Shreya Dhanwantry is an Indian actress who is slowly making her name in the Hindi and Telugu language films. She is quite a name to reckon with in the OTT space as well. Her major breakthrough came along when she played Zoya in the Amazon Prime Video web series The Family Man. Later, she created a sensation with her portrayal as a journalist in Sony LIV's web series Scam 1992. The actress who was recently seen in ‘Gray’ with Dia Mirza and Slow Cheeta on Amazon Mini TV has a string of interesting projects lined up ahead of her, and she makes sure to keep her fans updated on her social media. If you happen to be one of her followers on Instagram, you probably are privy to her immense love for food.
The actress posted a video of her chomping on Biryani brought over by her ‘Gray’ co-star, actor and rapper Slow Cheeta. On her Instagram stories, we saw the actress not only eating Biryani, but moving the serving spoon in the vessel fervently to make sure she is able to lift a handful. Her ‘happy crying’ face is probably one of the most relatable things on the Internet today. That is exactly us when around a biryani, and we are pretty sure a lot of you cannot hold back your emotions around a well-made biryani either (virtual high fives). Turns out, the biryani was made by Slow Cheeta’s mother. “@_slowcheeta and his ma fed us biryani on set. (Song falls under #iykyk)”, she wrote in the caption of the video that had a peppy track from Vivaaha Bhajananbu playing in the background.
Biryani may be a dish with Persian roots but it is admired greatly in the subcontinent. The word Biryani is supposedly made up of two words ‘Biriyan’ (fried before cooking) and Birinj (rice). There are many renditions of this rice dish in the country, from Hyderabadi to Kolkata Biryani. Biryani essentially comprises meat, mixed with spices and rice, all layered together and cooked till perfection. The dish is so popular that there are vegetarian and vegan versions of Biryani available now as well, although the jury is out as the whether or not they can be called ‘Biryani’.
To make perfect biryani here are a few things you should keep in mind
- Always use long grain basmati rice. Shorter grains are starchy and they will clump together.
- You can also soak the rice grains for at least 30 minutes, prior to cooking.
- You can boil the rice with whole spices, which can make your biryani extra flavourful and fragrant.
- Marinate meat well for at least 3-4 hours before cooking it with rice.
- Do not overcook the rice, because much of the cooking needs to be done after you add the meat. Keep it only 70 percent cooked.
Here’s a recipe of chicken biryani that you can try at home.