Kolkata, the art and cultural hub of the country, is widely known for its diversity of food. Varieties of fish preparations, desserts like rosogolla, mishiti doi, roadside edibles- this city offers a never-ending list of food items to relish on. But one dish that is the queen of it all is “Kolkata-Biryani”! But this biryani is nothing similar to the ones that you get in Lucknow or Hyderabad. This is Kolkata’s special biryani that contains aloo. Yes, you read it right! Aloo is the heart and soul of the Kolkata biryani. That yellow tender Aloo of the biryani with a scarce brownish tinge is all that makes the Kolkata biryani perfectly complete and remarkable.
But the intriguing fact is that the Kolkata biryani is not native to Kolkata but is a modification of Lucknow biryani. And this fact trails back to the time of First World War when the Britishers dethroned the king of Awadh “Nawab Wajid Ali Shah” and he was banished to Kolkata from his capital Lucknow. But he was too reluctant to leave the indigenous taste of Lucknow so he brought the entire entourage of Khansamas and bawarchis along with him to Kolkata. However, the scarcity of money put them into a plight! So they decided to cut down the meat and replace the amount of meat with something that can absorb the taste not ruining the umami of the fundamental dish. Hence, the inception of Kolkata biryani took place with the brilliant minds of Nawab’s cooks. So this Kolkata biryani is prepared with aromatic rice, a handful of chosen masalas, tender meat that comes depending upon the preferences (Chicken, Mutton or beef) and last but not the least aloo. Since the inception, the Kolkata Biryani has started its glorious journey and has assembled multiple visitors to its door delighting their palates.
And one such food joint that serves the delicious Kolkata biryani is none other than Aminia. However, this renowned Mughlai and Awadhi eatery has a wide history of its own.
The journey of Aminia, the casual fine dining restaurant, started with its first outlet in Zakaria street which was established by late Abdul Rahim in 1929. They began their journey by serving the famous Awadhi Cuisine of Lucknow and later added other Mughlai dishes to the menu.
The second generation of the family decided to enlarge the business after seeing the thriving fondness amongst the people of Kolkata. Today, having completed 90 years of glorious journey, this venerable eatery has a total of 9 outlets out of which the oldest and largest outlet is situated amid the busy streets of the Hogg market. This outlet of Aminia opened its doorway to the foodies of Kolkata on the 15th of August, 1947 and was launched by late Abdul Qayum, son of Abdul Rahim. This thrilling fact depicts that on the day of the independence we also gained our very special Awadhi and Mughlai food joint, Aminia.
This casual fine-dining restaurant is today being run by its third and fourth generation and has expanded its chain by setting up outlets in Golpark, Jessore Road, Shyambazar, Rajarhat, Behala, Barrackpore, Serampore and Sodepur. Keeping its ambience simple, Aminia makes sure that each outlet looks different from the others. With its tagline “the taste you love”, especially meant for its famous and delicious Kolkata Biryani, and its recipes stand as written evidence that Aminia values and respects the old golden tradition.
So if you still haven’t tried the very famous mouth-watering Kolkata biryani do drop in at Aminia to taste the “Biryani that contains an Aloo” with love.
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