Ambur Biryani

Ambur, nestled in the Vellore district of northern Tamil Nadu, is renowned for its signature biryani, a dish that has become emblematic of the region’s culinary identity. What sets Ambur Biryani apart is its use of zeera samba rice—a short-grain, aromatic variety known for its ability to absorb flavor while maintaining a firm texture. Unlike the long-grain basmati used in many other biryanis, zeera samba gives Ambur Biryani its distinctive mouthfeel and subtle fragrance.

🍽️ A Glimpse into Ambur Biryani’s Origins

  • Historical Roots: The dish traces back to the Nawabs of Arcot, whose kitchens blended Mughal techniques with local ingredients. Some stories suggest that Mughal soldiers, craving biryani while stationed in the south, adapted their recipe using available spices and zeera samba rice.
  • Regional Spread: Though Ambur is the epicenter, neighboring towns like Vaniyambadi also share this biryani tradition, each adding its own nuance.
  • Flavor Profile: Ambur Biryani is known for being moderately spiced, with a curd-based gravy and a higher meat-to-rice ratio. It’s often served with dalcha, khatte baingan, or raita, making it a complete and satisfying meal.

Ambur & Vaniyambadi Biryani: A Legacy of Flavor

Ambur and Vaniyambadi, neighboring towns in the Vellore district of northern Tamil Nadu, are known not just for their leather craftsmanship—but for a biryani that has become iconic across South India. With a significant Muslim population and a rich culinary heritage, these towns gave rise to a style of biryani that’s both humble and unforgettable.

The dish is believed to have been introduced by the Nawabs of Arcot, whose royal kitchens blended Mughal techniques with local ingredients. Another story suggests that Mughal soldiers, stationed in the southern region, longed for the biryani of their homeland. With limited access to familiar spices and basmati rice, they adapted the recipe using zeera samba rice—a short-grain variety native to Tamil Nadu, known for its ability to absorb flavor while retaining texture.

📺 A Friday Tradition, A New Flavor

As most of you who follow me know, I have a soft spot for trying new biryani recipes. It’s become a bit of a ritual—every Friday, without fail, I cook biryani for dinner. It’s my way of ending the week with warmth, aroma, and a plate full of comfort.

One Friday morning, while watching an Indian TV channel, my husband, Mr. Parveez, spotted a segment on a restaurant serving Ambur Biryani. Intrigued by its unique style and regional roots, he couldn’t resist. I was out grocery shopping when my phone buzzed with a FaceTime call from his office.

“Baccha, can you look up Ambur Biryani and make that today?” I smiled. Of course I could. That’s the beauty of biryani—it’s endlessly adaptable, and every version carries a story. That day, Ambur Biryani became ours.

🍽️ A Pleasant Surprise in the Aisles

While I’m always up for trying something new, I’ll admit—having to rearrange my shopping list last-minute can throw me off. So when Mr. Parveez requested Ambur Biryani on a Friday morning, I braced myself for a bit of a scramble.

To my surprise, the recipe didn’t call for anything fancy. In fact, I had everything I needed right at home. No exotic ingredients, no elaborate prep—just honest, flavorful cooking. It was so straightforward that after finishing, I double-checked the recipe to make sure I hadn’t missed a step!

Ambur Biryani turned out to be not only easy to make, but a true crowd-pleaser. If you’re a biryani lover like me, this one’s a must-try. It’s proof that sometimes, the simplest dishes carry the richest stories.

Carrot Masala Toast

This masala toast is a famous snack from Iyengar bakery, which I had never tried. Being from North India, there are these few things that you miss out on. Like the fresh made veggie toast. Ohhh!!! Don’t get me wrong, I love the north Indian malai bread and potato sandwich or paneer sandwich, but I still fell completely in love with this iyengar bakery masala toast.

This was first made by my husband, Mr. Parveez when he wanted to flaunt his cooking skills, show casing how breakfast can be made quick, delicious, light and above all, healthy.

This toast can have variety of veggies put but, the authentic iyengar bakery toast only has carrots, tomatoes, onions with a few spices and chilies. It’s a perfect breakfast for on the run, or a perfect snack for warming up those after school/evening cold winters with a warm drink.

