SURFIRAN's video: Baryani in Isfahan

In Australia, we often know biryani as an Indian or Pakistani dish, a rice bowl with chicken or meat with aromatic unique combination of spices and flavours. In Isfahan, however, you can experience a totally new version of biryani! Biryani in Persian means to grill or fry. Biryani (as a dish, pronounced ber-you-nee) is a traditional Isfahani food, only made and served in Isfahan. People often have it on a Friday at lunch time, since it is considered to be heavy meal (not waist line friendly!) and consumed at times outside of normal working hours. It is often served with doogh, a savoury yogurt based drink flavoured with dried mint and salt but you can often order Coke as well. The entrée for biryani is a type of soup, with pieces of bread soaked in meat stock freshly made at the restaurant. Similar to another traditional Iranian food called abgousht, this bowl of soup is called tilit and is topped with mint and kashk, a thick savoury diary product commonly used in many traditional Iranian foods.