The first two and a half decades of my life, I had only veg biryani. You may stop giving any credence to this post right here and stop reading.
If you are still reading, let me pile more shame on myself. Apart from the biryani at the Hyderbad stall in Dilli Haat, I can’t remember a single other instance when the biryani was horrible, disgusting and offensive. I have been trying to grow a nose that smells the trashy ones from the one good biryani that we are allowed in a lifetime.
I don’t know the authenticity of it. But my blogger friends often quote Pushpesh Pant who supposedly said there is no good biryani in Delhi. I have friends who will kill for a hyderabadi one, others who think the Lucknow one is a pulao, still others who point at a Kerala biryani to put down many theories.
Everyone has a theory on biryani. Every foodie becomes an all knowing snob when it comes to the dish. Everyone has a description that fits only a few – a horn, a horse head, some magical element that no other animal has.
Time we become more lenient towards a biryani. It is only a recipe, a liberal one at that. The biryani is not stiff, why are you?
