BIRYANI – THE FANTASY DISH FOR ALL PALATES

When Lord Viswahkarma sat down to create the ultimate apsara or celestial nymph of all times he gathered all the beautiful bits of all beauties that ever belonged to the earth, the heaven and the hell (paatal) and created Tilottama. Sad you were not there to witness her but what Tillotama is to beauty Biryani is to cuisine and you can always taste it anywhere in the world. Adorned with all the subtleties and intensity of all the heavenly spices, the richness of ghee and the elegance of Basmati rice and the meat, and a true passion for excellence in cooking this dish is the Tilottama of the food world; a dish that you are bound to fall in love with, devour to your heart’s content, yearn for more even when your stomach says no and carry home with you the lingering aroma which will surely bring you back to her!

The word “biryani” comes from the Persian word “birian” which means “fried before cooking.” The name could have been derived from the Persian word ‘birinj’ which means rice or ‘beryan’ which means fried. Based on the name, and cooking style (Dum), one can conclude that the dish originated in Persia (Iran) and/or Arabia. It could have come from Persia via Afghanistan to North India. It could have also been brought by the Arab traders via Arabian Sea to Calicut.

What is perhaps least doubtful is that biryani was a historical invention by the Turk soldiers of invading armies in 10–11th century A.D. There armies comprised of numerous tribes, living in western and central Asia - the Uzbeks, Turks, Afghans and the Uyghurs.  Being always in the move and due to the shortage of time and options they used to make a hotch-potch of rice and meat which they slowly cooked in an earthen pot. We are not sure what spices they used to add into this hotch-potch, so much so that we don’t know whether they would add salt to their dish!

In the 16^th century however the Safavid dynasty prepared biryani with mutton or chicken marinated overnight with yoghurt and spices and herbs, garnished with fruits like pomegranate seeds, prunes and it was served with chelo or steamed rice.

Biryani is popularly associated with the Moguls but there is some historical evidence to show that there were other, similar rice dishes prior to the Mogul invasion. There is mention about a rice dish known as “Oon Soru” in Tamil as early as the year 2 A.D. Oon Soru was composed of rice, ghee, meat, turmeric, coriander, pepper, and bay leaf, and was used to feed military warriors. The famous traveler and historian Al-Biruni has precise descriptions of meals at the courts of Sultans who ruled parts of India prior to the Moguls. These also contain mentions of rice dishes similar to the Mogul biryani. However, there is no doubt that Islamic Persians inspired and popularized the dish.

Another legend states that Biryani was brought to India by the Turk-Mongol conqueror, Taimur, in the year 1398 from Kazakhstan via Afghanistan to Northern India. Another interesting story traces the origins of the dish to Mumtaz Mahal(1593-1631), Shah Jahan’s queen who inspired the Taj Mahal. It is said that she once visited army barracks and found the army personnel under-nourished. She asked the chef to prepare a special dish which provided balanced nutrition, and thus the biryani was created.

Yet another reference in history suggests that during the construction of “Red fort”, thousands of workers were brought from all parts of India and other countries Persia, Arabia, Afghanistan and Iraq. All of them were having different culture and food habits. It was difficult to cook large amount of food for such a diverse group which would be both nutritious and tasty and could be cooked easily and also be widely accepted by all labourers with different food habits. To make thousands of ‘rotis’, ‘subji’ and rice for all hungry labourers twice a day was a tedious task. One day The Mogul “Khansama ( Chief Chef)” was on leave . So he left the responsibility on his new assistant, his brother in law. The Khansama instructed him to make rice, subji, and roti. The assistant listened to all instructions but forgot most of it. He was young, inexperienced and too lazy. He cooked meat and rice in a earthen pot , added all the ingredients whatever he could remember like ghee , nutmeg, mace, pepper, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, coriander, mint leaves, ginger, onions, tomatoes, green chilies and garlic. At the end he made this novel dish which fortunately everyone loved. It was delicious and very nutritive. The fame of ‘food for labourers’ , ‘biryani’ reached the Moghul emperor . He wished to eat this new recipe. The Khansama then made it ‘Royal Biryani’ by adding ‘Kesar (saffron)’ to it. And till today the fragrance of Biryani is still travelling through ages all over the world.

We know the history little better during 1800 to 1900. During Mogul empire, Lucknow was known as Awadh, giving rise to Awadhi Biryani. In 1856, British deposed Nawab Wajid Ali Shah in Calcutta, 
and so was the introduction of Calcutta Biryani. Aurangzeb installed Nizam-ul-mulk as the Asfa Jahi ruler of Hyderabad, as well as a 'Nawab of Arcot' to oversee Aaru Kaadu region (Six Forests) south of Hyderabad. These moves gave rise to Hyderabadi Biryani and Arcot Biryani. The Biryani then spread to Mysore by Tipu Sultan of Carnatic. Needless to say it was a royal dish for Nawabs and Nizams. They hired vegetarian Hindus as bookkeepers leading to the development of Tahiri Biryani, which can be the predecessor of today’s vegetable biryani.

Roll the clock to our present days and today biryani is the most searched Indian food item all over the world. Market analysis of companies like Zomato, Swiggy and their likes show this to be the most popular food item in the ‘take away’ category. It dons different local garbs to tickle different regional palates. There is the Lucknavi or Awadhi biryani and its Bengali cousin with its interloper spud. Then there is Malabar biryani with prawn and fish and the Hyderabadi biryani which comes with its unique aroma and taste. The Bohri biryani is mild and the Dindigul biryani has tartness of curd and lemon. Then there are the Bhopal biryani, Moradabadi, Ambur, Bhatkali, Kashmiri and quite a few more served from Peshawar to Yangon and Srinagar to Ernakulum and loved by all without exception. Whether cooked in roadside stalls or 5 star hotels, in homes or in royal kitchens a biryani is a celebration of our food habit.

Though the vegetarians insist on calling their biryani ‘veg-biriyani’, the purists are absolutely against the very existence of this dish. There can be no biryani without meat they cry! You can call it ‘pulao’ . The three major differences between a biryani and pulao are

1. Technique - For a Pulao to be made, the vegetables and rice are sautéed together and cooked in a common vessel whereas for a Biryani, the spices and vegetables are cooked separately from the rice in two different vessels. The rice is semi cooked and then layered with the spices in a different vessel and left covered on a low flame to get the ‘dum’. Because of the layering, you get some spoons loaded with spices and some with plain white rice.
2. Spice strength - Biryani has significantly higher amount of spices and aromatics incorporated with a lot of patience and love. Pulao on the other hand has very less spices.
3. Presentation and time - Those cashew nuts, fried onions, and freshly chopped coriander used to decorate that sinful plate takes a lot of time and patience, and the layered cooking further adds to it.

A biryani without meat is like Vatican without the Pope. It is inconceivable and so though we sympathize with the vegetarians and the vegans, the divine aromatic culinary perfection which biryani is, will elude them in this lifetime.