8 Must - eat Biryanis

8 Must - eat Biryanis
As the new adage goes, this is a city where there’s a start-up and a biryani joint in every second block. We sift through the mounds to give you the most delicious biryanis you should taste

Muslim dum biryani

For over a decade, foodies in the city have been smacking their lips over Richies Rahhams “Muslim-style” mutton and chicken biryani. The patrons will swear that this is where you get the most tender lamb cooked in the right mix of spices — juicy perfection — a culinary secret that continues to elude many restaurants across the city. When 63-year-old Abdul Rashid started the small outlet in Frazer Town, his primary goal was to serve people the best home-cooked biryani. And that ideology still continues — one of the reasons people throng this place for another plate of Biryani and another…

(Richies Rahhams in Frazer Town and Double Road; Cost: Rs 200-240)

Marathi biryani

At the Shivaji Military Hotel in Banashankari the USP is serving biryani that has 10 different spices ground together and cooked with either chicken or mutton. Biryani is served in biodegradable cups which add to the flavour and taste. Also, a glass of rasam and chalna are served with every cup of biryani here. It is to die for.

(Shivaji Military Hotel in Banashankari; Cost: Rs 150-Rs 175)

Hyderabadi biryani

This is fairly different from the Andhra biryani and the most distinctive difference is in the way it is cooked. The rice and the meat are cooked separately. And the biryani is aromatic with spices such as mace, ittar, saffron and cardamom. Delicious.

(Meghana Biryani; Cost: Rs 180-Rs 210)




Mandya/ Gowdru biryani

This variant of biryani, served in almost all Kannada-style eateries in old areas such as Chickpet and Cottonpet, has the rice and meat steamed with green chillies and a few whole spices such as clove, cinnamon, bay leaves. Most of them also add pudina leaves for the flavour. The nati koli (country chicken) is used in this biryani. Some even add green peas. The biryani is mostly served in a bowl made of banana leaves called donne and hence is famously known as donne biryani. Interestingly they don’t use the long basmati rice to cook this variety of biryani. Instead, they use the use jeera samba rice or sona masuri.

(Gundappa Donne Biryani in Guttahalli or Prasanth Military hotel in Gandhi Bazaar and Jayanagar or Ranganna Military Hotel in Jayanagar; Cost: Rs 150- Rs 200)

Thalassery biryani

This is the byproduct of a marriage between Mughal and Arab style of cooking which has a huge influence in the Kerala cuisine. Thalassery is a variant of Moplah cuisine famous in and around Kozhikode. Not very spicy and almost bland, this biryani is mostly made with chicken and not mutton. The main difference between Thalassery biriyani and others is that it uses only Khaima/Jeerakasala rice — a short-grain, thin rice which is also called biryani rice in Kerala. The dish does not use basmati rice. The rice and the meat are cooked separately, layered and cooked some more using the dum process.

(Empire chain of Hotels; Cost: Rs 180–Rs 200)

Kolhapuri biryani

It is not a posh hotel but will surely tantalise your taste buds. The rice used to cook biryani here hotel is jeera samba variety from Siliguri. This is a red hot biryani — made with black pepper, ginger and chilli powder. However, the amount of spices used in the biryani depend on the season — less during summer and more pepper during monsoons (to prevent cold and cough); in winter they add a bit more ginger-garlic paste to avoid that lethargic feeling. They follow the Saoji (Maharashtrian) home style of cooking here and the biryani recipe is almost 200 years old.

(Kollapuri’s in Gandhi Bazaar and Jayanagar; Cost: Rs 150-Rs 180)

Andhra biryani

Though it is called Andhra biryani, the spicy rice preparation is more synonymous with Bengaluru – thanks to the numerous Andhra Style restaurants in the city. Typically cooked using basmati rice that is grown in Andhra Pradesh, this dish is loaded with ginger, garlic and other Indian spices and a generous amount of green chilies. You can also get vegetarian Andhra biryani, which is usually served with a spicy gravy and raitha.

(Nagarjuna Chimney; Cost: Rs 220-Rs 280)



Ambur biryani

This kind of biryani is cooked on wood-fired stoves in the traditional dum style (placing hot coals over the covered lid). It has an overwhelming aroma that come from onions, tomatoes, red chilli and spices such as cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, ginger and garlic paste which are ground separately to incorporate each ingredient’s flavour. And Ambur biryani never hits a wrong note.


(Mani’s Dum Biryani in Koramangala and Jeevan Bhima Nagar, Star Biryani; Cost: Rs 150-Rs 220)
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