Biryani: A perfect gourmet with nail-biting finish!

There can be nothing better than a plateful of the quintessential 'biryani', made with succulent pieces of meat or vegetables, feel food lovers.

And why not! Because biryani is not just a wholesome meal, but a taste explosion in every mouthful, invoking nostalgia of relishing the most royal and iconic dish of all times.

Originally from Persia and introduced in India by Mughal rulers, this burst of flavours is as much a delight to eat as for the chefs to dish out a perfect pot of biryani, where every grain of rice is separate, yet infused with aromas of various spices and the meat or vegetables paired with it.

So, with this daunting task in hand, celebrity chef Ajay Chopra is not wrong in saying that cooking a perfect biryani is always a "nail-biting finish".

"Every time I make biryani, it's a new challenge because this is one dish that can toss you out every single time, right from the quality of rice, the quality of meat to its cooking time. It is always a wait-and watch game," he tells PTI.

"Obviously, experience helps you to get it right but it is a nail-biting finish. But it's such a joy to see when the lid is opened and the rice is fragrantly separate and well cooked," says the Mumbai-based food expert.

But with people craving for innovation and experimentation, is the biryani not getting competition from exotic rice preparations like pilaf, risotto, or the traditional and comparatively easier to make pulao?
"I've heard requests for shrimp or seafood biryani sometimes. Its not possible to cook a seafood biryani traditionally without overcoming the seafood. It can be a pulao where both the rice and seafood can be cooked separately and mixed together."