My first love in the seafood world: Shrimp (Prawns) and it was love at first sight…
Whether it’s fried, sautéed, grilled or buried in a bowl of rice, I die for them and my love for shrimp never seems to subside even after meeting with other handsome guys in the sea food world: P
When the incredible food blogger Anamaris at Chef it yourself approached me with her idea of starting a Top chef challenge in her blog, I couldn’t just ignore it as I love challenges and it’s always fun participating in these contests. As this is the first challenge, she made it easy by asking the contestants to blog about a dish that represents them. When I read about this, I suddenly screamed voila, it’s darn easy and I can do this. Believe me that turned out to be a wrong scream. When I started to think about a dish, which is totally me, many dishes lined up in front of me and there was a huge conflict between the dishes. When I almost got settled on one dish, another one came to me and asked me: ‘don’t you think I am your type’ and then the next one popped out and the war continued for a while. Soon, I was seen compromising with each one of the dishes, as I don’t want to unfriend them or break their hearts. I love all the dishes unconditionally…
Growing up in Kerala, I’ve enjoyed seafood a lot. Seafood was served almost every day in my house, for lunch and dinner. In my hometown, we get fresh, catch of the day fishes, which is brought to the house by fish vendors. Among them, shellfish has been my favorite, especially Shrimp. Even now I remember how I used to butter up the fish vendors in advance to bring the fresh shrimp for me. And it always worked, they never failed to bring the fresh ones.
My favorite way of devouring shrimp is by deep-frying it after seasoning it with homemade spices. However, for this contest I am going to submit the recipe for ‘Shrimp Biryani’. Biryani is yet another famous dish in India. I doubt, if there would be any special occasions without biryani. Biryani could be referred as the dish, which is served during the time of happiness and special occasions. If you stop by my house during special occasions or festival season, you are guaranteed to be treated with homemade biryani made by my mom.
Shrimp and Biryani totally represent me, shrimp being my favorite and since I am a person who loves celebration and special occasions, biryani is my type of dish. When other dishes confronted with me, shrimp biryani won over my taste buds hands down.
This recipe was inspired from Vahchef.
Shrimp Biryani:
For making homemade Biryani Masala
- Cloves- 10
- Black Cardamom- 4
- Mace- 3
- Dried Bay leaves- 2
- Green cardamom-10
- Cinnamon-3 inch slice
- Whole black Peppercorns- 10
- Black cumin- 1/2 tsp
- Fried onion- 1/4 cup
- Chili powder-1 tbsp
- Coriander powder- 2 tbsp
- Cumin powder-1 tbsp
- Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
- Fennel powder- 2 tsp
Instruction
- Grind the above ingredients into a fine powder and store it in an air-tight container.
- This biryani masala can be stored for a few months.
- This can be used for making all kinds of biryani: Chicken, lamb, Fish, vegetable, etc
For Cooking Rice
Ingredients
- Basmati Rice- 1 1/2 cups
- Cardamom- 3
- Cinnamon- 2-inch piece
- Cloves- 3
- Bay leaves- 2
- Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
- Water- 2 1/2 cups
- Salt- 1 1/4 tsp
Preparation
- Soak the basmati rice in water for 30 minutes.
- In a large pot, add the water and the spices to it, let water come to a rolling boil.
- Season the water with salt.
- Add the strained, soaked rice to the boiling water. Cover the pot & cook over medium heat.
- Cook the rice to only 85-90%, remaining cooking has to be done along with the shrimp masala.
- If there is any water in the rice, strain the water and keep aside.
Frying the Shrimp
- Shrimp, deveined and shelled- 30
- Ginger-garlic paste- 2 tsp
- Chili powder- 1/2 tsp
- Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 tsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Oil- just enough for shallow frying the shrimp
Instruction
- Devein, de-shell, and clean the shrimp under running water.
- Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and salt to the shrimp, marinate for 15 minutes.
- In a non-stick pan, add the oil, when it is heated through, add the shrimp and shallow fry in batches till the shrimp turns golden brown in color.
- Don’t over fry the shrimp.
- Remove the shrimp from the oil and keep aside.
Making the Shrimp Masala and adding the rice
Ingredients
- Oil- used for shallow frying the shrimp
- Yogurt- 1 1/2 cups
- Green chilies, chopped- 1 tbsp
- Cilantro, chopped- 1/4 cup
- Mint, chopped- 1/4 cup
- Prepared Biryani Masala- 2 tbsp
- Salt- 1/2 tsp
- Fried shrimp- 1 lb
- Cooked Rice- 1 1/2 cups
For Garnish
- Fried Onion, homemade or store-bought- 1/2 cup
- Cilantro, chopped-1/4 cup
- Saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp milk- 2 pinches
Instruction
- Heat a wide non-stick pot over medium heat, add the oil used for frying the shrimp.
- Add green chilies, cilantro, mint, salt, biryani masala and combine everything.
- Cook for 2 minutes.
- Now, add the fried shrimp, combine well.
