(Karachi) A mixture of rice, meat and spices, biryani sparks passionate debates in the Pakistani city of Karachi, where fans can enjoy multiple variations of this typical South Asian dish.
When Pakistan was born in 1947, biryani experienced unprecedented popularity in the port city. This bright orange rice dish, cooked in gigantic vats, appears on the menu of restaurants in the economic capital of the country, which do not hesitate to display the awards obtained, a guarantee of quality.
“Our biryani is unique in the world,” assures restaurateur Muhammad Saqib, who offers a biryani with marrow and beef.
“When a person tastes this dish, they are transported to a world of flavors,” promises the 36-year-old.
Across the street, one of his competitors, Muhammad Zain, is not to be outdone.
“We were the ones who first launched biryani here,” insists the 27-year-old, while the waiters remove the dishes garnished with a good dose of masala (mixture of spices). “It’s our personal and secret recipe.”
The two professionals nevertheless agree on one point: nowhere in the world can you find a biryani like the one prepared in Pakistan.
“Whether it’s on special occasions or parties, it’s the first dish we offer,” observes Muhammad Zain.
During the partition of India and Pakistan in 1947, Karachi, previously a fishing port of around 400,000 inhabitants, saw an influx of hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, the “Mohajirs”.
Since then, India and Pakistan have been bitter adversaries: they have fought three wars, been bogged down in diplomatic disputes, and travel and trade have been largely blocked.
For Indian gastronomy historian Pushpesh Pant, biryani is a reminder of this common heritage.
“Hindus, (Sikhs) and Muslims ate differently, but their cuisines influenced each other,” he tells AFP from the Indian city of Gurugram, near New Delhi.
“In parts of Pakistan and India, culinary differences are not as great as man-made boundaries would have us believe,” he adds.
Today, 20 million people live in Karachi, where every neighborhood has an establishment serving biryani. The recipe has countless variations.
Beef is favored in Muslim Pakistan, with vegetarian versions more popular in predominantly Hindu India. Chicken is universal. Along the coasts, fish is incorporated into the dish.
And purists debate whether adding potatoes is heresy.
“There is also a biryani pulao that comes exclusively from Delhi,” notes Muhammad Al Aaqib, a 27-year-old pharmacist, referring to a variation cooked in broth.
“My roots also take me back to Delhi, so this is the best biryani for us,” he adds.
The origins of the dish are not unanimous. But the word biryani is widely believed to be of Persian root. It is said to have been popularized in the best kitchens of the Mughal Empire, which at its height in the 17th century dominated almost the entire Indian subcontinent.
Quratul Ain Asad, whose family arrived in Karachi from the Indian town of Tonk in 1948, spent her Sunday morning cooking for her husband and son.
Around a table, they feast not on an ancestral recipe, but on a television chef’s version enhanced with a refreshing yogurt sauce.
“You will never like biryani from elsewhere once you have tasted the one from Karachi,” guarantees the cook.
“There’s no secret ingredient. I simply cook with a lot of passion and joy. Maybe that’s what makes it taste good,” she notes.
Cooked in large quantities, biryani is also often served during donations to the needy.
In his restaurant, Ali Nawaz, 28, prepares dozens of portions which, once packaged, will be distributed in poor neighborhoods.
It will take less than a minute for the parcels to find takers when the motorcycle delivery man arrives.
