Prawn Biryani

This recipe originally featured in Malabar Spices.  As usual witth my own style of cooking, i presented this recipe with few alterations in term of ingredients and few preparation skills. As we know, preparing biryani tends to consume a lot of time and patience. There's few steps need to follow.  This prawn biryani was prepared quickly and easily.  Eventhough I have few collections of biryani recipe which havent posted yet tends to look for new recipe for prawn biryani. As i remember prawn biryani which i tasted so far in local restaurants did not really meet my preferences. Wonder if i could give a try myself.  I could say finally i had met my preference of tasty Prawn Biryani. Fellow readers you may try this for upcoming celebration of Deepavali and get thumbs up from your guests.
Ingredients :
For the prawn masala :

• 1/2 kg prawns
• 2 tbsp of dry chilli powder
• 1 tsp of turmeric powder
• salt
• 4 tbsp of biryani masala powder
• 1 onions chopped
• 1 tomato chopped
• 2 tbsp of yogurt
• handful of mint leaves
• handful of coriander leaves
• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 inch ginger
• 2 green chilli
• 1/4 tsp garam masala
• salt

For the Rice :

• 2 cups of Basmathi rice
• 2 tbsp of Ghee
• 1 screwpine leaves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaves
• 5 cardamoms
• 1 star anise
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• water
• 2 tbsp of coconut milk

Preparation :
Prawn Masala (1st part)
Marinate prawns with chili powder, turmeric powder and salt for 20 minutes. Meanwhile blend ginger, garlic and green chilies together in a food processor. Keep aside.
For rice
Wash the Basmathi rice and soak in water for 20 minutes.
Then drain and keep aside.
Heat ghee in a heavy vessel.
Add spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, star anise).  Followed by thinly sliced onions. Saute till the color change to pink brownish.
Add uncooked rice and keep stirring for 2 minutes. Meanwhile bring to boil 4 cups of water in a rice cooker. Once the water boils, transfer the uncooked rice to the pot. Add salt, screwpine leaves and coconut milk. Let the rice cooked.
Prawn masala (2nd part)
Heat oil in a pan. Shallow fry the marinated prawns until half cooked and keep aside.
Take two tablespoon of the oil and drizzle over cooked rice.
Add sliced onions to the leftover oil and saute to golden brownish. Add chopped tomatoes and cooked until soft and pulpy.  To this add blended ginger, garlic and green chili paste. Fry to cook until raw smell goes off.
Add coriander powder and biryani masala and fry for 2 minutes. Then add 1/2 cup water.
Let the gravy boils for 3 minutes or until gravy thickens. Once the gravy thickens, add salt, yogurt, garam masala, chopped coriander leaves, mint leaves. Fry for another 2 minutes. I used to add biryani masala earlier. The masala powder i used in this recipe bought readymade from supermarkets.  I like Mother's Choice then other brands that available in the market.
Now the prawn masala is ready.
Baking
For the final step, preheat oven to 160 degree C.
Prepare a vessel with smeared with 1/2 tsp ghee on bottom. Its best to layer with banana leaf as well to get aromatic flavor of biryani.  Layer firt part with rice. Then followed by prawn masala. Sprinkle with a pinch of biryani masala on top. Layer again with rice. Drizzle 2 tsp of ghee. Cover the vessel with aluminium foil. If you happen to use banana leaf at the bottom, cover with another piece of banana leaf on top then followed by aluminium foil to tighthen. Bake in the oven for 10 minutes.  Oops! i forget to garnish first with roasted cashews. Please add this before cover with the foil.
Once done, please let it cool covered and undisturbed for at least 30 minutes before serve. Use wooden spoon to scoop out the rice. Gently mix the rice before serve.
Best serve with cucumber onion yogurt salad. Add pappadam for more crunchier feel.
Its really tasty and i had prepared the dish several times before i post it here today. Make sure you try this at home! Trust me, you will love it too.