Biryani — a pot full of flavours. And love

It was last month that I was cruising through the lunch buffet at an Indian restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, when I noticed the chafing dish marked ‘chicken biryani’ empty. I gestured to the over-zealous server who had shown us to our table. He smiled and lifted two fingers before rushing towards the kitchen.

Having filled my plate with what I wanted, I politely stepped aside but stayed near the counter, waiting.

A young American who looked like one of the university’s students came and stood beside me.

“I guess we are waiting for the same thing,” he said with a smile. “The best I’ve had,” he continued, as the server refilled the dish and we helped ourselves, and made our way to our tables.

Well, I can’t say I agree with the young man. Yes, the aroma was right, the long grain basmati was there and the chicken was tender and well-seasoned. But there was a heartburn-inducing dose of chilli and garam masala. And if someone like me – whose friends say eats way too much spice and salt – was put off, you can imagine how it must have been.

But I was quite pleased that this traditional Indian subcontinental dish was popular even in a college town such as Madison.

As luck would have it I was served biryani in-flight from Chicago to Dubai that evening too. Well, the chefs tried but I don’t think you can achieve any culinary heights with airline food.

Reminder of special occasions

For me biryani has always been a special dish that you cook when celebrating with family and friends, even though it may take hours to prepare. But when you hear the “umms” and “aahs”, you know it was all worth it.

“When we were young my grandmother used to make the biryani at home,” recalls Mubashera Khan, a Pakistani advertising and PR consultant in the UAE. “It reminds me of special occasions, of Ramadan and Eid. It reminds me of family, as I live alone in Dubai. So it is special and also comforting.”

Julie Soriano, a Filipina sales coordinator in Dubai, too, was at the Kabab Kolony last week and told tabloid! she’s a fan of the “mutton biryani with alu (potato)”.

“I’ve tried biryani almost everywhere in Dubai. I just love the taste and the aroma of it,” Soriano said. “It looks simple but the taste is different from any other Indian food. In Manila, it was very expensive because it fell under international food. I love to eat it because it helps me connect with other Asian cultures.”

“I remember the only thing I asked my mother to cook when I returned from college was biryani,” said Hira Sohail, owner of Kabab Kolony restaurant. Sohail, a sales and marketing professional, was inspired by her mother who hosted TV cookery shows in Pakistan to turn her passion for food into a successful business. “It’s a full meal in itself. You do not need to cook curry and rice separately. Everything is inclusive – your meat, rice, veggies. And even though it’s not the healthiest of dishes, it’s comfort food.”

Biryani’s popularity can be gauged by the fact that everyone, from the street corner joint to five-star restaurants, is dishing up a variety.

“We sell up to 800-1,000 portions of biryani every day at our restaurants situated in prime locations, and 200-300 in smaller outlets,” said Mohammad Arif, head of franchising and planning at Student Biryani. Established in 1969 by Arif’s father, the chain now runs 15 restaurants in Pakistan, six in the UAE since 2009 and has spread to Jeddah and Muscat in the last year. Next stop, Canada.

On the other hand, the newly opened Mint Leaf Dubai, an off-shoot of the London-based restaurant, in DIFC, serves only 7-8 portions per day of their uniquely cooked Potli Biryani during lunch and dinner.

“Potli literally means ‘pouch’ and in the Mint Leaf’s Potli lamb biryani, we ‘dum’ (airtight cook) the biryani in a pastry pouch instead of a vessel to seal all the flavours and essences inside,” said Abhijit Gurav, the restaurant’s manager. “We have multinational clients, with a large number of them being Arab. So it becomes essential to keep their taste in mind. At the same time we need to be innovative about it, so we’ve come up with the Potli Biryani. Signature dishes are more about experience, rather than just eating”.

Speaking of innovation, Naina Shakeb won a biryani cooking contest held by the Arabian Courtyard Hotel in Bur Dubai in May. Her winning entry was a quail biryani. We’ve all had chicken, mutton, shrimp, beef and fish biryani but quail biryani is rarely heard of and mainly in connection with established chefs and the nawabs of yore.

“I cook quail curry at home and I wanted do a different combination than the traditional ones. So I added ingredients such as soup powder, which we wouldn’t traditionally use to create the dish. In fact I’m going to cook it again on today to celebrate Eid with my family and friends,” Shakeb said.

Shakeb says she keeps re-inventing the dish every now and then. Not only has she tried the quail, she’s made biryani with kofta (meatballs) – which won her a prize too – and chicken tikka.

“Biryani is a family dish which reminds me of happy times. So I just keep innovating,” said Shakeb.

It’s not just a question of a quail or veal being used to make biryani but concepts to present this traditional dish with a new twist. While Saneesh K.V., chef de cuisine at Ananta, The Oberoi Dubai, informs us during his culinary training he’s been told there are 54 versions of biryani, Michelin-starred chef Vineet Bhatia, however, believes there are more than a 100.

“Biryani is biryani. You cannot do fusion with it,” said Saneesh. “You can change some ingredients, use some supreme cuts of meat but imagine a wagyu biryani. Wagyu is a very tender meat and people prefer it medium to rare – actually medium-well is also too much cooking for it. Can you imagine any biryani in which you could do a medium rare piece of meat? Biryani is all about absorbing the flavours. Our style, in comparison to the west, requires over-cooked meat. People in this part of the world like their meat to be fully cooked. Even if it is steak they want it well done. You will never get a biryani cooked 50 or 60 per cent. There are versions of it such as biryani made with rabbit, duck, beef, prawn and fish. Then there is game biryani. But you need to be careful with game meat. Marination and flavours have to be paid attention to. You need to understand the flavour of the meat and what would complement that.”

Only two ways to cook it

“Chefs such as us have tried to modernise and contemporise traditional [Indian] food,” Bhatia said. “But when it comes to a dish such as biryani you cannot really make much changes. You may tweak an ingredient or two or add a different flavour. But when it comes to cooking it, there are only two ways to do it: either you do a kachi (with uncooked meat) or pakki (pre-cooked meat and rice) biryani.

“Being in Europe, a strong aromatic biryani may not really work with the clients. We need to be subtle. What we do is use a lobster or pigeon or scallops or wild mushrooms instead of chicken or mutton. These ingredients are subtle in flavour and the spices and aroma used have to be mellow to enhance the flavours of the rice and the meat. These are things you devise/adapt over time. There’s no right or wrong as long as it pleases the palate and the authenticity is maintained.

“Yet I will not make biryani with agar agar gel. That just does not work. You know, I’ve even been served biryani with foam on top. Why would you do that? Why don’t people understand foam over hot rice just doesn’t work? Biryani is rice with a secondary part to it and cooked on dum. That’s it,” said Bhatia vehemently.