Amateur Perceptions: Prawns Biriyani

Ingredients – Rice:

Basmati Rice / Jeera Rice     --   ½ kg
Water                                            --   1 ½ measure of rice.
Lemon                                           --   1 medium
Cloves                                           --   3 - 4
Cardamom                                 --   1 - 2
Cinnamon                                   --   1 medium piece
Bay leaves                                  --   2 leaves
Ghee                                              --   3 tbsp
Salt                                                --   1 tbsp (Check the taste though)

Ingredients – For garnishing & layering:

Onions                                         -- 1
Cashew Nuts                            -- ¼ cup
Raisins                                        -- ¼ cup
Garam Masala                         -- 1 tsp
Coriander leaves                    -- A bunch
Mint leaves                               -- A bunch

Ingredients – Gravy:

Prawns                                      -- ½ kg
Turmeric powder                 -- ¼ tsp
Red Chilly powder               -- ½ tsp (I’ve added more green chillies)
Coriander powder               -- 1 tsp
Finely Chopped Onions     -- 2 – 3 medium sized
Green chillies                         -- 6 – 7
Garlic                                        -- 8 – 9 large cloves
Ginger                                       -- 1 inch piece
Tomato                                    -- 2 - 3 medium sized
Garam Masala                      -- 1 tsp
Pepper                                      -- 1 tsp
Coriander leaves                 -- A bunch (around 10 – 12 stem)
Mint leaves                            -- A bunch (around 10 – 12 leaves)
Oil                                              -- 4 tbsp
Salt                                            -- to taste

Preparation of Gravy:

Marinate the prawns with turmeric powder, red chilly powder, coriander powder and salt. Keep it aside for half an hour.

Grind green chillies, garlic and ginger to a fine paste.

Heat oil in a pan and fry one finely chopped onion until its golden brown in colour. Keep it aside for garnishing. Then fry the cashews and raisins and keep them aside. (I did not use raisins as we are not big fans of it.) If you want to fry these in ghee do it just before frying the rice.

Fry the marinated prawns slightly. Do not over cook. Remove and keep aside.

Saute the left over onions in oil until they become translucent. Add the ground chilly mixture. Add the tomatoes, pepper powder & garam masala and cook until the tomatoes are squishy. Add water if required.

Add the fried prawns and chopped leaves. Cook it closed for 2 -3 minutes until the prawns and the gravy blends well. Make sure you have enough gravy for the biriyani. Keep the gravy aside.

Preparation of Rice:

Wash the rice thoroughly and soak in cold water for 25 – 30 minutes. Add 2 tbsp of ghee to a vessel and fry the drained rice for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, keep the water on another stove and let it boil. Add the boiling water to the fried rice. Add salt,cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and cardamom. Once the rice starts boiling, add the lemon juice (strained juice -> this helps the rice to be non-sticky).

Cook the rice with the vessel closed with a lid. Also stir in between to make sure that the rice does not stick on the bottom of the vessel. Once the rice is 80% cooked drain the water from the rice. Empty this into another vessel, preferably other flat vessel/plates and let it cool.

Mix the biriyani:

Spread 1 tbsp of ghee in a big vessel (Oven safe, if baking in oven). As the first layer, spread some rice in the vessel. Spread the chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves, garam masala, fried onions, raisins and cashews. Now, as the second layer; spread the prawns with the gravy. Continue the layering until you are done with a layer of rice and the garnishing at the top.

Cover this and keep in a pre-heated oven at 250 F for 15 minutes.

Serve hot with raitha, pappadam and chammanthi.