Prawns And Capsicum Biryani.

Spicy Prawns And Capsicum Biryani ..... A simple yet scrumptious biryani with the awesome crunchy taste of fresh prawns ....... Truly exotic .....

This one is a simple and quick biryani with the addition of prawns for taste. The biryani is spicy and can be served with some raita as an accompaniment without the hazzels of having to prepare a curry too. But if you still want to prepare one just prepare a curry that is not very spicy say something like a kadi or even spicy dal fry will turn out good and nice. The choice is yours and as per your family tastes as for me I always serve spicy biryani with raita and here I have served it with simple cabbage and onion raita with just pepper seasonig.

For the Prawns and Capsicum Biryani ….

Ingredients : 

Basmati / Jeera Rice – 3 cups.

Prawns : 25-30 large sized.

Vegetables: 

Capsicum : 3 large cut into medium sized cubes.

Onions : 3 large finely sliced lengthwise.

Tomatoes : 3 large cut into medium sized cubes.

Spices :

Jeera – 1 tsp

Cinnamon – 2” length 4-5 pieces.

Pepper –1 tsp

Cloves – 1 tsp

Green Cardamoms – 5-6

Black Cardamoms – 4-5

Crushed Jaivitri – ¼ tsp

Star anise – 2 – 3

Bay leaves – 2-3

Masala Powders :

Jeera Powder : 1 tsp

Coriander Powder : 1 tblsp.

Haldi Powder : 1 tsp

Fennel Powder : 1 tsp

Garam Masal Powder : 1 tsp

Salt to taste.

Ghee : ½ cup

Saffron : ½ tsp tsp soaked in little bit of warm milk. 

Coriander leaves : 1 cup finely chopped.

Pudina leaves : ¼ cup finely chopped.

Shell about 25-30 large sized prawns, de-vein them and wash in plenty of water. Drain off all water and put it in bowl. Add in 1 tsp of haldi powder, 1 tsp of chilly powder, 1 tblsp of thick curds and salt to taste and mix well. Keep this aside to marinate for 1 hour or so.

Meanwhile boil about 2 liters of water. When the water comes to boil, wash and add in 3 cups of Jeera rice / basmati rice and bring to a boil. Stir well and allow to boil for 3-4 minutes. Add in a tsp of salt and 1 tablespoon of oil and mix well. Remove from fire, cover and keep aside. Keep checking the rice to see if it is cooked. When cooked to about 75% drain of all the water and add in enough cold water once or twice to arrest further cooking of the rice. Strain off all water and keep this ready aside.

Heat ½ cup of ghee in a thick bottomed large enough kadai. When hot and melted add in a handful of cashews and when browned remove and keep aside. Then in the same kadai add in half of the onions finely sliced lengthwise and deep fry till browned. Remove from oil taking care to see that you drain off the oil in kadai and keep this also aside.

Now in the same kadai add in add in Jeera, Pepper, Green Cardamoms, Black Cardamoms, Crushed Jaivitri, Star anise, Bay leaves and fry for a few minutes. Now add in the remaining finely sliced onions and fry only for 2-3 minutes, till they are just translucent, do not brown them.

Add in the Jeera powder, dhania powder, chilly powder, fennel powder, garam masala powder and mix well and fry for a few minutes. Now add in the capsicum, pinch of salt, mix well, lower the heat to medium, cover and let cook till 75%. Once cooked add in the tomatoes and the prawns along with the mariantes and mix well. Cover and cook till the tomatoes and the prawns are done. This will hardly take 5 minutes. Remove from fire immediately. Do not overcook once you add in the prawns as then they will not only shrink in size but will also get hardened and rubbery. For the prawns to remain soft you should not even overcook them or repeat cooking methods much.

Further I have proceeded the Biryani in Electric rice cooker, you may use the kadai method too. Sprinkle little bit of the deep fried onions in a layer at the bottom, sprinkle some finely chopped coriander and pudina leaves too. Now spread 1/3 of the cooked rice in a layer and spread evenly, sprinkle some of the saffron soaked in milk. Top it with a layer of half of the cooked vegetables with prawns and spread evenly too. Now spread in a little bit of fried cashews and the onions and then spread on top of it again 1/3 of the cooked rice. Sprinkle some coriander leaves, pudina leaves, saffron soaked in milk and top with the remaining cooked vegetable prawns mixture and spread evenly on a layer. Again repeat with rice, coriander, pudina and the remaining cooked rice in layers. Finally sprinkle saffron soaked in milk remaining onions, cashews, pudina and coriander. Sprinkle here and there some melted ghee. Cover with a tight lid and cook on heat in electric cooker till done. Say for 5-10 minutes till you get nice aroma. 

Remove and keep aside for 25-30 minutes. Serve hot with some raita or any curry as accompaniment. You will not need any spicy curry as the biryani itself is quite spicy and goes well with any raita. I served with simple cabbage and onion raita. I usually like my biryani with raita and not any more of heavy gravy based curries. But the choice of serving is always yours and to your liking. So go ahead and enjoy the Biryani fresh and hot.