By Alia Shoaib
Is there an occasion where it would be inappropriate to serve biryani? I can’t think of one. For my Pakistani family, and for many people from South Asia, the slow-cooked mix of rice, meat or vegetables, and spices, is the default dish for social gatherings, ideal for making in vast quantities. Formal or informal, happy or sad: whatever the event, biryani always hits the spot.
When we were children, my cousins and I would load our plates with biryani from the buffet at weddings and find a corner to eat and plot mischief, the steady thump of Bollywood music in the air. In Pakistan last year, after my grandfather died, aunts and cousins turned up on our doorstep laden with tubs of the stuff. As we tucked in, squeezed round the dining table, the load felt a little lighter.