"Pakistani Biryani Styles: Sindhi, Karachi and Bombay"

Pakistani biryani comes in a handful of styles that most people can tell apart by the first spoonful. Sindhi biryani is hot and sour, with yoghurt, tomatoes, green chillies, potatoes and dried plums. Karachi deghi biryani is the big-pot, red, heavily spiced version sold on every corner of the city. Bombay biryani is milder and more aromatic, with kewra and a sweet and sour edge. Around them sit Memoni, nalli (bone marrow) and the vegetarian tahari.

Karachi is where all of these meet, so it is the city to eat biryani in. This guide explains each style, how it is cooked, how it differs from pulao, and the established places where each one is a fair example.

How is biryani different from pulao?

This is the question that starts most arguments, so it is worth settling first. Biryani is layered: partly cooked rice and a spiced meat masala go into the pot in layers and finish together. It has more gravy and stronger spices than pulao. Pulao is cooked in one go in a meat stock, the yakhni, so the rice takes its flavour from the broth rather than from a masala.

There are two ways to make biryani. In the pakki method, the meat is cooked first and layered with rice. In the kacchi method, raw marinated meat and rice are sealed together and cooked slowly on dum. Most Pakistani shops use the pakki method because it suits huge pots and fast service.

Broadly, the south eats biryani and the north eats pulao. Peshawar's Kabuli pulao, the beef pulao of Bannu and Rawalpindi's pulao kabab are all stock-cooked rice, not biryani, and people there will tell you so.

Sindhi biryani: hot, sour and full of potato

Sindhi biryani is the style most Pakistanis think of first, partly because the supermarket spice-mix boxes have made it a household dish. It is made with mutton or chicken (and sometimes fish or prawns along the coast), basmati rice, yoghurt, tomatoes, onions and a lot of green chillies and red chilli. The sourness comes from tomatoes, yoghurt and aloo bukhara, dried plums, which sit in the rice like small dark stones.

The other signature is potato: large chunks, fried golden before they go into the pot. Some people consider potato in biryani a crime; in Sindhi biryani it is the point.

Expect it to be hot. If you are travelling from Lahore or Islamabad and are used to milder food, order a raita and a cold drink with it.

Karachi deghi biryani: the everyday plate

What Karachiites simply call "biryani" is the deghi style, cooked in a large deg and sold by the plate from the pot. It overlaps heavily with Sindhi biryani, but it is redder (from chilli and, often, food colour), oilier and heavier with fried onion. Chicken and beef are the common meats; mutton costs more.

Biryani spread through Karachi after 1947, when the city filled with migrants from Delhi, Bombay, Gujarat, Lucknow and Hyderabad, each bringing a recipe. The result is that every neighbourhood has its own preferred shop and its own idea of the right balance of spice.

The best-known name is Student Biryani, which traces its history to 1969, when Haji Mohammed Ali began selling biryani from a small stall to students in Saddar. It now has many branches. Al Rehman Biryani in Kharadar is a small, busy shop with long queues at lunchtime. Al Naz Biryani and Pakwan Centre on Burns Road and Biryani Centre, with several branches, are other established names. Our guide to the best biryani in Karachi goes area by area, and the Student Biryani page covers that one shop in detail.

Bombay biryani: milder and more fragrant

Bombay biryani came to Karachi with families from Bombay (Mumbai) and is the gentlest of the main styles. It uses the same base of meat, rice, yoghurt, potatoes and dried plums, but with less chilli, more whole spice (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf), mint and fried onion, and a few drops of kewra, which gives it a perfumed smell. The flavour is a balance of sweet, sour and spicy rather than straight heat.

It is a good first biryani for children and for anyone who struggles with chilli. In practice, many Karachi shops sell something between Bombay and Sindhi, so ask whether the house biryani is teekhi (hot) or not before you order.

Memoni, nalli and the other Karachi styles

Memoni biryani

The Memon community, with roots in Sindh and Gujarat, has its own biryani that is close to Sindhi but usually described as less oily and very spicy, often made with mutton. Kharadar, Mithadar and Dhoraji are the Memon-associated food areas where it is easiest to find. Memon households also cook akni, a pulao-like rice dish, especially around Eid ul Adha.

Nalli biryani

Nalli biryani adds bone marrow, from beef shank bones, to the pot. Ghousia Nalli Biryani in Liaquatabad is usually credited with popularising it. It is rich and very heavy; one plate between two is often enough.

Seafood biryani

Prawn and fish biryani belong to the coast. Biryani of the Seas in Clifton is the best-known restaurant for it.

Tahari

Tahari is the vegetarian cousin: rice cooked with potatoes, sometimes peas, and the same spice base, but no meat. It is homely food rather than restaurant food, though some biryani shops sell it.

What about Lahori biryani?

Lahore has biryani everywhere, but no single style the city claims as its own the way Karachi does. Much of what is sold is Karachi-style; there is even a well-known "Karachi Master Biryani" at Lakshmi Chowk.

In the north, the honest advice is to eat pulao. In Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Savour Foods has sold pulao kabab since 1988, when it opened on Gordon College Road in Rawalpindi; its Blue Area branch in Islamabad opened in 2005. In Bannu, try the Bannu beef pulao.

How to order biryani like a local

1. Go at lunch. The pots open around midday, and the rice is at its best then.
2. Choose the meat. Chicken is cheapest, beef next, mutton the most expensive.
3. Single or double. A "single" is one portion, usually with one piece of meat; a "double" usually has two pieces and more rice. One single is enough for most people.
4. By the kilo for groups. For four or more, many shops sell by weight. Ask how many people a kilo feeds.
5. Check the board first. Prices change often and differ hugely between a cart and a sit-down restaurant, so read the posted menu before ordering.
6. Ask for raita and salad. They usually come free or for very little, and they cool the heat.

Which style should you try first?

If you only have one biryani meal, make it Sindhi or Karachi deghi biryani in Karachi itself, at a busy shop at lunchtime. That is the dish Pakistanis mean when they talk about biryani. If spice is a problem, choose Bombay style. If you want something unusual, go for nalli in Liaquatabad, but go hungry.

Biryani is not the reason to plan a trip from Lahore to Karachi, but if you are in Karachi for work or family, give two lunches to it and one evening to Burns Road. Our experiences page has more ideas for food-led days.

Frequently asked questions