The biryani question: dum or pakki?

I. The regional argument

The biryani is not one dish. It is a family of dishes distributed across the subcontinent, each version shaped by local culture, available ingredients, and the specific community that developed it.

Kolkata biryani — my biryani — is distinguished by the potato. Each serving comes with a whole cooked potato that has been fried and then cooked in the dum alongside the rice and meat until it has absorbed the saffron-laced stock. The potato arrived with the Nawabs of Awadh after their displacement from Lucknow in the nineteenth century: meat rations stretched with potatoes and eggs.

Hyderabadi biryani — the most globally famous — uses raw marinated meat going into the pot with partially cooked rice. More spiced, more saffron-forward. Lucknawi biryani — the ancestor of Kolkata — is the court biryani, designed for refinement rather than boldness.

II. The dum technique

The dum method requires sealing the pot. Traditionally a paste of dough is pressed around the rim and the lid before the final stage, creating an airtight seal. The steam from the moisture in the partially cooked meat and rice builds inside the pot and cooks everything simultaneously. The home alternative: heavy-duty foil pressed tightly over the pot before placing the lid on top.

The heat for dum is low — a simmer, not a boil. Placing the pot on a tawa between the flame and the pot distributes the heat and prevents scorching. The time is 20 to 30 minutes, during which the pot is not opened. The trust required to leave the sealed pot on low heat without checking is itself a discipline that the biryani teaches.

III. The rice

Long-grain aged basmati is the correct rice for biryani. Aged rice — stored 1–3 years after harvest — has lower moisture content, which means each grain cooks separately rather than sticking. The grain elongates more during cooking. Drier, more distinct.

The rice is parboiled before the dum to 70% cooked — the outer layer cooked but the centre still with a white undercooked dot when bitten. The final 30% happens in the sealed pot with the steam from the meat. Cook the rice all the way through before the dum and you have steamed rice over meat. Not biryani.

IV. My position

Kolkata biryani, dum method, with potato and hard-boiled egg. The spicing is in the meat marinade, in the fried onions, and in the milk infused with saffron that goes over the layered rice before the seal. The saffron is not optional. The kewra water is not optional. The potato is not optional.

You can make a perfectly good biryani without these things. It will not be the biryani I am defending.

Recipe — Kolkata Chicken Biryani · Dum Method

Saira Begum · Kolkata · serves 6 · marinate overnight · 25-min dum

• Serves 6
• Marinate 12 h
• Dum 25 min
• 3 potatoes

For the chicken

• 1 kg bone-in chicken pieces
• 200 g full-fat yogurt
• 1 tbsp ginger paste · 1 tbsp garlic paste
• 1 tsp red chili powder · 1 tsp garam masala · ½ tsp turmeric
• Juice of 1 lemon · 3 tbsp neutral oil · salt

For the rice

• 400 g aged basmati, washed and soaked 30 min
• Whole spices: 2 bay leaves, 4 green cardamom, 2-in cinnamon, 4 cloves
• Salt

To assemble

• 3 large onions, thinly sliced and fried deep golden
• 3 medium potatoes, peeled, halved, fried golden
• 4 hard-boiled eggs, halved
• ½ tsp saffron bloomed in 50 ml warm milk
• 1 tbsp kewra water · 3 tbsp ghee
• 2 tbsp fresh mint · 2 tbsp fresh cilantro

The method

1. Marinate chicken in all ingredients overnight.
2. Boil basmati in heavily salted water with whole spices until 70% cooked. Drain immediately.
3. Cook the marinated chicken in oil until three-quarters done — about 15 minutes.
4. In a heavy pot: layer half the parboiled rice. Layer the chicken and its juices. Scatter half the fried onions, the potatoes, and eggs over the chicken. Layer the remaining rice on top.
5. Drizzle saffron milk, kewra water, and ghee over the rice. Scatter remaining fried onions, mint, and cilantro.
6. Seal with foil pressed tightly over the pot, then place the lid on top. Place on a flat griddle over the lowest heat. Dum for 25 minutes. Do not open during the dum.
7. Rest 10 minutes before opening. Serve from the pot.

About the contributor

Saira Begum

Saira Begum writes about biryani and Kolkata food traditions from Kolkata, West Bengal, India. She makes dum, with the potato, and she will defend it.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the kewra. Distilled from the pandanus flower, kewra smells like nothing else — floral, almost mineral, sweet without sugar. A teaspoon is enough for an entire biryani. Too much and the dish smells like a perfume counter; used correctly, it is the smell that identifies a Bengali biryani from the moment the lid comes off.

A note on the saffron. Real saffron must be bloomed in warm milk or water for at least 15 minutes before it goes into the dish — dry saffron does not release its colour or flavour. If your saffron tints the milk yellow but not orange, it is not real saffron.

A note on the potato. Halved, deep-fried until golden, salted lightly before going in. It absorbs the meat juices and the saffron and becomes the best potato of your life. People who have eaten Kolkata biryani argue about the potato more than the meat.

A note on the rest. Ten minutes after the dum, before the lid comes off. This is as important as not opening during the dum. The steam settles, the rice firms, the grains separate cleanly.

Back to American · Cook lane · HowTo: Food Edition home · American cuisine hub