Butter Chicken

Never met anyone who doesn’t like Butter Chicken. Simple, flavorful and so divine. But most of time people never try and make it at home and Butter Chicken becomes an eat out special. Many times I have read where people tried the recipe following a famous chef, but the dish still does not come out as good as the ones at restaurant.

The recipe below and simple to make and the closest you can get to the authentic Butter Chicken flavor.

Burrah Kebab

My dad took a lot of trips to Delhi for work. Even we as a family, would be visiting the capital of India quiet often since back in the 80’s and 90’s, we didn’t have the concept of direct trains from one city to another. So, we would take a train to Delhi and then another one to the destination. Since, My maternal family lived in U.K., dropping someone off to Delhi or picking them up from Delhi or we visiting our maternal home was always a trip through Delhi.

Now, being a non vegetarian, purani delhi is the place to be. Despite the crowd, the pollution and uncountable hygiene issues, every non veg lover at some point visited “jama masjid area” to satisfy their cravings. We did that on almost every trip and my father tried it at least twice each time, if not more. Some very popular restaurants serve awesome and delicious kebabs and curries with sheermaal, roomali roti and finger licking biryani.

Amongst the various variety of kebabs, Burrah kebabs stole my heart. Made from lamb marinated for a few hours, these kebabs are juicy, crunchy and full of beautiful flavors. So I had to search for the recipe. Though the recipe that I found wasn’t close to what my taste buds witnessed as a kid but being a home chef I knew how to add and deduct things and come out with the exact taste.

This is a must try for people who love lamb kebabs. Pretty easy to make and can be stored too.

Bhuna Gosht Masala

As a kid, I never liked mutton curries. I grew up believing that Goat/Lamb is something I just never enjoy until, I started my cooking experiments and realized that the problem is not with mutton, its the way it was cooked in my house. There were just 2 kinds of curries and I just happened to not like any. Though, I did prefer one and found it a little easier to gulp down somehow. I think the reason that I didn’t have too many options as a kid when it came to food choices is the reason I make so many varieties…LOLzzz.

So, when I started cooking lamb/goat, I preferred cooking them as kebabs. Different kebabs, with bones, boneless, minced meat, but never a curry. I could just never gather courage to make a curry, because I was convinced that it wouldn’t be good.

All that changed after I got married. Mr. Parveez has some fabulous goat curry recipes, passed down from his family and that’s when I started following the recipes and got more confident about it. Experimenting with different flavors added a lot of variety to my lamb and goat dishes. This recipe happens to be one of them.

This dish is a little thick in gravy, so its great to be eaten with phulkas or Rotis or a side dish with Daal-Chawal.

Malabar Chicken Biryani

Malabar food is a Biryani dish from Kerela. The famous dish is made by layering aromatic Rice with chicken masala, mostly made in Ghee. The recipe demands the pot to be sealed with flour or tight cloth, after the Rice and chicken are layered and Biryani is set to dumm. It should be cooked on low heat to get the perfect Biryani that has been one of Kerela’s most popular and beautiful recipes.

The great town Calicut, now known has Kozhikode is known for its amazing cuisines along with beautiful beaches. The place has had many settlers and the cuisines show an influence of the the travelers from different countries that had once been the part of Calicut’s gorgeous history. Biryani of course shows a clear influence of Persin / Mughal era. the local cuisine is known for its sumptuous non vegetarian food and Chicken Biryani seems to be one of the top favorites.

Coming back to today’s recipe for Malabar Biryani, its usually made with Chicken, but I am sure the recipe would work great on Meat and Fish too, though you might want to change the proportion of spices. The Malabari call the cooking of this Biryani to be a “Pakki method” in which Rice and chicken are cooked separately and then layered and put to dumm.

Malabar Biryani is usually cooked in Ghee. The liberal use of ghee along side of whole spices, like Cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and star anise make an awesomely fragrant dish. I am not a big fan of cooking the whole Biryani in Ghee, so I have been slightly careful. But you can always substitute Oil for Ghee if it suits your taste buds. This dish is spicy, but not spicy enough to make you cry. So, if you like Biryani, but aren’t a fan of Indian food that’s “hot”, this dish is for you.

Malabar Biryani uses Khaima Rice and I tried to look for a good quality Khaima Rice in United States. Since my search didn’t give me any results, I am sticking to my original long grained Basmati Rice. My Mother in law loves her Biryani cooked with Jeerakasala Rice, which is close or same as Khaima Rice. So, if you do happen to find a good brand, Please use it and also let me know in the comment section. The extra water in the Rice is drained and the rice is cooled slightly. Unlike the absorption method of cooking, this method of cooking rice in an open pan in excess water and draining it like pasta will always give you perfect Rice thats needed for a good Biryani.

