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Be it a family get together or a reunion with old school friends, an indulgent Sunday lunch or a comforting meal when you’re feeling low, biryani checks all the boxes just right. I love biryani, so much so that I need it at least once a month to satiate my cravings and survive the rest of the days. Chicken biryani is by far, my most favourite. I’ve tasted mutton and prawn biryani too but the flavours of succulent chicken dunked in a heap of aromatic long-grained rice hits different. My mother doesn’t make the popular dum biryani. Instead, she cooks the chicken and rice together in a pressure cooker and the taste leaves me spellbound each time.
The word biryani is derived from the Persian word birian. The meaning of the word refers to fried before cooking. Going by this logic, the origins of biryani are traced back to Persia where the rice and meat were cooked separately before being slow-cooked on an earthen pot. The Mughals have been credited for bringing the biryani to Indian tables and evolving it into its present form. Among the Mughal dynasty itself, there are several tales of claims made. However, the most plausible one states that Shah Jahan’s wife Mumtaz Mahal was concerned about the health of the soldiers in her husband’s army. She ordered a preparation of rice and meat together with spices and saffron in one pot over wood fire. This was served to the soldiers so as to provide them with adequate nutrition to fight the battles.
Now that you’ve treated yourself to some trivia, it’s time that you cook up some lip-smacking chicken biryani too this week. Here are a variety of ways in which chicken biryani is cooked in different regions of India.
1. Arsalan Style Chicken Biryani
This interesting biryani variety is loaded with a lot of ingredients apart from chicken. The combination of eggs, potatoes and chicken make this rice dish a fulfilling and wholesome meal. Cooked in curd and saffron-flavoured milk, the aromatic biryani is finished off with fried onions. This rich and meaty biryani is extremely nutritious and full of protein.
2. Aminia Style Chicken Biryani
This one right here is a fusion of Mughlai and Awadhi flavours. The meaty textures of Mughlai cuisine are combined with the fruity and rich flavours of Awadh. While eggs, potatoes and chicken continue to feature in this biryani too with an essence of saffron and rose water, the additional ingredient that makes all the difference is khoya. It lends a certain smoothness to the rice which makes it taste velvety.
3. Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani
The most famous and loved biryani of all times, Hyderabadi chicken biryani is definitely worth trying. The fragrant rice is cooked along with chicken marinated in a special Hyderabadi masala and sealed in a dum pot to be prepared over slow-flame.
