The Craft

I want you to know that Biryani as a dish is the top rice dish in the world. There isn’t a dish that delivers the depth of flavours that biryani does. Nothing in any part of the world comes close to it. I am merely trying to bring back the art of making proper biryani into the 21st century like it so richly deserves. It needed someone’s commitment to stay the course and bring modern manufacturing equipment and techniques to enable it to be scaled up without depth of flavour b

Biryani is no pie in the sky Why? Robots and the soft power of AI, deployed together, have brought us one step closer to going full AI. We have achieved ‘almost’ autonomous cooking from our Central Processing kitchens right down to our individual outlets. We call it AI-Assisted for now, part machines, part AI. How? We remain in charge of workflows, processes, and tools or equipment. Artificial intelligence chips in on demand and acts as supportive, augmenting vetted input, ra

A recipe is a set of ingredients and instructions for preparing food. Biryani falls outside of that. I have cooked biryani for decades. I consider it an art form. Gastronomic creativity that appeals to your sense of smell, taste, and fulfilment on so many levels. The broad brush strokes of what makes a biryani a biryani: Rice and meat are prepped separately but eventually cooked together. In the final analysis, the meat may fall off the bone, but aged rice keeps its majestic

“Haleem is a rich, savory, slow-cooked stew widely consumed across South Asia, the Middle East, and Central Asia. It is made by blending meat, grains, and lentils into a thick, porridge-like consistency through hours of constant stirring and mashing.” That was how ChatGPT described haleem. I find it more clinical and less soulful. Mostly made with mutton or chicken, my own concoction of late is pure veg. Yes, three kinds of soul food. Lentils, barley, and spices in my kitchen

It is my go-to kebab – Shami. It comes baked in an oven, but if you buy it and bring it back home, you are set for a superb meal. Every time I prepare Shami, I cook it in one simple way but serve it in a few different ways. Advisory: Use a non-stick pan. Always. Prep: Pan-fry with a drizzle of ghee (not butter) and serve it with biryani. You can’t go wrong. It is one perfect match. No curry whatsoever, so it doesn’t disturb the flavourful taste of the biryani itself. On the c