Hyderabadi Prawns Biryani

Prawns/shrimps are always special to me because it gives me so many memories of my childhood, when dad used to prepare this spicy prawns curry with so much attention to detail to make our sundays lunch perfect.I usually dont like sea food much as I feel if they are not made correctly they can have that raw smell which totally puts me off. So I am usually hesitant to try prawns else where. During my wedding I made dad teach me his style of pranws curry and I cook often now.

Last month I was just recovering from fever and mom dad came to spend some time with me. Dad being the darling he is…went and bought lots of fish and prawns and we both made this yummy fish pulusu and prawns biryani for lunch. He was quiet amused when I was clicking pictures he kept saying how do you not hog on food and manage to click pics after coooking :p

I love biriyani so much that I am always making excuses to make at home, the aroma that biryani fills in the air and makes my normal day quiet special. If you are sea food lover you will totally dig into this biryani. Spicy and tangy and utterly delicious, a truly awesome meal for all prawn-lovers!!

Lets start cooking this awesome biryani!!

Ingredients:-

Basmati Rice: 2 cups.
Prawns(Small/large)- 300 gms
Onions: 2 medium
Tomato: 1 medium
Ginger Garlic paste:- 2 tsp
Green chillies: 5
Coriander leaves: 2 sprigs and more for garnishing.
Chilly powder: 1 tsp.
Turmeric powder: 1/2 tsp.
Pepper powder: 1/2 tsp.
Curd: 1/4 cup
Salt as needed.
Oil/ghee as needed.
Lime: Juice of half a lime.

Whole spices:

Shah jeera: 3/4 tsp
Cardamon: 6
Cloves: 8
Cinnamon: 2-3 medium sticks
Peppercorns: 1/2 tsp
Bay leaves: 2

Method:-

Take the prawns in a bowl and add ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder and marinate for 10 minutes.

In a thick bottomed kadhai/handi add equal amount of ghee and oil and fry marinated prawns on low flame for about 5 mins. Remove the prawns on to a plate and keep aside.

In the same shrimp flavored oil, add in half of the above mentioned whole the spices. Sometimes you might need another tbsp of oil or so. Now add in the sliced onions, let it saute till lightly browned.

Meanwhile, grind green chillies, mint and coriander leaves coarsely. Add this masala to the golden brown onions and cook them for a minute.

In another vessel, cook rice with 1 clove, cardamon, 1/2 inch cinnamon,1 bay leaf, salt. Pour some ghee on top and let the rice cook until its 3/4 cooked.

Add dry masala powders mentioned above with salt and mix everything evenly. Then add curd and finely chopped tomatoes.(In biryani we usually don’t add tomatoes, but because prawns don’t release any water I add tomatoes to make it more moist)

Add back the fried prawns and let it simmer away for a few minutes, so that the masala incorporates into it.

Now add the half cooked rice as first layer, on top it up with some more coriander leave and slice of lemon/lemon juice if you want some tanginess.

Spread the 2nd layer of the rice. Mix few saffron sticks in milk and spread it over the rice.Cover with lid and let it simmer on low flame for 15 min.