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| Biryani dishes served at Adaa, Falaknuma Palace Hyderabad |
When I ordered a mutton biryani at the Shadab Restaurant in Hyderabad, I had no idea what to expect– all I
could see in this ‘atmospheric’ place, was a piebald pyramid of rice heading my
way on a silver platter. It was only when I started to dig down to the bottom
that I suddenly experienced the most exciting biryani of my life. More on the
Shadab later, but to get to this destination was a quite a journey.
I have had
biryanis in many different locations and countries. I’ve eaten this dish on the
rooftop of palaces in Rajasthan as well as a really rubbish curry house around the
corner in Maida Vale. So, I was curious to discover where it actually came from
and, more to the point, where it’s considered to be the best. No one knows the
origin of biryani, but it is assumed to have arrived in the sixteenth century with the conquering Moghuls
from Central Asia, where it was then refined in the Muslim kingdoms of Lucknow
and Hyderabad in India. Even in the 1750s, French officers remarked on the
quality of the Hyderabad biryani “and the many sorts of spicery”. Hyderabad
boasts of 40 different versions of biryani. The Nizams or Muslim rulers of
Hyderabad, added silver and even gold leaf to the dishes served at banquets. (Elsewhere, there is a Calcutta version which includes potatoes and even boiled eggs, which cynics say is mainly because these ingredients are cheaper than meat.)
There are animated debates – as agitated as any pub discussion
about the Premier League - about which offers the best version, with Hyderabad
usually winning the argument. “The Lucknow biryanis are purer and more elegant
while Hyderabad goes for spicier and earthier styles,” remarks Jonty
Rajagopalan, a food historian. So, it made sense to make tracks to Hyderabad,
and to ask Jonty to give me a guided tour, so I could nail the question once and
for all.
For Jonty, who has dedicated her life to Indian cuisine, “the secret is
in the marination of the meat”. As she said, while the two of us were waiting
expectantly for our order in a market restaurant in Old Hyderabad, the key
element is how the meat – usually mutton - is spiced and layered with the raw
meat on the bottom so when it is cooked the flavours permeate the rice on top.
Sometimes green papaya skin is added to tenderise the meat.
We started earlier
with some of the more aristocratic versions of Biryani. This requires a short
journey up a steep drive to the Falaknuma Palace, a vast 19th century classical mansion on a
rocky citadel overlooking Hyderabad. It is only one of several palaces still
owned by the former Nizam, who, until Indian Independence, was considered to be
the richest person on earth. He ruled a kingdom the size of Italy, with the
source of his riches the Golconda Diamond mines. Now a luxury retreat managed by
the Taj Hotel Group, the Falaknuma Palace serves the most refined varieties of
biryani to be found anywhere.
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| Dining Hall Falaknuma Palace |
You can tell eating is taken seriously here,
because in the old dining hall, which seated 101 guests, there is a frieze of
food dishes and ingredients above the picture rail. Rumour has it that whenever
the Sixth Nizam was feeling hungry, he would point to the relevant illustration
for his next course.
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| View from the terrace |
In Adaa, the Falaknuma’s flagship restaurant, each biryani
comes in its own circular silver container with a chapati-like top as tight as a
drumskin sealed along the edges with dough.
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| The treasure within |
Once broken, there was a release of
Indian spices and aromas of delicate mutton. This is what defined the experience
– the intensity of the meat, which had the texture of the most tender slow-cooked
daube or stew. But the secret is the way the rice is suffused with flavour
because the cooking method seals the flavours in.
However, as I was soon to find
out, unlike many dishes, which are the exclusive preserve of the privileged or
the poor, biryani is cherished at all social levels. The most popular chain of
biryani restaurants in India is Paradise (“World’s favourite Biryani”), which
first opened 70 years ago and now has nearly 30 outlets. The main branch, near
Hyderabad’s Sunshine Hospital, has posters of famous Indian personalities on the
walls, including cricketer Sachin Tendulkar and Bollywood stars. Purists claim
that the Paradise biryani is too spicy to qualify as authentic. Regardless of
this, it was excellent value for little more than £3.
