Prawn Biryani

Its almost 2 years now since I last visited my home country and this really is a genuine reason for me to feel very home sick. My heart aches when I hear about the pouring rains, the green beauty of nature which we hardly get to see here and I do miss the homely pleasures.

 

Have you heard about this place called Salalah in southern Oman? People call it as the Switzerland of Middle east because of its beauty. It is the only place in the middle east which has rains during the peak summer days. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to this place a year back. Perhaps I was totally in love with the inviting showers and the chilly winds .

I remember the awe with which I used to watch the misty roads where it drizzled all day, the swaying palms and the rains lashing out at them, the clean and fresh look of the greenery that covered the mountains which surrounded us, the luxuriant tropical green foliage at its best, the streets engulfed in rain- these are memories that are worth beholding.

We had rains all through our stay in this heavenly place and sometimes when the sun would pop out weakly in the skies, it still would feel chilly inside our apartment. A truly rejuvenating experience. If you are living in the middle east, you should surely tour this place whenever you get a chance. I can assure you that it definitely be a journey worthwhile

Snapping out of Nostalgia, I am excited to post here a few pictures of Jebel Ittin - it is a place 40 kilometers from Salalah and we visited it on the third day of our 4 days trip to Salalah last year.
 

 

 

 

 

Now lets talk food or to be more precise its sea food today ....

 

Sea food is a surefire way to boost your health and spirits whenever you are under the weather. Besides the challenges with cleaning and shelling, fishes and other crustaceans are a powerhouse of proteins and omega-3 fatty acids which aid in brain development and lead to a healthy heart.

 Recently on one of my supermarket visits, I was very excited to find ready-to-eat frozen prawns while passing the fish counter . Somehow I prefer these ready to eat prawns because they are much less laborious to clean than the fresh ones. Also, ready to eat prawns are plentiful, and that too with no hefty price tags. But most people prefer using the fresh succulent seafood to make simply rustic dishes that are just too scrumptious and finger-licking good.

 
With these prawns, I went on to try the prawn Biryani which is a pleasantly light, fabulously sour and delightfully spicy rice dish with punchy flavors of—sweet, sour, salty, spicy—in every bite.

INGREDIENTS:

500 gms of ready to eat prawns - cleaned and washed
4 onions  (sliced)
3 big tomatoes chopped
6 Green Chillies

2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
2 tsp Chilli powder
1/2 tsp Coriander powder
Whole Garam masala items - 2 cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 cardamom, 2 medium sized cinnamon sticks,

Salt - to taste
1/2 cup Oil 
Food coloring/Saffron - a pinch
1/2 kg Basmati rice
1/4 cup Mint leaves (pudina)

Finely chopped coriander leaves - 1/4th cup

HOW TO COOK:

1) In a large pan, heat oil and add the whole garam masala items. Then add onions and Saute them for a while.

2)    Then, add the ginger garlic paste and saute for a min.  Add the washed prawns and saute it and let the water dry up completely till you see the oil  on  the top  so that the raw odour goes. 

 

 

   

3)   Add the red chilli powder, turmeric powder,coriander powder, salt  & fry for a minute.Then add  the tomatoes and little water and cook till you see oil coming up and the prawns are almost done. 

4)  Finally add the coriander leaves, green chillies and the mint leaves and cook for a minute before turning off the stove.

5) Separately cook the basmati rice (make sure the water is more than adequate for the rice to boil well and  ensuring that the rice is not sticky and every grain of rice needs to be seperate when you are draining it. The rice should not be overcooked. 

6) Add a pinch of salt to the rice while boiling it  .  Once the rice is cooked and strained  put in a layer of rice in a large dish. Add some prawn gravy to this Then again add another layer of rice and prawn gravy. Continue this until all of the rice and gravy is exhausted.

 

7)   Toss in  a handful of mint leaves, cover lid and  keep on low flame for about 10 mins for the flavours to blend . I usually keep the vessel on a griddle for the Dum.

 

 

 

Serve hot with onion raita or cucumber raita.

 



RATING NOTES:
              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :  Medium         
             RATING  POINTS         :    7/10