The chicken is first cooked in onions, ginger, garlic, fresh cilantro, mint and green chilies and yogurt. Tomatoes can or cannot be used. I saw different recipes and I preferred the one with tomatoes. Once the chicken is all cooked, layer it with the Rice and seal the Biryani with a cloth and a tight lid. Adding some kind of weight to the lid is advisable too. I usually keep my Biryani in the oven but you can always dumm it on the gas at low flame for around 30 minutes.

Chhole Sev Chaat

Do you ever have those days when you feel like having something filling, flavorful, colorful, sweet and sour, but you don’t want the dish to be heavy and not too filling. It’s one of those days when you don’t want those extra calories to pile up but, it’s hard to give up on that craving.

Well, this dish is for those days. To me, its a perfect weekend lunch. Our weekend lunch is difficult decision to make, specially on Sunday. My boys have sports and morning are always eggs, banana and milk or smoothies. After spending most of our day at sports ground and returning home at 2 PM, you can imagine the huge hunger pangs and growling stomachs.

At this point, serving my boys with kebabs or burgers is fine since they can easily digest it but the problem is that with 4 hours remaining in dinner, you want something filling but nothing too heavy. This dish is is perfect for those days.

Chhole/chickpeas are rich in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Mixing them up with tomato, onion, coriander leaves and few spices with yogurt, chutneys and sev make an excellent chaat which is satisfying to your belly and craving. A mouthful of delicious bites without the fear of adding extra calories.

Thalassery Chicken Biryani

This recipe is from the land of Kerala. Thalassery food has a distinct  flavor. Thalassery town of Northern Kerala, that has a blend in Arabian, Persian, Indian and European styles of cooking as a result of its long history as a maritime trading post. Thalassery is very popular for its delicious Biryani. Unlike other biryani dishes, Thalassery Biryani, originally uses jeerakshala/kaima rice instead of the usual long grained Basmati Rice. I used Basmati Rice since I cannot see my Biryani any other way. My Mother in law still prefers the kaima rice over Basmati rice, even for Biryani. Kaima rice has its own exclusive flavor and they have a wonderful fragrance as well, but I just come from a very Mughlia thought and prefer my Rice grain to be beautifully long

The influence of Arabian/Mughal culture is evident, especially in the dishes of the Muslim community of Kerala and Thalassery Biryani happens to be one of those dishes that shows it Mughlia flavors and is still enjoyed by all.

We, personally as a family love the food made in Kerala, vegetarian and Non vegetarian. You will find us taking time out if any of the hotels are celebrating “Kerala food festival week” during our stay in India. The best thing I enjoy about Kerala cuisine is the fact that the flavor of each ingredient comes out distinct in its own way making the dish complete. The way the cuisine has its ingredients listed and the process in which you add the spice changes the flavor of a dish. With Kerala cuisine , they make sure that no one ingredient over powers the flavor of the other ingredient. In fact, they blend in symphony making the dish delicious and exclusive.

Hari Machhi Fry

Bengaluru Muslim homes serve a wide variety of fried fishes. This recipe happens to be one of the recipes that I learnt from my mother in law.

The recipe is pretty simple and does not need too much time in marination. Its a perfect recipe for a side dish and goes great with Dal chawal. It’s an easy recipe and is great for beginners. The fish I have used is Golden Pompano, but the masala recipe goes great with King Fish, Pomfret and Tilapia. Just make sure the slices are thin. Thin slices absorb the spices better and are crunchy when pan fried.

Palak ka Parantha

We love Palak/ Spinach and if you follow my recipes, you would know that I always try to find new ways of making spinach. Sometimes, with meat, chicken and so many types of different daals or making palak in different kinds of dry curries as well.

After all those I felt making Palak ka parantha for breakfast would be a great idea. We love methi parantha and the recipe was simple and great, so I decided to use the same recipe for Palak parantha.

The good thing with palak parantha is that the kids enjoy eating it too with yogurt and it makes a great and healthy breakfast. Its a great option for lunch too and you can conveniently eat it on diets as well.