Biryani arrived in India through the Mughal courts of the 16th century. Layered in a sealed handi, it cooked in its own steam. This technique is called dum, meaning "breath" in Persian.

That breath carries the whole dish. The sealed pot traps every fragrance: the sweetness of caramelized onions, the warmth of cardamom, the sharp edge of saffron soaked in warm milk.

Six hundred years later, across six languages and thirty-six states, the sealed pot still does the same thing. Nothing has to change when something is already right.