biryani
ˌbɪrɪˈɑːni/
noun
noun: biriani; plural noun: birianis; noun: biryani; plural noun: biryanis; noun: biriyani; plural noun: biriyanis
an Indian dish made with highly seasoned rice and meat, fish, or vegetables.
Yes, thats how the Oxford dictionary defines a biriyani. But those seven letters cannot be contained in a small sentence, to a foodie who has experienced it.
The root of Biriyani is still not defined, but as far as the common notion goes, it was brought to India by the Mughals from Persia. This was one of great gift from other than their architecture. From that time onwards biriyani travelled the entire Indian Sub-continent, it was improvised and twisted for the making more local, again it didn’t stay local. It travelled the Sub-continent and more with its local flavour.
As it is defined it made with spices, rice (basmati) and meat or fish or vegetables. Biryani are mainly divided into two despite of the local. Normal biryani and dum biryani. The dum biriyani is not an easy task, but as usual the hard work pays off.
The dish as was bought to India by the Mughals and during the old days it was rarely that people ate out. People who sells food where more focused on merchants and travellers, thus these Biryani’s stores are mostly found around mosques in Delhi. Even Delhi biryani is sub categorised into Nizamuddin Biryani, Shahjahanabad biryani, etc.
Some of the main biryani varieties are Sindhi Biryani, originating from Pakistan and famous for its spicy taste and delicate meat. Hyderabadi biryani, the KING among biriyani, from Hyderabad. It is cooked using DUM technique on very low flame. Malabar biriyani, commonly cooked through Kerala and Keralites. Kolkatta biriyani uses potatoes and eggs along with meet. This was a spin-of from Lucknow biryani. Then some are; Ambur/Vaniyambadi biryani, Chettinad biryani, Bhatkali/Navayathi biryani, Memoni/Kutchi biryani, Dindigul biryani, Bohri biryani, Kalyani biryani, Afghan biryani, Rawther biryani. Middle east, Iran and Indonesia do have their own spin-offs.
