Biryani

• 1. Introduction

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  Biryani, a mixed rice dish from South Asia, was on the mind of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb when he wrote to his son Bahadur Shah I. "Exalted son, I remember the savour of your 'khichidi' and 'biryani' during the winter." He added that the 'kabuli' cooked by Islam Khan did not surpass them in relish or savour. Aurangzeb had wanted a cook named Saliman, who made biryani, to join his own service. His son had refused to let Saliman go. So the emperor asked for a skilled pupil of Saliman instead.

  The letter raises the questions this documentary will chase. Where did biryani come from, and who first cooked it? How does it differ from pilau? And how did it become a fixture of celebrations across South Asia and far beyond?

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• 2. A Name Meaning Fried

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  The word biryani comes from biryan or beriyan, verbs meaning to fry or to roast. Merriam-Webster probably links them to bhṛjjati, a word with the same meaning. The usage is traced to the Persian phrase birinj biryan, where birinj means rice, so the phrase means fried rice.

  In 10th-century Persia, the polymath and physician Avicenna was the first to describe the preparation of pilau. The Persian word for pilau, written plo, simply means rice. Biryani is thought to descend either from this pilau or from the birinj biryan of the name.

  Written records of the dish in Mughal India appear only centuries after Avicenna.

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• 3. Mughal Paper Trail

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  The Ain-i-Akbari, written between 1589 and 1596 in the reign of the emperor Akbar, mentions both pilau and biryani. It lists ingredients with required quantities for each. One entry, Duzdbiryan, calls for 10 seer of rice, 3½ seer of ghee, 10 seer of meat and half a seer of salt. Those amounts, the text says, produce five dishes. A neighbouring entry, Qimah Palao, adds 4 seer of ghee, 1 seer of peeled gram and 2 seer of onions. It also names fresh ginger, pepper, cumin seed, cardamom and cloves.

  A second passage in the same text names spiced mutton as a biryani, this time without mentioning rice. For a whole Dashmandi sheep it lists 2 seer of salt, 1 seer of ghee, and 2 masha of saffron, cloves, pepper and cumin seed. The text adds that the dish is made in various ways.

  In 1641 the Portuguese priest Sebastien Manrique described rice dishes on sale in the tent city that travelled with the emperor Shah Jahan to Lahore. Manrique separated "Persian" pilau from "Mogol" biryani. He wrote of "the rich and aromatic Mogol Bringes biryanis and Persian pilaos of different hues".

  The historian Rana Safvi says the earliest true recipe comes from the later Mughal period, in the time of Bahadur Shah Zafar, who ruled from 1837-1857. Between Akbar's ingredient lists and that recipe lie more than two centuries.

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• 4. Who Invented It

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  The food historian Lizzie Collingham places the birth of modern biryani in the royal kitchens of the Mughal Empire, during Akbar's rule from 1556-1605. She describes a blend of three things: the native spicy rice dishes of South Asia, Persian yoghurt-marinated meat, and the garnished style of Persian pilau. In her words, "the delicately flavoured Persian pilau met the pungent and spicy rice dishes of Hindustan to create the classic Mughlai dish, biryani".

  The cookery writer Pratibha Karan argues for an Indian origin, with biryani derived from a pilau that Muslim traders and invaders carried with them. She speculates that pilau was an army dish in medieval India. Armies, she suggests, cooked one pot of rice with whatever red meat was at hand, and varied methods over time turned it into biryani.

  The historian of Islamic cuisine Salma Hussein and others place the arrival earlier than the Mughals. In their view the dish came from Persia, most probably reaching the Deccan region of South India with travelling soldier-statesmen and pilgrims. Another suggestion is that the Mughals themselves introduced it from Persia. A theory that Timur brought it appears to be wrong, because no record shows biryani in Central Asia during his time.

  The food historian K. T. Achaya observed that pilau is "of older usage in India" than biryani. He pointed to early Tamil literature of the Sangam era, roughly 300 BCE-300 CE, which describes a dish called ūn sōru. It was rice cooked with meat, ghee and spices. Ashis Nandy, Colleen Taylor Sen and Charles Perry reply that such ancient dishes were distinct from both pulao and biryani. Achaya later conceded the point.

  Where the debate over birth ends, the cooking itself is better documented, down to its spices and its two techniques.

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• 5. Layers and Spices

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  Chicken, goat and beef are the usual meats in biryani, with fish or prawns and vegetables sometimes taking their place. The spice list is long. It can include fennel seeds, nutmeg, mace, black pepper, cloves, green and black cardamom, cinnamon, bay leaves, coriander, mint, ginger, turmeric, cumin and star anise. Onions, tomatoes, red chillies, garlic, milk, yoghurt and ghee round out the pot. Premium versions add saffron. Some commercial recipes add aromatic essences such as mitha attar, kewra and rose water, and dried sour prunes called alu bukhara may appear too.

