FOODIE SPECIAL....... State of Contentment

State of Contentment

Whether you like your biryani spicy or mildly flavoured, each community in Maharashtra has their own version

While it's subjective whether your loyalties lie with Hyderabadi or Awadhi, biryanis are essentially variations of the same dish -slowly cooked rice, flavoured substantially with spices specific to each region. For example, curd and potatoes play a very important role in Bohri Biryani. “The chicken is marinated in curd and the potatoes that soak in the flavours are more coveted than the chicken pieces themselves,“ explains Nafisa Kapadia of The Bohri Kitchen who picked up the dish from her mother and perfected the recipe with inputs from her mother-in-law. “Biryanis in Maharashtra are deeply influenced by the Gujarati Muslim communities like Khojas, Bohras and the Memons who settled in Mumbai with their own cuisines that date back to the Mughal Empire,“ says Ashish Bhasin, Executive Chef at Trident BKC who has teamed up with Rushina Munshaw Ghildiyal of ABP Cook Studio to host a Pulao-Biryani Trail today at the hotel. “A good biryani is an alchemy of all the ingredients and when you open the lid, the first whiff will tell you if you've got it right or not,“ adds Ghildiyal.

BOMBAY BIRYANI

WHILE there's ambiguity about the origins of this intensely flavoured biryani, it has a slight sweetness to it, which comes from dried plums and kewra water. “Most people make the chicken curry and rice separately and then assemble it in layers. Chicken cooks very fast and the trick is to stop `browning' once it is becomes opaque,“ says Munshaw Ghildiyal, who believes that the chicken has to sit with the rice to cook to perfection.

CHANDRASENIYA KAYASTHA PRABHU BIRYANI

CHANDRASENIYA Kayastha Prabhus' culinary history traces the traditional method of cooking from Northern India and uses local ingredients like coconut and khoya.“This biryani does not include flavours such as rose water, mitha ittr or kewra water. It also uses less curd in the preparation and is mildly spiced unlike those from Lucknow and Hyderabad,“ says chef Ashish Bhasin. The original recipe does not include any acidic ingredients as the acidity was provided by the accompanying sliced onions which were flavoured with salt and lashings of lemon juice.

KONKANI MUSLIM FISH BIRYANI

WHILE growing up, food blogger Saher Khanzada remembers visiting her grandmother in Murud Janjira who would use freshly-caught pomfret to make the fish biryani. “She would sear it for a few minutes with masalas and let it cook in a bed of rice and masalas for not more than 20-25 minutes,“ she says.

CUTCHI MEMONI BIRYANI

THE MUSLIM community who migrated from Sindh to Kutch almost 500 years ago, Cutchi Memons make biryani that is cooked in minimal oil and spices. “We use a lot of saffron and the dish is cooked in such a way that the masala doesn't get drenched but just brushes the rice, which also makes it non-greasy,“ says Faiziya Soomar of Cutchi Memoni Table who has been preparing the delicacy for the last 25 years. “I learnt to cook from my mother and aunt and they always emphasised on mari nating the meat for at least 24 hours to enhance the flavours,“ she adds>

| Sayoni Sinha MM25JUN17