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| Folks enjoying salman’s pulao during the Finely Chopped Bohri Mohalla Walk |
Is the Lucknow biryani a biryani or a pulao?
Kunal Vijayakar (who is all caps on twitter for some reason) once tweeted to me saying that it’s a pulao.
Shirin Mehrotra (@foodchants) on an Instagram chat said that it is indeed a pulao but that they call it biryani in Lucknow so that people don’t think it is, taub tauba, vegetarian!
So I whatsapped Lucknow boy Ranveer Brar last night. He too said it’s a pulao.
Given that one always paid homage to the biryani of Lucknow as the grandpa of the Kolkata biryani (different from the mishti polao of Bengalis) this was a bit of a downer. Reminded me of the time when I fell in love with the actress Vyjanthimala when I was 5 yrs old and watched her in the movie Sangam in Iran.
My dad had to explain to me that she was too old for me!
The move was made ten years before I was even born.
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| Vyjanthimala in Sangam. Image source: http://milk-honey-tea.tumblr.com/post/105668796543/vyjayanthimala-in-sangam-1964 |
Well, there is no such pulao and biryani confusion at Salman’s pulao shop in Bohri Mohalla which I discovered one day while walking around there.
Salman opened his shop ten years back. He came to Mumbai from Bulandshahar in UP after going to Delhi in between. They sell UP styled pulao here.
It doesn’t have the wet masala paste that biryanis in Mumbai have. You can’t see the masala in fact though there is a resounding heaty kick when you have a bite of the rice.
The recipe is Salman’s father’s. They make two versions mutton (buff) and chicken. Both are sold from the large degs (vessels)
The buff meat is very tender. I have not tried the chicken one.
As I say for some million times (!) in the video, there is not cutlery here so you have to eat with your hands.
Salman’s shop was the origina pulao shopl and then others came up. It is located opposite Noor Sweets in Bohri Mohalla. I’ve not met Salman who apparently mans a mobile handset accessory shop. So his brother/ cousin runs the pulao shop.
Do check out the video on Salman’s pulao on The Finely Chopped YouTube channel.
Please ignore the number of times I refer to it as a biryani. It is not one!
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