Biryani is every gourmet’s dream come true. The word biryani is enough for awakening all your senses and taste buds. For all Indians, nothing could match the mind-blowing taste and universal appeal of biryani. Biryani comprises long-grain saffron Basmati rice with an amazing aroma of cardamom, cinnamon, rosewater, also ginger and garlic paste peppered with large pieces of delicately flavoured chicken or mutton and even halved potato that are marinated in the authentic biryani masalas. Now you could get the best biryani in one of the top Indian restaurants if you are based in Melbourne.
The Biryani Craze
All Indian foodies love Biryani because it is a complete meal. People in India are crazy about biryani just the way they are crazy about puchkas. However, biryani seems to be a complicated dish that necessitates a lot of skill, expertise and practice to master the recipe. The basic ingredients that are used in Biryani are Basmati Rice, Chicken or Mutton or just vegetables, coriander, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, mint leaves, yogurt, ginger and garlic paste. In India, you would be getting die-hard fans of this particular dish. However, biryani comes in three distinctive and equally popular versions- Hyderabadi Biryani, Lucknow Biryani, and the Kolkata Biryani. There is certainly a lot of debate going on now forever as to which biryani is superior to the other in terms of taste and quality.
Different Types of Biryani
Lucknow Biryani: This is a super-delicious biryani known for its authentic flavours, exotic and relatively subtle taste. This has distinctive yellow coloured rice that is flecked with the long white basmati grains and spicy mutton pieces. The meat and the basmati rice are all cooked separately at first and then one layer of cooked rice would be topped with a layer of tasty and masala laden pieces of mutton. A few layers would be formed and then cooked. This is an authentic dish and the rice is actually cooked in the chicken or mutton stock for the right flavours. You can try out the best Lucknow biryani by visiting a reputed Indian restaurant in Melbourne
The Hyderabadi Biryani: It is slightly spicier than the Lucknow biryani. There are mostly two types of Hyderabadi Biryani. The kacchi biryani would be using raw marinated mutton or chicken pieces that are placed nicely between two layers of rice and then cooked on dum or a low flame. This biryani is super tasty and the mutton or the chicken pieces are soft, tasty, and extremely succulent. The Hyderabadi Pakki Biryani is a quick-fix biryani and here the rice and the meat are actually cooked separately and again they are layered just like the Lucknow biryani.
Kolkata Biryani: The Kolkata biryani is popular because of the subtle fragrance, distinctive spices and absolutely delicious potato that is really very tasty and can match the mutton chunks in taste and flavours. This version of the biryani was brought to Kolkata from Lucknow by Wajid Ali Shah, the ruler who was banished to Kolkata by the British in 1800s. He came to Kolkata accompanied by at least 100 Biryani specialists. People of Kolkata would remain forever grateful and indebted to him. This version of the biryani uses the authentic kacchi method and so raw marinated pieces of mutton are at first placed at the bottom of the vessel and then covered with rice. Thereafter, it is cooked on a very low flame. After slow cooking for almost three hours, the delectable dish is ready to be served and consumed.
If you haven’t yet tasted the delicious biryani, do not ever forget that it is never too late. There are some reputed Indian restaurants in Melbourne that would be offering the best biryani ever.