In the last few years I started noticing some random fast food carts selling a quiet unfamiliar quick food item with the name veg biryani. Over the years the Indian streets, especially of North India, got flooded with Veg Biryani carts.
Veg Biryani? I had never imagined Biryani like a cult dish from Hyderabad getting sold here and there at every side and corner of a street. Biryani was okay but Veg before Biryani was something which was not easily digestible even without eating it.
Veg Biryani cart
Veg Biryani carts, which were very few in numbers in the beginning, started getting mushroomed and in the unnoticeable short span of time it became a milestone in the world of Indian street food.
Now it’s an independent street food which seems to be designed to capture the mood of the taste buds and taste-hungry souls of the street level people. I’ve never seen any big hotel or restaurant serving Veg Biryani. They say there is nothing like Veg Biryani. They even doubt Biryani prefixed with Veg to disguise the nonveg character of Biryani.
Veg Biryani had been troubling my taste-loving soul for a long time, but no such situation arose which would facilitate the union of me and Veg Biryani to be possible. Whenever I come across a Veg Biryani vendor either I’m not feel like eating or the cart would be situated in a rather awkward spot or area where any individual who deems themselves cultured or refined would usually choose to avoid eating veg biryani or any other item.
Finally yesterday I got a chance to have the maiden taste of Veg Biryani when I was traveling with my daughter Harshi to drop her to her college for her exam. Actually I was in my village with my family for some emergency reason and the next day my daughter had to appear in an exam in the Bareilly city. Bareilly is around 160 kilometres from my village. My daughter was instructed to report by 9am in the college which is located in the deep mid of the city.
At 5.30am I started for Bareilly with my daughter by my Santro. Around 8.15am I reached the outskirts of the City. Plan was to reach home first from where my daughter had to collect some essentials from her exam.
Before I could enter the city, my daughter said that she is feeling hungry and if she could have some tea and biscuits it’ll be fine. Next moment I spotted a dhaba on the left side of the road in which a lady was still getting things ready in the routine way. I asked her for tea. For tea there was a separate chulha, and within no time we were served tea in smart earthen pots with some slices of rusks. After finishing the tea as soon as I was getting ready to leave I noticed a young boy emerging from other side of the dhaba pushing a thela with a super big round pot placed on it and a small banner with ‘Tejpal Ki Shudh Shakahari Veg Biryani’, written over it. As soon as I spotted the Veg Biryani thela, “let’s have a try”, I said to myself.
I went to the thela and asked about Veg Biryani.
“It’s fresh and nice sir”, ₹20 for half and ₹40 for a full plate, you can get it packed also.” he replied by showing me smaller and bigger rectangle plastic bowls.
“Give me a half,” I decided to have the maiden taste of Veg Biryani.
He filled a bowl with Veg Biryani, which was a pile of semi fried rice with lots of soya nuggets covered with some boodi wala raita and garnished with handful of coriander leaves and chopped onion. I was amazed with what I was getting for ₹20. Though it was looking like some fancy pulao, Veg Biryani was looking like a smart name for a smart looking dish.
When I had my first spoon of Veg Biryani. I was impressed with the taste and quality of food. It was food with value for money. I liked my maiden meal of the day. I asked him to pack one more plate for Harshi who was sitting in the car.
While Harshi started relishing her maiden Veg Biryani, I started driving. Harshi too gave a delicious thumbs up. I had got the answer to the question why people are mad for Veg Biryani. I was wondering how I stayed away from savouring such a delightful diet of the town. It deserves to be the main course of Indian street food. When street food lanes are flooded with momos, pizzas, bhature, burgers etc, then entry of Veg Biryani seems a good bet as it’s loaded with plain rice with soya nuggets and some veggies which is a comparatively better choice at quite affordable price.
Meanwhile I was able to drop Harshi to her exam centre timely. It was a nice discovery of a new taste in the town. Let’s see how long it takes for big hotels and restaurants to place Veg Biryani in their menu.
