Savvy with biryani
RIDZWAN A. RAHIM roots for the nasi biryani you can find in the mamak shop. But he also likes the Arab variety, and the Johor-style biryani gam.

I don't know what does it for other people when they visit a mamak (Indian Muslim) restaurant, but for me, it has to be a good plate of nasi biryani.

When I go to a new mamak restaurant, I wills always make it a point to try the biryani and compare it with the ones I have had at other places. I'd compare in terms of taste, portion and price.

My personal favourite is the honey chicken biryani from Al_Ehsan Restaurant beside the old station in my hometown in Kajang. Both restaurant and bus station are no longer but I remember when back in the 90s, the biryani cost around RM5 and the portion was large enough for two guys to eat - provided they were skinny like me.

Nowadays, the closest that comes to the Al-Ehsan biryani in tase, is the one in Warta supermarket in Bandar Baru Bangi.

Nasi biryani (sometimes spelled nasi beriyani or nasi neriani) is basically basmati rice sauteed in ghee, cooked with saffron (said to be the world's most expensive spice) and garnished with chunks of cashew nut, slivered almonds or raisins.

The rice is usually eaten with spice-cooked lamb, mutton, beef, honey chicken or fried chicken, pappadam and acar (pickles).

Normally you would have your nasi biryani with dhal or curry for gravy but recently I had the opportunity to try something new. At Makiah Restaurant, an eatery in the vicinity of Ampang Point that serves unadulteratedArab dishes, I had the largest serving of biryani I'd ever had in my life (eaten with half a chicken!) and for gravy, I had yoghurt with mint. You have got to try this. For RM17, it was simply out of this world. Of course, discussions about nasi biryani won't be complete without mentioning the other type of biryani, called biryani gam. This is something Johor is famous for.

Biryani gam is different from the mamak biryani in the sense that the chicken, lamb, mutton or beef is cooked together with the rice itself.
This way, the rice will taste different depending on whether you ordered chicken biryani gam, beef biryani gam or mutton biryani gam.