Biriyani varieties

The word brings back so many memories 🙂 Everyone has their own version, their own favorite place and type of biriyani and friends can fight it out to see who makes the tastiest 🙂 As there are many varieties, thought I will pick some of my favorite styles and versions and share!

Sharing some of the cheat sheet recipes that my friends and family love!

Hyderabadi Vegetable biriyani
Hyderabadi Chicken Dum Biriyani

Hyderabadi Biriyani seems to be one mostly spoken about! It has a complex method of preparation.

Hyderabadi Mutton Biriyani
Mughlai / Nizami Chicken Biriyani

South India has a lot of varieties of Biriyani Ambur, Chettinad, Malabar, Dindugal, Salem versions are the most famous ones.

Prawn Biriyani
Lucknowi / Awadhi Chicken Biriyani

Lucknowi / Awadhi biriyani seems to be one of the most popular ones. Shrimp/prawns cook fast, it was interesting cooking process to blend it with the main dish.

Chettinadu Vegetable Biriyani
Kashmiri Yakhni Biriyani

Kashmiri Yakhni version – be it just the Yakhni dish, or Yakhni Pulao and Biriyani versions have a distinctly different taste!

Bengali Kacchi Biriyani
Kolkata Mutton Biriyani

Bengalis enjoy the process of making Biriyani as much as eating one! Usually eggs are added in the chicken or mutton biriyani preparations in these varieties. The Kacchi biriyani process cooks the raw dish at one shot with the half cooked rice. The way to test whether it is ready was interesting!

Ambur Chicken Biriyani
Tamil nadu – Biriyani made during wedding ceremonies

Have grown up watching the wedding biriyani preparations in front of our house! Pretty much nothing else gets cooked.. just that ONE dish and everyone goes home satisfied 🙂

South India has a lot of varieties of Biriyani Ambur, Chettinad, Malabar, Dindugal, Salem versions are the most famous ones.

Bihari Chicken Biriyani
Assamese Chicken Biriyani

Assamese Chicken Biriyani from my friend Babi and her sisters… dishes have a traditionally different taste and flavor…! Interesting to try out tasty assamese dishes 🙂 Bihari version the spices used bring a different taste!

Malabar Chicken Biriyani
Odiya Egg Biriyani

Using coconut in Biriyani – never thought it would go together.. till I tried Malabar biriyani..! Very interesting! Odiya version is Egg biriyani.. again some new spices!

Fish Biriyani
Outdoor cooking Fish Biriyani

Fish biriyani was interesting. Fish cooks very quickly… so timing to balance the rice and fish cooking times was interesting.. again cooking it in parts whether indoors or outdoors 🙂

Overall, it was interesting to see the variations in the main dish (Vegetables / Eggs / Chicken / Mutton / Fish / Shrimp), ingredients used for marination, ingredients used during cooking, cooking process, changes in methods of cooking parts of the dish and the whole dish. Also, the way some have simplified the process to cook using a pressure cooker, some do it in a very traditional way in the large pots and pans, some are doing it outdoor for weddings and ceremonies 🙂 For vegetarians, use the same recipe and switch the non-veg item with potates 🙂

All in all, yes.. there seems to be a reason the flavors of every single biriyani seems different and it aligns to the taste buds of those relishing it 🙂 So, when you make biriyani next time.. do look up on what type of recipe you are making 🙂

PS: If you know any varieties that I have missed, please reply with a comment below 🙂 If you have a variety that is quite tasty, do share your recipe, pictures or a video.. would be glad to add it to the list..!

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