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| Budget Biryani at the Sadaam Hotel |
Even lower down the culinary pecking order beyond the thronging crowds of the old market, passed the Charminar Gate, the huge multi-towered monument in the heart of Hyderabad, there are rows of markets stalls, including my favourite, which is unaccountably called the Saddam Hotel. Here they were ladling out hundreds of biryani dishes daily from great steaming vats for as little as sixty pence per serving.
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| Great Biryani but not the most visual experience |
But
Jonty had other ideas. Just beyond here is a nondescript building marooned by
constant traffic with accompanying honking horns. This was the Shadab Restaurant
(“Delight in Every Bite!”). Judging from the queues, it turned out that this was
biryani Mecca. Upwards of 200 people are packed here in padded leatherette
booths with whirring fans above. They start arriving around five in the morning
for the regular food, with biryani first appearing at lunch time. There are
still crowds of diners until two am the following morning. Unlike Northern
India, most women diners were fully clothed in black with face-covering chadors.
All diners were searching for bite-sized portions of mutton, wrapping it around
the rice and eating it with their fingers.
Even though service could be erratic,
I realised after my first mouthful that my search for the perfect biryani was
over: this was easily the most exciting I had ever tasted. Lushly perfumed, with
a kaleidoscopic range of flavours - roasted onions, ginger, garlic, cinnamon and
cumin seeds amongst them – it was served with a small side dish called mirchi ka
salan, a chilli and peanut curry mix, with a nutty flavour. We order both
chicken and mutton biryani, which come on large circular platters and simply
look like piebald pyramids of rice. The chicken version tends to be slightly dry
and less flavourful compared with the mutton one.
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| Irresistible lamb's tongues and trotters |
While we dined at the Shadab,
a soup dish of lamb’s tongues and trotters caught my eye, which despite its
rather revolting appearance, was rustic and spicy and truly delicious. After
several different biryani helpings, I understood why for the Subcontinent, it is
not just the most loved dish, but is also associated with celebrations and
weddings. I felt very festive indeed. But then as Jonty says, “biryani is the
champagne of India.”
My old friend, journalist and columnist Vir Sanghvi,
India’s leading food writer, who also made a study of the competing versions of
biryani in Lucknow and Hyderabad. “Lucknow, home to the Nawabs of Oudh became
the centre of North Indian cuisine. Most of the great dishes of North Indian
cuisine were invented there. In contrast, Hyderabad was only a far-flung outpost
of the Mughal empire. The Mughals despatched a governor to run the Deccan for
them and called him the Nizam-ul-Mulk…The point of Hyderabadi food is that when
the cuisine of the Mughals met the flavours of the Deccan, something new and
wonderful was created. The Mughals didn’t really understand spices (they were in
short supply in Samarkand so they were not part of their heritage) … In Lucknow,
the biryani (or pulao, as they call it) will be subtle and fragrant. Each grain
will look like nothing much. But when you put it in your mouth, it will (if it’s
done right) burst with flavour. In Hyderabad, they don’t waste much time on
fragrance; they add spices and sourness (Khattaash) instead.”
Vir is pessimistic
about the future. “Even at Shadab, which makes very good biryani, I counted
eight different kinds of Chow Mein on their menu along with three kinds of Chop
Suey. On restaurant menus at least, Hyderabad had lost out to China. So do go to
Hyderabad and eat your heart out. But remember that you will have to look very
hard for the real thing.”
I was the guest of Ultimate Travel
(www.theultimatetravelcompany.co.uk) who can arrange journeys throughout the
Subcontinent as well as culinary tours of Hyderabad and other Indian
destinations, including flights.
For culinary tours in Hyderabad and elsewhere
in the south of India, Jonty has a company called www.detoursindia.com.