A plate of Kolkata biryani comes with a boiled potato beside
the meat, and often an egg too. To many people elsewhere, especially in
Bangladesh, this looks odd. Why would a dish of rice and meat need a potato?
There are many popular answers, but the honest one is that no firm proof
exists.
An exiled nawab’s kitchen
The story begins in 1856, when the British East India
Company deposed Wajid Ali Shah, the last Nawab of Awadh (Oudh). He left Lucknow
for Calcutta and settled in Metiabruz, on...
