Day 13: Biryani Wonderment

We had a slight biryani craving yesterday and my mum suggested ordering from Ammi’s Biryani, a popular biryani chain, which has now opened a small outlet in Yelahanka (YAY!). Then we decided to make the biryani instead of ordering it.

Homemade Sindhi biryani

(Later, as I enjoyed my meal, I couldn’t help but think of this tickling blog post I’d read recently: Date a Girl Who Likes Biryani).

So I made Sindhi biryani using Shan Sindhi Biryani Masala (some day I’m hoping to make the entire thing, including the spice mix, from scratch).

Sindhi biryani originates from the Sindh region, which is now in Pakistan.

I’ve heard from self-proclaimed biryani experts that it isn’t true biryani if it isn’t Avadhi, or that there is no biryani better than Hyderabadi. So I got to wondering, “How is a Sindhi biryani different from a Hyderabadi biryani or an Avadhi biryani? Maybe they are made differently? From what I remember, Hyderabadi is dryer and therefore served with a salan, while Sindhi is much more moist. Isn’t it? Or is that just the way it turns out when I make it?”

Hyderabadi Biryani

So I poked about to see if there were any major differences between a few of these iconic regional biryanis of the Indian subcontinent. And guess what? Turns out there aren’t! The basic method is to cook the meat gravy and parboil the rice separately, and then layer them up before the final round of cooking. The gravies are made with yogurt and a mix of ground garam masalas, and they all usually contain some green masala in the form of chopped mint and coriander leaves.

The Shan Sindhi Biryani Masala doesn’t contain saffron, nor do the instructions say to add saffron-infused milk, which produces the most beautiful golden yellow rice grains and causes the mesmerizing and oh-so-familiar fragrance of Moghlai biryani to waft through the house. So I thought maybe a lack of saffron was the one major difference between Sindhi biryani and the other types of biryanis I’ve eaten. But it turns out that was not correct either. Traditional Sindhi biryani recipes do in fact have saffron, but for some reason, the Shan Masala recipe doesn’t have it. Perhaps because it’s a very expensive ingredient…

I have finally come to this conclusion: Maybe aren’t any MAJOR differences between the biryanis from Sindh, Hyderabad, Lucknow or other regions previously part of the Mughal empire in India. All the regions received this dish from the same source, the same empire. Maybe it’s the minor nuances that have developed over time, or a few individual spices or the proportions of each, or old cooks’ secret skills and tricks that have been passed down over generations in their families, that differ between these regions and set these biryanis apart from each other in name and in reputation.

Now I’m bracing myself for an onslaught from hardcore hatchet-wielding biryani lovers who will probably come at me (hopefully just in the comments section of this post, and not in person) for reaching this conclusion. But in my defense, this is what I see through my biryani-untrained eyes. I’m no expert. And I’d be more than delighted of anyone wants to offer me some interesting evidence to the contrary. I’d love to learn more about biryanis.