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This is considered one of the most famous Indian / Pakistani food which I have had the pleasure to eat while I was on a vacation in India.

In olden era this recipe was particularly use to be cooked on the occasions such as festivals, feasts as well as at the time of vacations.

To understand more about Biryani we need to travel back into history. An account of Biryani follows.Lets start with the history of the Biryani to be familiar with the exact source of this delectable dish

Mughals intense love for food & the availability of the large variety of Spices in India led to this fusion type preparation.

In the Mughal eating culture, biryani means rice made together with lamb meat but now chicken biryani has also developed into one of the most popular type of biryani.This endless variety, elegance, beauty & art involved in Biryani cooking made me to devote a part for Biryani Recipes.

Biryani is a fragrant rice dish made from a mixture of Spices, Nuts, Cream, Yogurt, long-grained Basmati rice and Meat.Cooking this aromatic recipe is a skill.Biryani is the name adopted from the Farsi dialect where Birian means frying of unwashed riceand smeared in oil.Thisprocedure of rice frying makes the riceslightly nutty and it imparts anice taste.Thestyle of cooking biryani is supposed to be originated in Persian and Arabian countries.Along with large number of past tales,biryani is associated withfew legends as well.Timor Lang, the renowned Mughal legend bought the chicken biryani to north India from Kazakhstan.Some ancient evidences also shows that Mumtaz Mahal, the wife of a famous Mughal empire, has feasted the entire Mughal military with the appetizing recipe of Chicken Biryani Lucknow (Awadh) is the capital of Indian State Uttar Pradesh. Biryani left it’s footprint from the Mughals in Awadh. From Lucknow the Biryani moved to Calcutta when, in 1856, Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was deposed by the British. This Nawab (King) when deposed moved with his army of cooks and the Biryani.

There are two fundamental varieties of Biryanis: Kutchi and Pukki.

Kutchi- This method uses raw ingredients.Uncooked chicken and uncooked rice are layered along with spices and curry and kept on low fire to cook. Dum Pukht or Dum is the most refined form of cooking that has been developed and vastly used in cooking of Biryanis.Dum cooking allows rice and chicken to cook its own inherent juices, no water is added. In this way rice are completely cooked as well as infused with the flavors of rice and chicken.

Pukki- In this technique cooked meat and rice are used.Pukki cooking involves chicken and rice cooked separately and then combined together in layers.

South Indian biryanis are prepared with Kutchi style while North style biryanis are prepared through Pukki.

The preparation is quite lengthy but the result is quite special.The secret behind the scrumptious recipe of chicken biryani lies in the fragrant spices usedI personally recommend using Basmati rice. It’s thin and a fine grain rice which can be used for a variety of purposes.

For further information on the numerous forms of chicken biriyani please check out the ifood community at chicken biryani Those interested in vegetable biriyani recipes can take a look at vegetable biriyani