Decades later, young Bilal would watch his grandfather prepare the biryani every Friday morning before Jummah prayers. The ritual was sacred. Haji Usman never measured with cups or spoons; he measured with instinct and memory. He would first marinate the goat meat—always from the Lyari butcher who named his goats after famous boxers—in a paste of ginger, garlic, crushed green chilies, fried onions, and a fistful of fresh mint. The marinade sat for exactly the time it took to recite Surah Yasin twice. Then came the baghaar —the tempering. He would heat ghee in a massive deg (pot), adding whole spices: cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, and black cumin. The sound was like applause.
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes | Difficulty: Medium pak liyari biryani recipe
In the cafes of Pak Colony and Liyari, this biryani is never served alone. Decades later, young Bilal would watch his grandfather
Determined, Bilal went to the Lyari River—once a stream, now a drain—and found an old fisherman selling wild tilapia. It was unheard of to use fish in biryani, but Bilal remembered his grandfather’s saying: “Pak Liyari means ‘pure neighborhood.’ The purity is in feeding your people, not in rigid rules.” He would first marinate the goat meat—always from