u/LoomAndPixel

You probably know me a bit by now, and you know that even after all these years living in India, Mauritian food still has a special place for me. So today I want to share something close to my heart: our version of biryani.

In Mauritius we call it briani, and before any Indian food purist comes at me, yes I know it is different, and that is exactly the point!

The Mauritian briani has its roots in Indian cooking but somewhere along the way it took on a life of its own. The biggest difference is the thyme. Fresh thyme goes into the meat marinade and into the rice, something you will never find in any Indian biryani, North or South. The saffron is also used more generously, and the caramelized onions get mixed directly into the rice layers rather than just sprinkled on top.

Ingredients (serves 6)
1kg bone-in chicken or mutton, 3 cups basmati rice, 2 large onions thinly sliced, 1 cup yoghurt, 4 tbsp ginger garlic paste, 2 tsp cumin, 2 tsp coriander powder, 1 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp garam masala, 3-4 fresh thyme sprigs, a generous pinch of saffron soaked in warm milk, fresh curry leaves, bird's eye chillies to taste, ghee, salt

Method
Marinate the meat overnight with yoghurt, ginger garlic paste, all the dry spices, thyme, curry leaves and chillies. Fry the onions slowly in ghee until deep golden and caramelized, set half aside. Cook the marinated meat with the remaining onions until almost done. Par-cook the rice with whole spices until 70% done, drain. Layer the rice over the meat, pour the saffron milk over the top, scatter the reserved caramelized onions through the layers, seal the pot tightly with foil and a lid and cook on the lowest possible heat for 30 to 35 minutes.

The thyme is what changes everything. It adds a freshness and a slightly earthy note that lifts the whole dish. Once you try it you will understand why Mauritians are very proud of their briani and will argue it holds its own against any regional Indian version.

This dish surprises a lot of people, even within India. Most North Indians I have asked have never tried it. It comes from Andhra and Telangana and it is built entirely around mango pickle, the spicy, oily, intensely sour kind. Not a side dish here, it is the main flavour engine of the entire meal.

Ingredients (serves 2)
2 cups cooked rice, cooled, 3-4 tbsp Avakaya mango pickle (with its oil), 1 tbsp sesame oil or the oil from the pickle jar, 1 tsp mustard seeds, 1 tbsp raw peanuts, a few curry leaves, 1 dried red chilli, a pinch of asafoetida

Method
Heat the oil, add mustard seeds and let them pop, then peanuts until golden, then curry leaves, dried chilli and asafoetida. Add the cooled rice and gently mix so the grains do not break. Add the pickle, oil included, and fold it through the rice carefully until every grain is coated. Adjust salt if needed, the pickle usually brings enough on its own.

That is genuinely it. No curry, no dal, nothing else required. The pickle oil coats every grain and the sourness, heat and salt balance out into something deeply satisfying.

It only works with a proper homemade style achaar though, the watery store bought kind will not give you the same result. We have something similar in Mauritius with our achards, vinegar based vegetable pickles eaten alongside rice and curries, but this Andhra version turns the pickle itself into the entire dish rather than a side note.

Hey everyone,

I’ve had enough of that story claiming pickles (or achars) were invented by Indians who wanted to eat British style and needed to season bland British food. It is historically completely false.

Once and for all, here is the real story:

Preserving fruits in oil, salt, and spices dates back to 2000 BCE in the Indus Valley. It existed long before any British colonist set foot there. Achar comes from the Persian word āchār, brought over by the Mughal Empire, and later spread across the Indian Ocean (Reunion, Mauritius) by sailors.

The British actually became obsessed with it. They loaded ships with jars of achars to spice up their bland rations and even created Piccalilli back home to copy the Indian recipe.

Pickles are 100% Indian. India didn't copy England; it’s the exact opposite!

Do you have any other myths or fake facts to debunk about Indian cuisine?

Living in India for years now, I still come back to this one whenever I miss home. Vindaye started as a preservation method, fishermen needed a way to keep fish edible for days without refrigeration, and turmeric plus mustard turned out to be the answer. The acidity and the spices act almost like a pickle.

Here is how my family makes it:

Ingredients
800g firm white fish, 3-4 garlic cloves, 1 large onion, a few bird's eye chillies, 1 heaped tbsp turmeric powder, 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard, 1 tbsp brown mustard seeds, 1 tsp tomato paste, a little flour, juice of 1 lemon or 6 tbsp white vinegar, rapeseed oil, salt, pepper

Method
Cut the fish into 2cm cubes, season with salt and pepper, then dust lightly with flour. Shallow fry until golden on both sides, set aside on paper towel, keep the same oil in the pan. Roughly slice the onion and garlic. Sauté the onion in the fish oil for 30 seconds on high heat, add the garlic for another 30 seconds, then the chillies. Add the fried fish back in, toss in the mustard seeds, mix gently on low heat for a few more seconds. Season lightly again.

Off heat, stir in the turmeric, wholegrain mustard, tomato paste and lemon juice or vinegar. The acidity is what makes this keep well, traditionally it gets better after a day or two in the fridge, the flavours deepen.

The colour alone makes this dish stand out, deep yellow with flecks of mustard seed. It reminds me a lot of some South Indian fish preparations with mustard and curry leaves, similar instinct, different execution.