Biryani evokes a very special emotion in almost everyone who has had it. The aroma, look and flavor of it is incredibly tempting and even more hard to resist it. It packs up food, nutrition, taste and aroma in one dish and probably why it is a widely popular one across the world now.
Over the years Biryani has evolved a lot in India with probably numerous variations of it presently in India. Let's take a look at it's journey in India.
The origin of Biryani is believed to be in Iran (previously known as Persia). It was known as Birinj Biriyan which means 'Fried rice'.
Now when it comes to India, there are multiple theories as to how Biryani was introduced here. Here are they:
1. One of the theories suggests that it was made for the Mughal soldiers on the orders of Mumtaz Mahal, Shah Jahan's queen and the inspiration behind the Taj Mahal. The soldiers appeared malnourished to her and she then instructed that she would want a nutritious dish made which combined meat and rice to be served to the soldiers.
2. Another theory suggests the mention of Oon Soru in Ancient Tamil literature. This dish was prepared from meat, spices, ghee and rice. The combination was introduced by the Arab traders who frequently visited the southern coast as per the evidences.
3. One of the other popular theory states that Timur, a Turk-Moghul conqueror brought this dish to Indian region. A wholesome meal was prepared for his soldiers which used the combination of meat, spices and rice. It was prepared in a clay pot and cooked in a hot pit.
The wholesome dish by combining meat and rice into one meal, led to an easy preparation process while offering the required nutrition. It soon gain popularity and spread to other regions as well.
The traditional and quite popular method of preparing known as Dum, is a slow cooking technique which combines all the ingredients and sealed. The Dum or steam this way helps cook the meat in its juices which adding the flavor to the rice. The spices added bring in the punch in flavor.
Hope you enjoy this brief history of a landmark dish.
