Berry pulao is a Parsi rice dish of fragrant long-grain rice cooked with whole spices and crisp fried onions, usually with chicken or mutton, and finished with a scatter of tart dried Iranian barberries. The meat is braised in a spiced masala, the rice is parboiled with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and bay, and the two are layered and steamed together so the grains stay separate and aromatic. The barberries, fried briefly in ghee, add bursts of sourness and color against the rich rice. It is the dish made famous by the Parsi café Britannia & Co. in Mumbai.
The dish belongs to the Parsis, the Persian-descended Zoroastrian community of western India, and marries a Persian-style jeweled pilaf with Indian spicing. Its fame rests largely on one address: Britannia & Co., the Parsi-Irani restaurant opened in Ballard Estate, Bombay, in 1923 by Rashid Kohinoor, where berry pulao became the signature and the recipe is kept a closely guarded secret. The defining barberries are imported from Iran, where they are common in dishes such as zereshk polo, and are not widely grown in India; the restaurant family is said to bring them in from Iran themselves. Beyond Britannia, the dish is now made in Parsi home kitchens across Mumbai.
The rice comes up golden and separate, glossy with ghee and studded with dark-fried onion. Bite into a barberry and it pops with a sharp, almost cranberry-like sourness that cuts the richness of the spiced meat beneath. The chicken or mutton is fork-tender from braising; whole cardamom and cinnamon perfume each mouthful. Crisp fried onion adds sweetness and crunch against the soft grains.
This is a layered, twice-cooked pilaf rather than a one-pot dish. Parboiling the rice with whole spices in plenty of salted water lets each grain swell and absorb aroma while staying firm, so it does not turn mushy when finished. The meat is braised separately in its masala until tender, then rice and meat are layered and steamed gently on low heat (a light dum), the trapped steam marrying the two without overcooking the grains. Barberries are fried in ghee for only seconds, often with a pinch of sugar, just enough to soften and gloss them; cooked longer they scorch and turn bitter, so they go on near the end.
Variations
Britannia serves both chicken and mutton berry pulao; a vegetarian version omits the meat and leans on the rice, nuts and barberries. The dish sits within a family of Parsi rice dishes: pulav-daal (a wedding pilaf of mutton-studded rice with a dal alongside) and the Persian zereshk polo (barberry rice with saffron) that inspired its jeweled finish. Cooks who cannot source Iranian barberries sometimes substitute dried cranberries, though the sourness is milder.
On the Palate
Where Berry Pulao sits in the Indian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4
How it's made
7 steps · 30 min
- 120 min
Marinate the chicken or mutton in yogurt, ginger-garlic paste, chili and a little garam masala.
- 210 min
Fry sliced onions in ghee until deep golden and crisp; set most aside as a topping.
- 325 min
In the same pan, braise the marinated meat with tomato and ground spices until tender and the masala is thick.
- 415 min
Separately, parboil the soaked basmati rice in salted water with cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and bay until about 70 percent cooked, then drain.
Watch outParboil the basmati only to about 70 percent done, then drain — the grains finish in the steaming step, so fully cooked now means mushy rice at the end.
- 525 min
Layer the rice over the meat masala, scatter over the reserved fried onions, cover and steam on very low heat until the rice finishes and the flavors meld.
- 62 min
Fry the barberries in a little ghee with a pinch of sugar for a few seconds until glossy.
Watch outFry the barberries in ghee just a few seconds until glossy — cook them longer and they scorch and turn bitter, so they go in near the end.
- 72 min
Fluff the pulao, scatter the fried barberries over the top and serve hot.
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