Biryani in Central Jersey: what separates the real thing

Central Jersey argues about biryani the way other places argue about pizza. The argument is worth having, because most of what is sold under the name is a rice dish with meat stirred through it.

Dum, or not

A real biryani is layered raw-ish and finished sealed: rice and marinated meat go into the pot in strata, the lid is sealed, and the whole thing bakes in its own steam until the grain at the top is stained with saffron and the grain at the bottom has taken the fat and the spice. Nothing is stirred after that. Lift the lid at the table and the layers should still be visible.

The shortcut — cooking a curry, cooking rice, and combining them — produces something perfectly pleasant and completely different. If every grain is the same colour, you are eating the shortcut.

What to look for on the plate

Long grain, separate and dry rather than glossy. Whole spice you can pick out — cassia, clove, black cardamom — because they went in whole. Caramelised onion that tastes of sugar and not of scorch. Meat on the bone, which is how it holds up to the time in the pot; boneless biryani is a convenience, not a tradition.

Raita and salan are not garnish. The salan cuts the richness and the raita resets your palate between mouthfuls, which is why we send both.

Ours, and what it costs

We cook vegetable, egg, chicken, goat and shrimp biryani, dum-style, from $8.99. Family packs serve three to four with raita and salan. Chicken biryani runs 30–35 minutes at a busy service because it is baked to order — that wait is the dish working, not the kitchen falling behind.

Order pickup on our website and 10% comes off, or book a table and let us bring the pot to you. The full list is on the menu page.

Common questions