Prawn Biryani

As you all know I'm in India now and enjoying each and every moment here. It's Dusshera-Diwali season, so preparation is at its peak. But I still miss my daily routine there in USA. To be precise, I'm missing my hubby!

I believe, all of us have a similar daily morning routine. Waking up next to your sweetheart.. feeling the morning rays in your balcony.. breathing in the fresh air.. sipping your morning tea and hoping for a perfect day. We bloggers have some extra activities and they are logging into your computer/lappi to check your emails and going thru the comments for your last post.

Most of the time, I'll be reading those comments along with Sree and he will be appreciating me and sometimes pulling my leg for some thoughts present in those posts. I donno why but I'm missing those routines. So today, I thought to share my hubby's favo "Prawn Biryani" and I dedicate this recipe to him.

Well to be very honest, I'm not a die-hard fan of varieties of biryani. At the same time, yeah my hubby is!! But, prawn biryani was my choice. How can you resist to make use of those quality prawns? Prawns needs to be cooked with great care. If they are over-cooked, they will become hard, rubber-like. Also, the spices added in biryani makes prawns spicy, chewy and flavorful.

Ingredients
2 cups basmati rice
20-25 prawns (shells removed)
1 onion chopped
1 tomato chopped
1tbsp ginger mince
1 tbsp garlic mince
½ cup cilantro
½ cup mint leaves
2 green chillies
Oil for frying

Masala
1tsp turmeric powder
2 tsp chilli powder
1tbsp cumin powder
1tbsp coriander powder
2tbsp garam masala
4-5 cardamom pods
4-5 cloves
1tbsp whole black pepper
2-3 bay leaves
1 inch cinnamon stick

Garnish
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup cashew nuts
3 tsp ghee for frying nuts and raisins
1 tbsp fried onions
1 tbsp cilantro, chopped
a pinch of saffron ( soaked in warm milk)
Method

Heat pot full of water. When the water boils add the rice into it. Take care that the rice is not fully cooked. The texture of rice must be like it needs to be cooked for another 5 mins. Remove from flame and drain water. Spread it gently so that they are not sticky.Meanwhile heat a heavy bottom pan and add the whole cardamoms, cloves,cinnamon,pepper and bay leaves. When they start to splutter add the chopped onions.Saute them and add minced ginger garlic.

Add chopped tomatoes and cook them on low fire till done.Add the masalas. Add prawns and saute them. Add ground cilantro and mint paste. Saute them for couple of minutes .Finally add some water and simmer till the gravy thickens and the prawns are half cooked. Meanwhile in a frying pan, saute raisins and cashew nuts in ghee/ clarified butter.

In a heavy bottom vessel with a lid layer the prawn curry, then rice and finally top them with ingredients for garnishing.Close the lid and simmer on a low fire for 3 to 5 minutes.

Enjoy and serve with raita .

Note: Ready made Biryani masala can be used instead of masala.

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