In 1526, the Mughal emperor, Babur, invaded Hindustan. Babur was born in what is now known as Uzbekistan and he pushed through Afghanistan to reach Hindustan, which is the former name of northern India.
The cuisine from Babur’s homeland was heavily influenced by the culinary styles of Persia and, to some extent, Turkey.
The pulao (or pilau) dish was introduced in the time of Babur and was essentially meat (often mutton) fried in fat with water, rice and vegetables added. The Mughals liked to eat meat, such as beef and mutton, whereas most of the population of Hindustan were vegetarians. There are lots of variations of vegetarian pulao/pilau recipes that you can try. There’s a very easy Curry Focus recipe for Pulao Rice here and there’s a Vegetable Pulao recipe here.
During the rule of Babur’s son, Humuyan, the pulao/pilau dish became even more popular and evolved into containing fruit and chicken, not just spices.
The third emperor was Akbar and the pulao/pilau dish evolved even further into a completely new dish, biryani. Biryani is similar to pulao/pilau but usually contains meat that has been marinated in yogurt and is more than likely to contain onions, garlic, almonds, saffron and rice as well as a wide variety of spices. You can see a recipe for Chicken Biryani here and for a Lamb Biryani here.
The Mughals built the most famous building in the world. Akbar’s grandson, Shahjahan, was responsible for creating the Taj Mahal, in Agra.
The Taj Mahal is a great Mughal gift to the world.
And there’s no denying that the pulao/plau and biryani dishes are also great Mughal gifts to the world.