi style of biryani with mild spices. A stock prepared from meat is stewed in its juices with spices to make this tender and moist biryani. Meat is cooked partially and infused with spices like star anise and cinnamon and then layered with rice in the dum pukht style.
Dindigul biryani
Dindigul Thalapakatti biryani has a fan following at par with that of ‘Thalaiva’. And there’s good reason.
Only meat from grass-fed Kannivadi goats are used to make proper authentic Dindigul biryani. The dish is set apart from its peers because the meat is cut into tiny cubes instead of large chunks. Jeera samba rice is doused in curd and lemon for that tangy aftertaste and then mixed liberally with pepper leaves to set your taste buds ablaze. Luckily, there’s onion raita you can ladle on to combat the fieriness of the biryani. There’s also eggplant gravy for the taking.
Thalassery biryani
This sweet and savoury biryani belongs to the Malabar region, mainly Kerala. However, there are many delicious variations of biryani hailing from this region.
The Thalassery biryani is serious business. Basmati rice is passed over for their indigenous variety of rice called ‘Khyma’ or ‘Jeerakasala’. What follows is an extravagance of succulent chicken wings, crispy fried onions, sautéed cashews, raisins, Malabar spices and fennel seeds. The meat with gravy is mixed with the rice only when it is served.
Memoni biryani
The Memoni biryani is perfect for people who like their food high on the hot-o-meter. This extremely spicy biryani is a speciality made by the Memons of the Gujarat-Sindh region. Juicy lamb chunks, crisped onions and potatoes with yogurt are added to this biryani. This biryani doesn’t need food colouring to make it look tempting, the vegetables, meat and rice do the job.