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| Biryani |
After fasting in the holy month of Ramadan, many people like to break Iftar with family members, relatives or friends. Be it at home or in the mosque. Many people in India like to pick up a special dish at Iftar and that dish is Biryani.
At home or in a restaurant, all types of items are managed at Iftar. And having Biryani on the table adds a different flavor. Not only in India, but in the entire subcontinent, the value of Biryani increases during the holy month of Ramadan.
Mumtaz Mahal's role to make Biriyani popular
Many people talk about Mumtaz Mahal's role in popularizing Biryani. She was the wife of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan. He built historic Taj Mahal in the 17th century to honor his beloved wife's memory.
It is said that Mumtaz Mahal once visited the army barracks. Seeing the thin Mughal soldiers there, he ordered to feed them special and balanced food. Following the orders of the empress, Biryani was fed to the soldiers.
Main ingredients to cook Biriyani
Biryani is cooked by mixing different types of meat (chicken, beef, khasi, mutton), curd, various spices with fragrant rice. Many people also cook biryani with shrimp or fish.
Biryani is known as an elite dish in this subcontinent. Once upon a time, this royal dish came to India by the hands of the Mughals. But now the food has become a part of Indian heritage and culture.
Manjilat Fatima is a lawyer by profession, born in an elite Awlad family. He also runs a restaurant called Manjilat's Restaurant in Kolkata.
Fatima said, Biryani is a food that does not need to be eaten with anything else. Just a little mint raita goes well with it. People like to eat Biryani all year round. However, the value increases during festivals.
Fatima also said that people prefer to eat Biryani in Iftar. Because at this time people look for food that is satisfying, easy to cook and eat.
History of Biriyani in Indian subcontinent
To trace the history of Biryani in the Indian subcontinent, one has to go back many centuries. In his cookbook published in 2017, Pratibha wrote, Muslim rulers established an empire in India in the 16th century. At that time they brought the technique of making Biryani from Persia to India.
The word biryani is derived from the Persian word 'birinj'. It is the Persian equivalent of rice. Originally, this dish was cooked for the royals with expensive ingredients like saffron and cream.
Most food experts and nutritionists believe that Biryani originated in Iran. Later, the food spread to different places from there. Basically, by looking at the ingredients used to make biryani, they think that it is an Iranian dish.
Hala Parvez, a caterer of biryani and kebabs in the United States, said that the word biryani comes from the Persian word birinj. It means fried rice.
He said, Indian subcontinent has adopted this food. It has also been cooked regionally and has produced over 500 varieties.
Both the technique and ingredients of biryani cooking came to India from the hands of the Mughals. The Mughals added saffron to it for its soft yellow color and fragrance.
And yogurt was used to increase the taste. It was the Mughals who taught how to slowly cook biryani with a mixture of rice, spices and meat in a low heat, covered pot.
Improving the technique of cooking Biryani
By the 18th century, the royal cooks of Indian state Awadh and Hyderabad perfected the technique of cooking Biryani. However, people from other parts of India developed unique cooking techniques by adding their own ingredients to get their own flavor of Biryani.
Awadhi Biryani, originated from Awadh state, is one of the most popular biryani in India. Fatima said, during the terrible famine of 1784, the Muslim Nawab of Awadh Asaf-ud-Daula started the construction of 'Asafi Imambara' in Lucknow.
At that time 20,000 laborers were given a heavy meal made of rice. So that the workers can work longer by eating this special food. Their stomachs are full for a long time. It was Biryani.
Fatima also said that the aroma of the biryani being cooked for the workers also fascinated the Nawab. He also enjoyed biryani.
Biryani soon acquired royal status through the ascendancy of the Nawab. However, vegetables were omitted from the biryani to cater to the Nawab. Instead cream and saffron were used to enhance the taste.
How Biryani came to Kolkata
In 1856 Wajid Ali Shah, the tenth Nawab of Awadh, was sent into exile by the British. He migrated from Lucknow to Kolkata.
He brought Biryani cooking techniques. He asked Kolkata cooks to add potatoes to biryani. Potato is now a very common and popular vegetable across India. But it was not so common in Indian kitchens then.
Biryani is now a very popular dish among Indians throughout the year. So many restaurants are doing huge business with this dish. Nowadays people order Biryani online.
Online food delivery companies are very busy to serve hot and fresh Biryani. Swiggy, an online food delivery company in India, says that its platform offers a variety of food options. But Biryani has received the most orders for eight consecutive years. In 2023, Swiggy received 150 biryani orders per minute.
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