The word biryani comes from the Farsi word 'birian', which translates from the Persian language as 'fried before cooking'. This should come to no surprise, as back in the days, the long grain basmati rice used to be fried in ghee before being cooked. It is very unclear where exactly this dish was first invented; many believe it comes from multiple Muslim centers in Northern India, like Delhi, Lucknow, and Rampur, while others believe it is a Southern Indian dish (Hyderabadi chicken dum Biryani and Thalassery Biryani are very famous), as rice is much more used in this part of the country, however, because of the origin of the word, many believe it may come from Iran, Pakistan, Iraq, and Afghanistan.