15/04/2024
HISTORY OF KACCHI BIRYANI
There are varieties of biryani in South Asian cuisine, but hardly any variety can put up against the Dhakaiya Kacchi biryani for its taste, flavours, and aroma.
The biryani rice is fried before cooking. Historians said that the Chagatai people of Tajikistan and Uzbekistan used to have a dish cooked with rice and mutton. However, biryani entered the South Asian region through Timur, the Turko-Mongol conqueror in 1398.
Later, in the Mughal era, when Mumtaz Mahal went on a visit to see the Mughal army, she was shocked to see the malnourished army and ordered the cook to create a nourishing dish combining meat and rice that paved the way for biryani in the Indian subcontinent.
Basically, biryani can be divided into two major groups- Pakki biryani- where the meat is cooked before adding it to the rice, and Kacchi biryani- where the raw meat is added and then cooked with rice. The versatile latter recipe of biryani by layering raw meat with partially cooked rice was developed in the kitchen of Lucknow's Nawab Wajid Ali Shah.
Later on, the Mughals' influence allowed biryani to make its way into the centre of Dhaka. Dhaka became the provincial capital when the Mughal emperors established it in 1610 AD. The high-ranking officials and Mughal Subahdars (mostly originated from Lucknow) migrated to Dhaka. And thus Dhaka started to see biryani in the rich kitchens.
In the context of Bangladesh, Kacchi’s journey started in Puran Dhaka around 1939. Soon it became a craze among the Old Dhaka food lovers. Traditionally, Kacchi is made in a clay oven. Layers of partially boiled basmati rice and raw meat, be it beef or mutton -- marinated with yoghurt, clarified butter, ginger-garlic paste, fried onion, nutmeg, mace, clove, cardamom, cinnamon, raisins, almond, and cashews -- all cooked in a big pot. The pot must be sealed with a flour dough, allowing the meats to tenderize in their own juices. This process is called dum pukht which translates from Persian as slow oven.
To make the Kacchi biryani more pocket-friendly, big chunks of fried potatoes were added to the raw meat. As the potatoes absorbed the flavours and spices of Kacchi, the aloo of the Kacchi added another level of texture which the foodies embraced wholeheartedly. One can still find hundreds of biryani shops selling Kacchi biryani in the Old Dhaka area. Each shop has its own style of cooking this delicacy and maintaining the smile on the foodies’ faces by serving hot and fresh, delicious Kacchi biryani.
