Prawn Biryani and Boondi Raita

This is my sister’s recipe and I wanted to make it for guests staying with us last weekend, so I trialed it on Mr Mack the week before and it was an instant hit. It is a simple to follow recipe, with no exotic ingredients. If you stick to the recipe it will turn exactly like how its pictured in the photo. I served it with Boondi Raita.

Ingredients:

• Rice preparation:
• 2 cups washed Basmati Rice
• 5-6 Cloves
• 1 inch Cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 Cardamon
• Juice of 1/2 Lemon
• 10-15 Black Peppercorns
• Salt as per taste

• Prawn Marinade
• 2 packets of King Prawns cleaned & de-veined (about 330 gms)
• 1 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
• 1 tsp Chilly powder
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp Biryani masala
• 10-12 Mint leaves
• Salt as per taste

• Other Ingredients
• 2 Large onions (sliced finely)
• 1 tbsp Ghee
• 1 tbsp cooking Oil
• chopped coriander leaves

• Boondi Raita
• 100 gms Boondi (plain not the sweet one)
• 100 gms Greek Yoghurt
• Chaat Masala
• chopped Coriander leaves

Method:

Mix all the ingredients for the prawn marinade and keep aside for a minimum of 30 mins.

Next add all the spices and lemon juice to water and bring to a boil and then add the rice.

When the rice is almost cooked add salt and mix well.

Drain the water and keep the rice aside. (Tip- fluff the rice and spread the rice on a plate to cool).

In a pan heat the oil and ghee.

Add salt, cumin seeds and the finely chopped coriander leaves (for added flavour) and fry for one minute.

Add onions finely slices and fry till almost brown.

Add ginger garlic paste, biryani masala and two big ripe finely chopped tomatoes, 1/2 tsp sugar & fry well till the tomatoes are soft.

Add marinated prawns marinate & cook well.

Once the prawns are cooked, lower the flame to a simmer and top with a layer of cooked rice. Top with a few spots of ghee around the edges of the pan. Cover and cook for 10 mins. Prawn briyani is ready to serve.

Tip: I divided the prawn mixture and rice into two portions and made two layers of each. This way the flavours are better distributed.

For boondi raita:

Place the boondi in a bowl and add water till the boondi are covered and keep aside for a minimum of 30-45 minutes. The boondi will float for a bit till they start absorbing water and then they will settle.

Tip the water that hasn’t been absorbed and add the yoghurt, chaat masala and chopped coriander leaves and mix well.