More than 25 years ago, my mother gave me a seafood biriyani recipe, which I wrote down carefully in my spiral notebook. I never used that recipe until very recently. I looked it over and felt it wasn't quite right. I thought of how my mother was never very good at narrating her recipes. I remembered preparing things according to her verbal instructions and how she would taste it and say this is missing and that is missing. "But you never told me that!" I'd exclaim, and she would calmly respond that it needed to be in there! This recipe may have key ingredients missing or an extra ingredient or two. In any case, I have used it to make shrimp biriyani many times, to rave reviews. I suggested to my son today that he take some as a host gift to a home he was visiting for the first time. He dismissed me by saying that's weird. I suspect the reality is that he wanted to keep it all for himself.
Ingredients
For the rice
Basmati rice - 6 cups (I am partial to Tilda basmati)
Cloves - 8
Peppercorns - 12 to 15
Cardamom pods - 5 to 6 (split the pods open to release the flavours)
Cinnamon sticks - 4
Salt - 6 level tsp
For the shrimps
Shrimps - 1.5 kg shell on shrimp
Kashmiri chili powder - 3 tsp
Turmeric - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste
Saffron - 1/2 tsp saffron strands dissolved in 1/2 cup of warm water. A few strands to put in the water while cooking the rice.
Oil - for frying the shrimp
To be ground to a paste in a blender
Coriander powder - 3 level tbsp
Cumin seeds (Nalla Jeerakam - the thin brown cumin) - 1 level tsp
Fennel seeds (Perum Jeerakam - the pale green seeds) - 1 level tsp
Ginger garlic paste - 6 heaping tsps
White poppy seed powder - 1 tsp (roast and grind poppy seeds to get a good fine powder)
Coriander leaves - 1/2 a bunch (I cannot think of a better way to express this quantity)
For the masala base
Oil - 8 tbsp
Onions - 6 large, thinly sliced
Green chilies - 8 -10 cut down the centres (increase according to your spice tolerance)
Tomatoes - 6 large sliced into thin wedges
Salt - to taste
Garam masala powder - 1 level tsp
Shell all the shrimp, wash and drain well. Measure out the red chili powder, turmeric and salt into a bowl. (you could use a little water and make a thick paste of all the powders). Toss the drained shrimp in. Mix well so that all the shrimp are coated with the spices.
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large non stick frying pan. Add the shrimp, spreading them out so that they are in a single layer. Fry for one minute. Then turn them over as fast as you can, taking care again to spread them out into a single layer. Start your timer for one minute when you begin turning the shrimp over.
When the minute is done, remove them from the pan and set aside in a bowl. Repeat till all the shrimp is fried.
The rice can be prepared first and kept aside or you can prepare the rice as you are working on the masala base for this biriyani. Wash the rice and leave it to soak in a bowl for half an hour. In a large pot, add 20 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add the whole spices, a few saffron strands and salt. Drain the rice. When the water is at a rolling boil, add the rice. The water will stop boiling when the rice is added. Bring the water back to a rolling boil and cook rice in boiling water for exactly 5 minutes. Drain into a large colander. The rice is not fully cooked at this point.
You may follow the instructions for preparing the rice from this recipe.
Start preparing the masala base. Heat the oil in a large heavy bottemed pot. Add the sliced onions and green chilis.
Fry till onions are starting to brown.
Then add the ground masala paste.
Mix in the paste and fry, stirring regularly to avoid the paste burning on the bottom of the pan. When the raw odor of the masala has changed to a cooked aroma, add the tomato wedges. Add salt to taste.
Mix well, and cover the pot so that the tomatoes cook and blend into the masala. Check regularly and stir. Add a small amount of water if the mixture is in danger of drying out. Use a wooden spoon to mash the tomatoes. When the tomatoes are well blended into the mixture and oil starts to separate from the sides, the masala is done.
Take the utensil off the stove. Add the fried shrimps. Sprinkle with 1 tsp of garam masala and mix well.
Now it is time to layer the biriyani. First preheat the oven to 350F.
I use tin foil trays to do this. Using a slotted spoon, gently layer rice into the tray. Take care not to break the grains of rice. Sprinkle the rice with the saffron water. Add a layer of shrimps.
Cover with rice. Sprinkle with more saffron water.
Cover with tin foil. Put into preheated 350F oven for 30 minutes.
I like to serve shrimp biriyani with raitha, lobster chips and a sweet pickle. My preferred pickle is Patak's Aubergine pickle. This was our Eid Ul Adha 2020 meal. Quite funny really as it is customary to serve lamb or goat biriyani for this Eid!
This looks amazing!
ReplyDelete