Biryani is not a single dish, but a whole range of rice-based dishes that are made from spices, rice and meat or egg or vegetables. Biryani, sometimes also called biriani, or beriani, is a loanword borrowed from Persian. It’s basic meaning is “fried” or “roasted”. Thus, Biryanis are not a traditional Indian dishes, but were brought to India by travelers and merchants from Iran and Western Asia. Hence, biryani dishes can be found all over South-East Asia, in Arabia and even in the Middle Eastern countries.
Not surprisingly, there are a variety of cooking techniques and ingredients that are used to make biryani. The most typical ingredients are ghee, cloves, cinnamon, cumin, cardamom, bay leaf, garlic, ginger, onions and saffron. For a non-vegetarian biryani, apart from the spices, meat such as lamb, goat, chicken, beef or shrimps may be used. Vegetarian biryani is made of various vegetables like cauliflower, carrots, beans etc. Biryani is usually served with a raita on the side. It may be garnished with slices of boiled egg or fried onions or dried fruits.
List of Biryani Recipes
One of the most popular versions of the biryani is the Hyderabadi biryani. To make things even messier, this one has variations itself: so, a variation of Hyderabadi biryani would be Kachi Akhni, which consists of marinated meat and rice that are cooked together.
Another popular form of Biryani is the Awadhi Biryani that comes from Lucknow, a city in Northern India. In this biryani, the meat and rice are cooked separately and then arranged in layers and cooked a second time using a cooking technique called dum.
The Calcutta biryani is an off-shoot of the Awadhi biryani. This is similar to the Awadhi biryani but apart from the mat and rice, potatoes are a main ingredient. This biryani is less heavily seasoned than the Hyderabadi biryani.
This is just a short overview on Biryani variations around. Their number are sheer endless. The best thing to do now would be to browse our recipes and chose one to get started.