- Add the yogurt to the shrimp, cook for 2 minutes.
- Evenly spread the shrimp masala.
- Add the cooked rice on top of the shrimp masala and spread the rice.
- Garnish with fried onions, cilantro, and saffron.
- Cover the pot with it a tight lid and cook for 10 minutes over low-medium flame.
- While serving, combine the rice and shrimp masala together and serve with Raita.
Carrot Raita
Ingredients
- Yogurt- 1 cup
- Red Onion, minced- 1/2 of the onion
- Carrot, grated- 1
- Green chilies, chopped- 1 tsp
- Cilantro chopped- 2 tbsp
- Salt- 1/4 tsp
Instruction
- Combine all the above ingredients in a bowl.
- Serve with Shrimp Biryani.
Tips
- This recipe might look like a lengthy one, believe me it’s not that hard as it seems.
- Prepare the homemade Biryani masala the previous day and this can be stored for several months and can be used for making any kinds of biryani.
- On the day of making this, you just have to make the rice and the shrimp masala.
- You could simultaneously cook the rice and fry the shrimp.
- After frying the shrimp, start making the shrimp masala.
- By then rice must have cooked, spread the rice on the shrimp masala and cook for another 10 minutes.
- Cloves- 10
- Black Cardamom- 4
- Mace- 3
- Dried Bay leaves- 2
- Whole Green cardamom-10
- Cinnamon-3 inch slice
- Black Peppercorns- 10
- Black cumin- ½ tsp
- Fried onion- ¼ cup
- Chili powder-1 tbsp
- Coriander powder- 2 tbsp
- Cumin powder-1 tbsp
- Turmeric powder-1/4 tsp
- Fennel powder- 2 tsp
- Basmati Rice- 1½ cups
- Cardamom- 3
- Cinnamon- 2-inch slice
- Cloves- 3
- Dried bay leaves- 2
- Fennel seeds- 1 tsp
- Water- 2½ cups
- Salt- 1¼ tsp
- Shrimp, deveined and de-shelled- 30
- Ginger-garlic paste- 1 tbsp
- Chili powder- ½ tsp
- Turmeric powder- ¼ tsp
- Coriander powder- 1 tsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Oil- just enough for shallow frying the shrimp
- Oil- used for shallow frying the shrimp
- Yogurt- 1½ cups
- Green chilies, chopped- 1 tbsp
- Cilantro, chopped- ¼ cup
- Mint, chopped- ¼ cup
- Biryani Masala- 2 tbsp
- Salt- ¼ tsp
- Fried shrimp- 1 lb
- Cooked Rice- 1½ cups
- Fried Onion- ½ cup
- Cilantro, chopped-1/4 cup
- Saffron, soaked in 2 tbsp milk- 2 pinches
- Yogurt- 1 cup
- Red Onion, minced- ½ small onion
- Carrot, grated- 1
- Green chilies, chopped- 1 tsp
- Cilantro chopped- 1 handful
- Salt- to taste
- Grind the above ingredients into a fine powder and store it in an air-tight container.
- This biryani masala can be stored for a few months.
- This can be used for making all kinds of biryani: Chicken, lamb, Fish, Vegetable etc
- Soak the basmati rice in water for 30 minutes.
- In a large pot, add the water and the spices to it, let the water come to a rolling boil.
- Season the water with salt.
- Add the strained, soaked rice to the boiling water and cook covered over medium heat.
- Cook the rice to only 85-90%, remaining cooking has to be done along with the shrimp masala.
- If there is any water in the rice, strain the water and keep aside.
- Devein, de-shell and clean the shrimp under running water.
- Add ginger-garlic paste, turmeric powder, chili powder, coriander powder and salt to the shrimp. Marinate the shrimp for 15 minutes.
- Place a non-stick pan over medium heat, add the oil.
- Let oil turn hot, add the shrimp and shallow fry in batches, for 4 minutes.
- Don’t over fry the shrimp.
- Remove the shrimp from the oil and keep aside.
- Heat a wide non-stick pot over medium heat, add the oil used for frying the shrimp.
- Add green chilies, cilantro, mint, salt, biryani masala and combine everything.
- Cook for 2 minutes.
- Now, add the fried shrimp, combine well.
- Add the yogurt to the shrimp, cook for 2 minutes.
- Evenly spread the shrimp masala.
- Add the cooked rice on top of the shrimp masala and spread the rice.
- Garnish with fried onions, cilantro, and saffron.
- Cover the pot with it a tight lid and cook for 10 minutes, cook over low-medium heat.
- While serving, combine the rice and shrimp masala together and serve with Raita.
- Combine all the above ingredients in a medium bowl.
- Serve with Shrimp Biryani.
On the day of making this, you just have to make the rice and the shrimp masala. You could simultaneously cook the rice and fry the shrimp.
After frying the shrimp, start making the shrimp masala. By then rice must have cooked, spread the rice on the shrimp masala and cook for another 10 minutes.
