Biryani ke name pe sab khate pulao.Those who eat good biryani, come from Hyderabad.

This lyrical excerpt from the rap 'Street Celebrity' sung by Kaiden reflects the identity of Hyderabad. Equating tasteless biryani with pulao, the rapper who associated purity of taste and authenticity with his city, left a topic open, biryani vs pulao . This biryani will also be a pulao in relation to the discussion.

Biryani: From the Middle East to India!

There is a common understanding that biryani is fried on the Indian tongue after crossing the Indus river on a Persian boat. That is why it is said that biryani, which has become synonymous with Mughal cuisine, was a regular dish of the kitchen of the Nawab of Lucknow. However, the appearance, qualities and defects of Indian Biryani are rarely found in Persian cuisine.

Mughals/Persians have brought most of the Indian food to India, actually they tasted it for the first time when they came to India . For that reason, it is desirable to mention a phrase that is closely associated with Indian cuisine, that is the 'Mughal myth'. Biryani is also included in the Mughal myth.

Around the year 1500, Giyath Shah was the ruler of Malwa Sultanate in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh region of present-day India. The writing started during his reign and the recipe prepared during his son's time is called 'Nimatnama'. The strange thing is, the biryani, which is said to be a food brought by the Persians, is not even mentioned in the cookbook.

The subsequent Mughal rulers also wrote cookery . Biryani is not mentioned in the book 'Ain-e-Akbari' written during the reign of King Akbar about 100 years after Nimatnama was written. If Biryani had come to India with the Mughals or the Persians, there should have been a discussion about it somewhere in these two cuisines.

It is not a small matter that the food commonly known as the food of emperors and nawabs is not found in the royal menu . While both of those recipes mention about Masallam, which has cooking methods like Khichdi, Halwa and Pulau. So it can be said that the Mughals ate khichdi and pulao before biryani.

According to food expert Pushpesh Pant, Biryani did not exist in India 150 years ago. And, biryani made the identity of 'street food' only about 80 years ago. That's why they say that Pant Biryani is nothing but a marketing of pulao, which has been eaten in Indian kitchens for centuries.

There are many other reasons and evidence to agree with this conclusion of Pushpesh . Somewhere it is written that Biryani is a food of Iran and came to India from there, but this is not true . Because Iran's 'biron' means 'frying before cooking' food and currently popular biryani food ingredients do not match .

That ancient food of Iran is now known in a different form as Irani Biryani . Iranian biron rumali roti was a dish cooked with spices and meat, without rice. (The Journey and Evolution of Biryani, BBC)

If the main 'ingredient' of biryani is basmati rice, can we call it biryani? It is natural that there is no rice in the food of Iran because the main grain produced in Iran is wheat . That's why it seems reasonable to keep the trend of Rumali roti made from wheat . It seems that the method of cooking biryani and the ingredients required for it are also suitable for pulao . So it is not an exaggeration to say that after adding sajja to pulao, it becomes biryani . That's why Kaiden must have said in his song - Biryanike Naam Pe Sab Khate Pulau .

From Masaudan to Pulau

In the Mahabharata written by Vyasa, there is a scene where not only the Pandavas but also a king named Nal played gambling. This event is mentioned in the Aranyak Parva of Mahabharata. The love story of that king is the famous story of Nal and Damayanti. The ancient Indian cookery book, which is called Maharaj Nal Vicharit and mentions about Damayanti, mentions the cooking method of various foods . One of them is 'Mansoudan'. In the said book, the method of cooking 'Utkranodak' before cooking meat is also written,

Anapalam tato bhande tandulsyodakan shubhe .

Nidhaya Shuddhamudakan Samam Kritva Pachetsudhi: ..

Pakdarpanam's verse starting from the 65th verse to the 69th verse means, put rice in a pure vessel and cook it with the same amount of pure water and after heating the water, keep the washed meat . After the meat is heated, select the water and put flowers to make it fragrant. Mixing musk and camphor in it . That is what is called Ukranodak . Nalavicharit 'Pakdarpanam' has explained the method of making meat from Utkranodak in this way,

Heat the prepared Utkranedak and mix a quarter of rice. Then mix meat and salt . Put ghee on it and fry it, and after the water dries up, leave the rice on the embers . The food prepared in this way will be called meat. (S. Bhattacharya Vamacharan, Pakdarpanam, Chowkhambha Sanskrit Institute, Varanasi)

If we cook food today by following the method of making meats mentioned in the Mahabharata characters, it will become like the Pulao we know . Therefore, the Mansoudan eaten by King Nal can be considered as the ancient form of Pulau eaten by Gandhi . If the name of the food is changing and the ingredients added to it are increasing or decreasing, its development should not be ignored . Therefore, it is safe to say that Masaudan has changed his name and to a certain extent his appearance and made himself Pulau . Pulau has been discussed in Ayurveda. Therefore, the evolution of today's biryani has taken place in India since the time of Mahabharata.

From Pulau to Biryani

Biryani has made Lucknow's current identity . According to legend, the laborers who came to build the Imamwada in Lucknow had to work day and night. As they did not even have time to cook food, those workers put all the food ingredients in one pot and left it to cook on low heat so as not to spill. One day, the Nawab, who went out to inspect the Imamwada under construction, was pulled by the stove that was sitting on the floor. Then he added the laborer's food to the Nawawi kitchen and it became Biryani. (Raja Rasoi and other stories)

There is no basis to prove that rumor. Because of that, it cannot be said that eating biryani was started from Lucknow . But Pulau is the old identity of the city which has made its identity from biryani . Actually Yakhni Pulau of Lucknow is a very tasty dish. Today, Biryani is cooked from the streets of Lucknow to restaurants, but the Raithane people there do not cook Biryani in hospitality. They only feed ikhni pulao. This fact proves that Biryani is cooked at home in Pulau trading center . For that reason, it is desirable to say that the food that carries the commercial form of pulao is biryani.

One of the popular types of pulao in India is 'Vrinj' pulao. It seems that the word biryani is derived from the name of Pulau and Vrinj itself is called biryani . Because Meen and Mopla Pulao, like all other Pulaus, are now known as Meen Biryani and Mopla Biryani.

As the form, cooking method and name of Biryani match Pulau, there is a basis to say that Pulau has been marketed and made into Biryani . Just the ancient form of pulao of every caste is cooked by adding various ingredients and cooking it to become the biryani of the tattat caste that is popular today.

It seems that Asian games played a major role in making pulao biryani in India. In the year 1982, separate housing was arranged for the participants who came to the ASEAN Games played at the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in Delhi. Also, Biryani was one of the dishes served to the guests in attendance. Biryani must have been used in hospitality as it looks more attractive than pulao in terms of decoration.

According to food historian Pushpesh Pant, Biryani has taken a commercial form in the society because it was served in the Asian Games. In this way, when the biryani made by cooking pulao with spices was made the main 'dish' of the 'mega event', it was discussed everywhere and the demand for that food also increased among the common people.

In other words, those of us who used to cut hair before now do hair dressing. Since there is no difference between these two in essence, there is a difference in style and decoration. Biryani is a meal cooked with pulao dressing. Biryani, which forms part of Mughal myth and is said to have been brought to India by the Mughals or Persians, is basically an Indian dish and is a new variant of pulao prepared by Bazar .

The Mughals who lived and ruled in the Awadh region also played a role in making this biryani, but it is not the food they brought with them to India. In this way, the new variant of pulao is now being cooked as biryani in the kitchens and restaurants of Nepal. But, we are relishing the taste of pulao called biryani .