Potatoes, food colour and other biryani myths

Hyderabad argues about biryani the way other cities argue about cricket. Some of the arguments are matters of taste. A few are simply myths, and we hear them often.

“Real biryani is bright orange.” The colour in a good biryani comes from saffron soaked in warm milk and from the browned onions and masala at the bottom of the deg. That gives a patchwork of white, gold and brown grains. Bright orange rice usually means food colour. We do not use any. “Hyderabadi biryani has potatoes.” Potatoes belong to the Kolkata style, which has its own history and is delicious in its own right. A kacchi Hyderabadi biryani does not include them. Our vegetable biryani does, because there they earn their place.

“More spice means better biryani.” Our biryani is medium. Its taste comes from the balance of shahi jeera, cardamom, mace and rose water with the meat, not from heat. The chilli lives in the salan, so each person can add as much as they like.

“Dum just means cooking with the lid on.” Dum means sealing the deg with dough so no steam escapes, then cooking it over gentle heat, with live coals on the lid as well as below. The trapped steam cooks the raw meat and rice together. A lid that lets steam out gives you a different, drier dish. Ustad Rafiq checks the seal by pressing the dough rim with his thumb before every deg goes on the fire.