Prawn Biriyani

People say change is the only constant in life and for me change comes in the form of experiments. I have always fancied that my experiments would one day make me as famous as Madam Curie. Ok, if not Madam Curie, at least a Madam Curry. So keeping my quest alive I am here donning the bloggers life. I must admit that all through my life I have been attempted to venture into different horizons but unfortunately every time my horizon seem to hit the dead ends. And these dead ends force me to explore new venture.Isn’t that a human mind is all about; it keeps wandering about something and ends up nowhere. But here I’m going to make sure that I keep my mind focused only on 3 things, which I’m so passionate about to talk, which is the food, music and a little bit of biased philosophy. Out of which “food” have always been so close to my heart, not alone with the eating part but also with the amount of effort involved with the making of it. For people who hate cooking, they jus refer this as a tedious,and boring job, but people who loves it, they consider this as the most passionate and a loving job. I’m one of those passionate people who love to put together all my senses towards the “food”, which off lately amuses me a lot.


To begin with, does anybody know why food is playing a major role in each and everyone’s life? Not only it satisfies our taste buds but it also serves a different principle, which is the survival of mankind. Hmm..that everybody knows, I know, but I have a different standpoint towards it, we human run behind so many thing through out the day, but at the end of the day what makes us complete is our daily meal, even if it is a glass of milk, it does count. Sit back, I’m definitely not going to post a recipe for a glass of milkJ. Let me start off with my most popular recipe, infact I can claim it as my signature dish, “Prawn Biriyani”. I remember trying this recipe for the first time when I was 14, was experimenting with some variations and to my surprise it came out so well for the first time and got pat on my shoulders for the effort I made. So me being an amateur blogger will have to perk up more on showcasing my recipes.

Prawn Biriyani, I would assertively classify it as the most comfort food, which is so light with the palette and at the same time sturdily satisfies the souls on a cozy afternoon.


Here goes the recipe:

Ingredients:

Prawns (deveined and cleaned) -250gms
Onion (sliced) -2 Nos
Ginger -50gms
Garlic -50gms
Green chillies -4Nos
Red Chilli Powder -2tablespoons
Dhania Powder -1 ½ tablespoon
Turmeric powder -1/2 teaspoon
Garam masala powder -1teaspoon
Salt -as per requirement
Refined Oil -6tablespoon
Ghee -2tablespoon
Basmathi Rice - 4 cups
Water -8 cups
Coriander leaves(chopped) -1/2 bunch
Juice of lemon -1 No
Cloves -4Nos
Cardamom -2Nos
Cinnamon -1No
Bay leaf -1No

Method:

This recipe is a 4 step process. Before that grind ginger, garlic and greenchillies together as a paste



Step1:
Marinade the prawns with ¾ tbsp of chilli powder,1/4 of turmeric powder, and salt for one hour. In a pan pour 3 tablespoon of oil, and when its hot add the marinated prawns and fry till it becomes soft, make sure not to over cook as it tend to become hard.

Step2:
After draining he prawns once its done add chopped ¾ of all the onion in the same prawn friend oil along with the rest of the refined oil. Fry the onions till it becomes translucent. Then add the ginger, garlic, greenchilli paste. Sauté for another 10 minutes till the raw smell disappears. Now add the remaining chilli powder, dhania powder, turmeric powder and required amount of salt for the gravy alone. Add ½ cup of water and let the masala to cook till the oil separates from it. Finally add the fried prawns to it and cook for another 5 minutes, and add juice of lime, garam masala, and finely chopped coriander after switching off the stove.

Step3:
I used electric cooker to cook the rice, it can also be done in open or closed pan method.
Before cooking the rice, it has to be soaked for 10 minutes and drain it. In a pan, add the ghee, season with whole garam masala’s like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaf, add a handful of sliced onion, sauté till it becomes pink, then add the drained rice fry well for a while. Add the required amount of water along with salt. Cook for 20 minutes in low flame.

Step4- Wrap it all:
In a heavy bottomed flat vessel add few drops of ghee, and then layer half of the cooked rice. Add the prawn gravy on top of the bed of rice followed by the remaining cooked rice. Pour few drops of ghee on the sides of the rice, and close the lid tightly and cook on a very slow flame for 20-30 minutes. After which slightly fluff up the rice along with the gravy, carefully, and serve hot with cucumber salad.