(Submitted photos/Amna Ahmed).

By Aaron Schulze

Chicken Biryani

Spezia House’s chicken biryani named B.C.’s favourite family recipe

Jun 20, 2021 | 3:24 PM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops’ only Pakistani restaurant achieved a unique milestone over the weekend.

Amna Ahmed, part of the family-owned Spezia House in Kamloops, had her “Spezia Special Chicken Biryani” named as the winner of Global BC’s Favourite Family Recipe Contest.

Having just opened in October 2020 – on the upswing of the second wave of COVID-19 in B.C. – Ahmed said she’s still coming to grips with the victory.

“Kamloops has been ever so gracious… when people give you positive feedback, that’s a feeling you can’t express,” Ahmed said. “On a whim, because it’s a cooking competition and I’m very passionate, I thought I’d enter. When I told my friends and family I was thinking about it, they definitely gave me a lot of push. They were assured I’d win. I asked if they were bias and they told me I made the best chicken biryani ever, and that gave me a little more hope.”

Ahmed was happy enough to learn that she made the shortlist of the top 50 entrants, let alone having her chicken biryani being named a top five dish. She got to record a video and virtually cook alongside Chef Wayne Sych from Joe Fortes Seafood and Chop House in Vancouver, and have it broadcast on Global.

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Chicken biryani is a traditional Pakistani/Indian dish; a staple that comes with good news and festivals. Both the chicken and rice and chicken are cooked separately at nearly the halfway mark, then combined to cook in steam. Ahmed said it takes her between 60 and 90 minutes to cook chicken biryani with her family recipe.

“It was a surreal experience to be sharing something that has been passed down to you that is so close to your heart, opening it up and showing your recipe to other people. Our mom and grandmother used to make it for us when we were little kids,” Ahmed said.

For having the winner dish, Ahmed received a $3,000 Trail Appliances gift card. Ahmed doesn’t know what to do with the reward yet, but she wants to get something for Spezia House to commemorate the milestone.