Design your own biryani

Rice

400 g, about 2 1/4 cups, makes one typical pot.

Start from a recipe

1. Meat, fish or egg

   540 g · 135%

   0%median 133% · 26% use none300%

   In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 51% less.

   Chicken, mutton, fish or eggs, weighed with the bone. Often more meat than rice; a vegetable biryani has none.

2. Yogurt

   115 g · 29%about 1/2 cup

   0%median 29% · 25% use none100%

   In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 49% less.

   The marinade, and in a kacchi biryani the liquid the raw meat cooks in under the rice. A third of recipes use none.

3. Onions

   230 g · 58%about 2 cups

   0%median 59%164%

   In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 49% fewer.

   Sliced and fried brown (birista) for the marinade and the layers, weighed raw, plus any cooked into the masala.

4. Ghee or oil

   55 g · 14%about 1/4 cup

   0%median 14%44%

   In the middle: 50% of recipes use more, 49% less.

   Ghee, oil or both, for frying the onions and drizzling between the layers.

5. Mint and coriander

   3 g · 0.7%about 2 1/2 tbsp

   0%median 0.7% · 37% use none6.4%

   In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 48% less.

   Leaves layered with the rice. Light by weight, and many recipes ask only for a handful.

6. Spices

   18 g · 4.6%about 2 1/2 tbsp

   0.8%median 4.6%14%

   In the middle: 48% of recipes use more, 49% fewer.

   Whole spices in the rice water, ground spices and masala in the meat, saffron on top.

7. Potatoes

   none · 0%

   0%median 0% · 79% use none146%

   None, like 79% of recipes.

   Kolkata's addition, and Cape Malay breyani's. Four recipes in five have none.

8. Salt

   none · 0%

   0%median 0% · 54% use none7.5%

   None, like 54% of recipes.

   For the marinade and the rice water, where much of it is poured away. More than half the recipes say only “to taste”.