Tryst with cooking Biriyani....

The name Biriyani though reminds one of the royal cuisine of the Mughal and Nizam era, is still a very tasty dish in many places. Kolkata is one such place where people have adapted to the tastes of Biriyani so well, that it has therefore created a different but enriched taste of the Biriyani. Arguably Kolkata can now boast of the most tasty variety of Biriyani. The names that automatically gets associated with Kolkata Biriyani are Aminia, Shiraz, Rahamania, Zee shaan not to forget the latest addition Ali Baba. Being a true blue "Kolkata basi" I am also at times attacked by tremendous Biriyani pangs. Those are the times when a box full of the aromatic yellow rice called biriyani can bring peace to my soul. However, this time the desire was completely different. This time the dormant chef in me just woke up and took charge. The desire was to cook a Biriyani dish that I could proudly proclaim as mine. The taste should be unique and lovable. After 2 weeks of mental preparation, 2 days of Internet research and a weekend of consolidating all ingredients I came up with my version of the elite dish. And, you know what, the dish turned out to be pretty tasty. Like all other jobs that I undertake, this one one more which I executed damn well.( Just think how modest I am! Got good food reviews from my family members. This blog is to thank all those people who have at one point of time posted the Biriyani recipe on the Internet and specially to Mr.Chowdhury who had the patience to provide me the step by step instruction of how to go about it, and last but definitely not the least my assistant in this project, my mom with 20+ years of cooking experience and lots patience to tolerate my "un-chefly" behavior. The pic above is for those who couldn't taste the delicacy I prepared on Last Sunday!!