Rice, pulao, and biryani refer to distinct types of Indian rice dishes.
What we call rice is usually a simple dish. The rice is cooked by the absorption method, or boiled, or steamed. It usually is just cooked with water. Having said that, the addition of cumin seeds or caraway seeds is common. It is usually served as a side dish to the main meal but can sometimes be a course in its own right.
Biryani is at the opposite end of the scale. It is often a meal on its own, or at least a course on its own. It is never a side dish. It is typically served on festive occasions. It is quite complex to prepare, because it is what could be called an assembled dish, with many parts being cooked separately, then brought together for final preparation. In fact, it is less a rice dish and more a dish in which rice is an ingredient.
Pulao sits somewhere between these two. Characteristically it is a one-pot dish with all the ingredients cooked together – but not always. It can be served as a side dish, or a course on its own, depending on the complexity of the finished dish.
There are also several other dishes that use rice that are not covered here. A particular favourite of mine are rice cakes – idli – which are made from fermented rice batter. Let us not overlook kitchri, the original basis of kedgeree, which is a dish of rice and lentils cooked together. And then there is kheer or Indian rice pudding.
rice
There are just a few things to master to cook great rice.
The first is to use good rice. Most of the recipes in this book call for basmati rice, and which is readily available in supermarkets. But a visit to your Indian grocer will be worthwhile to see the range and qualities of the many kinds of rice.
The second thing is to remember that rice is at its best when it has been washed and allowed to soak.
The third thing is to cook rice gently. Cooked too long, at too high a temperature, with frequent stirring will just produce mush.
At this point, let me say that using a microwave to cook rice is a fast path to poor rice. Let me also say that rice cookers are not a good choice either. Simply fine for cooking rice in the Asian style, but not too good at doing the rice dishes in this cookbook. Forego their claimed ease of use and do it properly. Not that much harder and the results are noticeable.
Simple rice dishes are best with non-vegetarian main dishes.
The article on basmati rice discusses approaches to cook rice. The absorption method is the best and most common approach. Boiling is rare, except in certain circumstances and steaming produces a quite different result.
pulao
Pulao is best to be served with vegetarian dishes, or if you keep it simple, as a side dish in a feast. Pulao came to India from Persia and has a distinctly Arabic feel and taste. It can have nuts and dried fruit and is often cooked in stock, rather than water. Vegetables, meat or fish are sometimes added, but it still the rice as the focal part of the dish. Colour is an important part of pulao, as is the use of saffron. Pulao tends to feature mostly in the northern parts of India, particularly where the Mughul influence is seen.
Our common, but simple, pulao is a mix of white and yellow rice. The yellow rice has been fried in ghee, then cooked in stock with saffron. It is mixed with plain white rice, then we add cashews, pistachios and dried fruit. Another favourite is a simple vegetable pulao, which is rice cooked with mildly spiced vegetables. The Kashmiri pulao is an interesting variant with its slightly sweet, saffron-infused taste.
Most pulaos are cooked using the absorption method.
biryani
Each region in India has its own version of biryani. They vary so much that they could be best defined as “rice and things cooked together in layers”. In a biryani, the meat, vegetables, and rice are cooked separately, then are layered and baked for final cooking. The name biryani comes from the Persian term meaning “fry before cooking”.
The main biryani styles are the fiery South Indian or Andhra style, the exquisite Royal Awadhi or Lucknavi style and the delicate Punjabi style.
Our favourite is the Lucknavi biryani, largely, I think because it comes from my father’s heritage. It is a classic lamb and rice dish, deserving of a special occasion for it to be served. It will take a day or so for the marination of the ingredients and the best part of a day to cook. But it is a spectacular dish.
Do not be overwhelmed when you see a biryani recipe. It isn’t too hard to prepare if you take time and don’t rush it.
This cookbook has a section with recipes for most of the dishes mentioned above,
