The Hindu : New Delhi News : A grand biryani treat beckons

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jul 25, 2006

New Delhi

New Delhi

A grand biryani treat beckons

Bindu Shajan Perappadan

Biryani Festival begins in the Capital on August 4

NEW DELHI: For those looking for the authentic taste of India comes the invitation of The Grand at Vasant Kunj to Caraway - The Indian Restaurant. It will combine the flavours and authenticity of the Indian cuisine at the Biryani Festival beginning on August 4.

The ten-day festival offers food-lovers a great variety of vegetarian and non-vegetarian biryani.

"Biryani is prepared keeping in mind the Indian taste. Biryani is derived from the Parsee word `birian', which means `fried before cooking'. And our effort has been to provide a `taste of India' to customers through this lavish spread,'' said a spokesperson for the hotel.

Also to be availed of are "package offers" that give the guests four different choices of biryani accompanied with "raita" or "salad" and other choices.

Speaking about biryani and the cooking style that gives it its unique flavour, the spokesperson explained: "Biryani is based on the name and cooking style (dum), from which one can conclude that the dish originated in Persia. Needless to say it's a royal dish originally prepared for Nawabs and Nizams. In the olden days, rice was fried in ghee. It did two things; firstly it gave the rice a `nutty' flavour and secondly it burnt the outside starch layer. After the rice was stir-fried, it was boiled in water with spices, till half-cooked. There are two basic types of biryani - `kutchi' (raw) and `pukki' (cooked). For `kutchi biryani', raw marinated meat is layered with semi-cooked or cooked rice and for `pukki biryani', cooked meat and cooked rice are layered and put in a `handi' for the finish.''

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