Bengali biryani arrived in Kolkata with the deposed Nawab Wajid Ali Shah, exiled from Lucknow to the Metiabruz neighbourhood in 1856.
Unable to afford the meat of his Lucknawi court, his cooks extended the dish with potato — and the potato remained. Bengali biryani is distinguished from all others by that boiled potato, by its relatively lighter spice hand, and by the kewra water that perfumes the finished dum.
Zone: River Delta
SOURCE: Printed cookbook by Bhojon Rasikar Ranna, Kolkata, 1978. Translated from Bengali.
LOCAL NAME: বাংলা মটন বিরিয়ানি
INGREDIENTS
- 700 grams bone-in mutton or lamb shoulder (cut into large pieces)
- 400 grams aged basmati rice (soaked 30 minutes)
- 4 medium waxy potatoes (peeled and halved)
- 2 medium onions (finely sliced)
- 150 grams full-fat yogurt
- 1.5 tablespoons fresh ginger paste
- 1.5 tablespoons garlic paste
- 1 teaspoons turmeric
- 1 teaspoons cumin powder
- 1 teaspoons coriander powder
- 0.5 teaspoons chilli powder
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 2 black cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 pinch pinch saffron (soaked in 3 tbsp warm milk)
- 1 tablespoons tbsp kewra water
- 4 tablespoons mustard oil or ghee
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
METHOD
- Marinate the mutton: Mix the mutton with the yogurt, ginger paste, garlic paste, turmeric, cumin, coriander, chilli powder, and salt. Marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Cook the mutton: Heat the oil or ghee in a heavy pan. Fry the sliced onions for 20 minutes until deep golden and beginning to crisp. Remove half and set aside for the layering. Add the whole spices to the remaining onions and fry for 30 seconds. Add the marinated mutton and fry on high heat for 10 minutes. Add 200ml water, cover, and cook on low heat for 45 minutes until the meat is nearly tender.
- Fry the potatoes: In the same oil, fry the potato halves with a pinch of turmeric and salt until golden on all sides. Set aside.
- Par-cook the rice: Boil the soaked basmati in well-salted water for 6 minutes until 70% cooked — still with a firm bite. Drain immediately.
- Layer the biryani: In a heavy-based pot layer the mutton and its gravy, then the fried potatoes, then the par-cooked rice. Scatter the reserved fried onions over the top. Drizzle the saffron milk and kewra water over the rice.
- Dum — seal and steam: Cover the pot tightly — seal the lid with a strip of dough or foil if needed. Cook on the lowest possible heat for 25 minutes. The rice finishes cooking in the steam of the mutton gravy below. Do not lift the lid during this time.
- Serve: Open at the table. Serve with raita and a wedge of lemon. Each portion should have mutton, potato, and rice — the potato is not optional and is not a substitute for anything. It is the dish.
NOTES
UK: Bone-in mutton from halal butchers. Waxy potatoes (Charlotte, Jersey Royal) hold their shape better than floury varieties. Kewra water from South Asian grocers. Long-grain basmati from any supermarket; aged basmati preferred.
US: Bone-in lamb shoulder from halal butchers or Whole Foods. Yukon Gold potatoes work well. Kewra water from Patel Brothers or Amazon. Aged basmati from Patel Brothers or Indian grocery stores.