  Navratan biryani leans sweeter and richer, with cashews, sultanas and fruit such as apple and pineapple. Vegetarian versions, common among Hindus and others who avoid meat, swap in paneer, soyabean or vegetables, or add eggs and potatoes. Kolkata biryani, invented by Wajid Ali Shah in the 1850s, includes potato.

  On the side, a cook might serve raita, a yoghurt dish with cucumber or tomato, along with fried or curried aubergine and a salad. Another pairing is ande ka salan, a curry of boiled eggs, or mirchi ka salan, made with chilli peppers.

  The terms pakki and kacchi describe the two cooking techniques, meaning cooked and raw. In a pakki biryani, the ingredients are at least partly cooked separately and then stacked in layers, which may be coloured with turmeric or saffron. In a kacchi biryani, the layers go into a pot that is sealed and cooked slowly, so everything steams in its own liquid. This sealed method is called dum cooking.

  Whether layering and sealing make a dish biryani rather than pilau is something cooks and historians still argue over.

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• 6. Biryani or Pilau

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  The British-era author Abdul Halim Sharar noted that biryani tastes more strongly of curry because it carries a greater amount of spice.

  The Delhi-based historian Sohail Hashmi describes pilau as plainer. Its meat or vegetables cook with the rice, and the bottom of the pot may be layered with potatoes or onions. Biryani, in his account, has more gravy and is often cooked longer, leaving the meat more tender and the rice more flavoured. It carries additional dressings and often has a light layer of scorched rice at the bottom.

  Pratibha Karan says the two terms are often applied arbitrarily. Her main test is layering: a biryani has two layers of rice with meat, and vegetables if present, in the middle, while pilau is not layered. In modern usage, she adds, biryani is the main dish of a meal while pilau is usually an accompaniment, and biryani has stronger and more complex spices.

  Colleen Taylor Sen, a translator and cookery author, notes that the question has been extensively debated. Both dishes use long-grained rice with meat or vegetables, and are sometimes "almost impossible to tell apart". She says pilau is usually a side dish while biryani is a "centre piece" with sides of its own. Pilau is a one-pot dish, whereas biryani's rice and meat can be cooked separately.

  In the places where biryani is the star, it tends to carry local names.

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• 7. Many Biryanis

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  In Dhaka, a variety takes its name from Fakhruddin Biriyani, a shop. Karachi has Students biryani, and Mumbai has Lucky biryani in Bandra and Baghdadi biryani in Colaba. Many other names point to a region or city of origin. Biryanis are often tied to the Muslim communities where they began, and are usually those communities' defining dishes.

  In 2009 the Deccani Biryani Makers Association submitted Hyderabadi Biryani for a geographical indication. The attempt failed, because the association could not supply documentary evidence of the dish's historical origin.

  Outside the subcontinent, South Asian diaspora populations often carried the dish abroad, and local variations followed. In Myanmar, danpauk is a mainstay at festive events such as weddings. On the Persian Gulf, biryani is usually saffron-based and made with chicken. In Indonesia, nasi kebuli is a spicy steamed rice cooked in goat meat broth, milk and ghee. In Thailand the dish is called khao mhok, made with chicken, beef or fish, topped with fried garlic and served with a green sour sauce.

  Cooks in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia add local aromatics such as pandan leaf to nasi briyani.

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• 8. The Feast Day Dish

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  In Old Dhaka, kacchi biryani made with mutton has been called "the quintessential wedding dish". In Bangladesh it has largely replaced the chicken pulao, known as murg pulao, that was favoured for special occasions across the subcontinent in the 20th century. Across India, biryani forms "the centrepiece of countless Indian holidays and weddings".

  On the Muslim festival of Bakr Eid, families mark the day with biryani at dinner. The mutton comes from goats slaughtered in memory of the prophet Abraham, who showed he was willing to sacrifice his own son.

  Annual biryani festivals have been held in Ambur, Islamabad and Karachi. The North American Indian Muslim Association has organised one for the diaspora in North America. Festivals have also taken place in Singapore and Qatar.

  On Indian online food ordering and delivery services, biryani is the single most-ordered dish, and it has been described as the most popular dish in India. It is often linked with the region's Muslim population, yet every demographic has embraced it as a staple. Whatever its true birthplace, that delivery ranking shows where biryani lives now.

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