"It is widely believed that the dum pukht-style biryani traveled to colonial Calcutta with the entourage of Wajid Ali Shah, the nawab of Awadh, who was exiled to Calcutta by the British in 1858. The nawab’s cooks are often credited for adding potatoes to the rice-and-meat dish that gave Kolkata biryani its singular identity. Manzilat Fatimah (Manzi to her friends and patrons), a direct descendant of the nawab, serves up her family’s signature biryani cooked in pungent mustard oil at a small eatery she runs from her home’s terrace. But her menu goes beyond the popular rice-and-meat dish to include other Awadhi specialties that are more likely to have appeared on the nawab’s table: elegant yakhni pulao, melty galawati kebabs, gossamer parathas cooked on an upended tawa, pasanda (thin slivers of spiced meat), and shahi phirni, a custard-like pudding made with ground rice, milk, and nuts." - Priyadarshini Chatterjee
