Cooking Instructions
- 1.Clean the prawns and pat them dry with a paper towel.
- 2.Marinate the prawns with salt and turmeric powder. And set it aside for atleast 30 minutes.
- 3.Heat water in a wide pot. Add shah jeera, salt, mace, star anise, green and black cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. Stir well till it boils. Check the salt, add more if required. The water should be as salty as soup.
- 4.Add the soaked rice to the boiling pot of water. Cook it till it’s about 80 percent done. The grains should be cooked, but still have a bite to them.
- 5.Drain the rice well and set it aside.
- 6.Add a few saffron strands to about 1/4 cup of warm milk and give it a stir. Over time, it will acquire a beautiful orange hue that we can use in the layering phase.
- 7.Heat oil in a pot or handi. Add some leftover fried onion oil too. Temper with cardamom, bay leaf, caraway seeds, clove and cinnamon.
- 8.Add ginger-garlic paste and cook till raw aroma disappears. Keep the flame at low to prevent burning.
- 9.Add the crispy fried onions to this and stir well.
- 10.Spice it up with coriander powder, cumin powder, biryani masala, red chilli powder. Saute it well. Do not burn the spices.
- 11.Turn off the flame and add in some whisked curd. Mix it well into the spices and oil and turn the flame back on to low.
- 12.Once oil starts to release from the sides, add the marinated prawns. Cook this for 5-7 minutes.
- 13.Add some fresh coriander and mint leaves. Mix well.
- 14.To the same pot/kadhai, add the parboiled rice and layer it well.
- 15.Drizzle ghee, saffron-infused milk, starchy rice water, and kewra water over the rice.
- 16.Garnish with chopped mint and coriander leaves.
- 17.Cover & cook on low flame for 20 minutes.
- 18.Once done, let it rest for ten more minutes.
- 19.Gently take the lid off and mix all the layers of the prawn biryani. Be gentle as the rice and prawns would be tender.
- 20.Garnish with crispy fried onions on top.
- 21.Serve hot with raita, salan, and salad on the side. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 500 g prawns, cleaned and deveined
- 500 g biryani rice
For cooking the rice:
- 2 cardamoms
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 cloves 1 tsp caraway seeds (shah jeera)
- 2 green chillies, slit in half
- 8 black peppercorns
- Salt (enough salt to make it as salty as you’d like your soup to be)
