Watch BIRYANI: Biryani is a set of rice-based foods made with spices, rice (usually basmati) and Chicken, mutton, fish, eggs or vegetables. The name is derived from the Persian word beryā which means 'fried' or 'roasted'. In countries of the Indian sub-continent, the recipe of biryani has evolved to its current form but the origin of biryani was in the kitchen of Mughal Emperors. Lahore, Kashmir, Kolkata, Lucknow, Hyderabad and Delhi/Agra are the main centres of biryani cuisine. Local variants of this dish are popular not only in the Indian Subcontinent but also in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and within various Asian expatriate communities globally.

Biryani is used to denote a dish where the rice (plain or fried) is cooked separately from the thick sauce (a greatly reduced curry of meat or vegetables). The curry and the rice are then brought together and layered, resulting in a dish of the contrasting flavors of flavored rice (which is cooked separate with spices) and intensely flavored sauce and meat or vegetables. This separation is partly of necessity: the proportion of meat/vegetables to the rice is high enough to make biryani a one-dish meal, and the cooking time of each of the main ingredients is significantly different from each other. In a properly made biryani, the final dish is dry or minimally moist, with the individual rice grains separate, as opposed to a risotto, where the rice is of a creamy consistency. However, many bir.