The Biryani Tales In India - Everything You Need To Know!

If you don¡¯t like biryani, chances are that there is an alien ship out there looking to take you back home. After all, who can resist that complex blend of spices, condiments, flavours and aroma with perfectly cooked rice and tender meat that just melts in your mouth? Biryani is a universal favourite in this country and to many, it¡¯s more than a dish - it¡¯s an emotion. Sitting at a lunch table, everyone knows when the biryani box opens, you can almost taste it with its aroma. Everyone suddenly gravitates towards your table and many hands reach for a bite. But the minute you have that first bite, you¡¯re transcended to a different world. Someone very wise (or maybe it¡¯s just us) said ¡®food brings us together, but biryani brings us closer.¡¯

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Biryani And Its Inception

Have you ever wondered how biryani made its way to India? We all call ourselves die-hard fans of biryani, and so it¡¯s only right we know about its origins.

The word biryani is derived from the Persian word Birian, which means ¡®fried before cooking¡¯ and the word Birinj, is the Persian word for rice. There are multiple theories behind how and where biryani originated.

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While some say the Turk-Mongol conqueror, Timur, brought it to India in 1398, as the war campaign diet for his army, there are a few who believe that the dish was brought to the southern Malabar coast of India by Arab traders. Back in 2 A.D., a dish known as Oon Soru, made from meat, rice, ghee, bay leaves, turmeric, etc. was used to feed military personnel.

The most popular theory though traces back to Mumtaz Mahal, wife of Shah Jahan. When Mumtaz realised that the Mughal soldiers were undernourished, she suggested the idea of preparing a dish from meat and rice to provide balanced nutrition to the soldiers.

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Biryani Tales In India

Straight from Persia¡¯s plate, biryani has come a long way. While the north has Lucknowi biryani from Uttar Pradesh cooked with the dum method and basmati rice, the south has the famous Hyderabadi biryani, which has a distinct taste of Indian achaars. And while the east brings us the Kolkata biryani served with boiled potatoes and egg, the west offers us Bombay biryani which has a succulent taste of fried onions and kewra on top of it.

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The Verdict - Best Biryani EVER!

The biryani lovers of the world, often argue about which biryani is best in India. To put an end to this debate, we ran a Twitter poll and the results were not so surprising. Here¡¯s what happened:

Battle Of Biryanis

The Battle Of Biryani Continues - Which Is The Best Biryani In India?
Tag Your Friends & Let's Settle This Debate Once & For All. #BiryaniForLife

¡ª Indiatimes (@indiatimes) December 5, 2017

We had a clear winner and it was Hyderabadi biryani. Now while we were at it, we ran a few more fun polls and the responses were pretty great. Assuming you¡¯re a non-vegetarian, reading this story, you might have ridiculed people who eat ¡®veg biryani¡¯, right? Is it even a thing? And so, our next poll was to settle another biryani debate and here¡¯s what it was:

Does Veg Biryani Even Qualify As A Biryani?#BiryaniForLife #Foodie

¡ª Indiatimes (@indiatimes) December 6, 2017

Are you listening, vegetarians? There, you have an answer. Another biryani debate that hasn¡¯t found a conclusion yet is whether or not biryani should have potatoes in it. Check out the outcome here:

To All #Biryani Lovers - Is It Even A Biryani If It Has Potato In It? #BiryaniForLife #Potato#Indiatimes#poll

¡ª Indiatimes (@indiatimes) December 7, 2017

Not that we have anything against potatoes, we love potatoes, but it¡¯s just biryani and potatoes don¡¯t go together. Now a lot of you might not agree with these polls and their results, so let us know which one is your favourite in the comment section.

Lokesh Kashyap

Long live, biryani!