Prawns dum biryani with coconut milk

Prawns dum biryani with coconut milk:

'Biryani', the origin of the same came from the persian language wherein the persian word 'biring' means rice. It was then the mughals who brought this authetic preparation to India. There are many historical evidences about the originality of biryani, however the best ever made biryani in India is prepared along the South and Hyderabad is the most famous place for biryani specialisation. May it be chicken, meat, prawns or eggs, just make your tastebuds happy through the best amalgamation of rice and thy flavors in a biryani.

Biryani is prepared in 2 ways- normal and dum. In normal method, open pot cooking is done. However in dum, rice and meat is cooked under the pressure of steam sealed with lid so that the flavours get combined well together to deliver a best authentic taste.

Today I tried my hands on Biryani for the first time. I had heard a lot about its preparation however due to its elongated procedures, I never dared to go for it. But today I made up my mind that yes, let's try out. I didn't jump to chicken first, since I was new to Biryani preparation, so thought why not try out on prawns first. Because I believe in experimenting on mini things and then go for a major one. If I fail somewhere in this recipe, I will have a chance to rectify my errors to prepare a more successful recipe next time on chicken or mutton and satisfy my families taste buds.

So I did a lot of reading on recipes, surfed the net, went through various recipe videos through you tube and finally decided to start on. However when you decide to go for such a big recipe, its better you do your checklist of ingredients first, bring them and then start. I had no time to prepare a checklist and since it was a Sunday, my body was not supporting me to go for marketing for a few Ingredients. So I said, thik hai chalta hai, let's use whatever I have with me in my kitchen since I was a starter in biryani and not yet become an expert. So the basic ingredients required for biryani were lacking behind in my kitchen like the curd, pudina leaves, coriander leaves and saffron.

But friends believe me, inspite of above ingredients missing, my biryani turned out very nice by doing some twists and turns. I replaced curd/yogurt with thick coconut milk and pudina leaves with fresh green peas. Let's go through the recipe.

Ingredients:
Basmati rice-1 kg
Prawns-1 cup

Masalas ( half used in marination and half in prawns gravy preptn):
Haldi-2 tsp
Red chilli powder-2 tsp
Jeera- coriander powder-2 tsp
Biryani powder-2 tsp
Ginger- garlic paste-2 tsp

Spices ( half used in rice preptn and half in prawns gravy preptn):
Cardamom-4
Star anise-2
Bay leaf-4
Cloves-10
Clove leaf-2
Cinnamon-2

Fresh green peas-1 cup
Onions-5
( 4 onions to make brown, 1 onion for prawns gravy preptn)
Salt as required
Water as required
Scraped coconut- 2 cups to make coconut milk
Oil- 2 tsp
Pure ghee-3 tsp
Lemon juice-3 tsp
Tomatoes-1
Orange food color- a pinch
Milk- 1/2 cup

Method:
Marinate prawns with half the quantity of ginger- garlic paste, red chilli powder, haldi, jeera- coriander powder, biryani masala for 10 mins.

Soak basmati rice in water for 30 mins.

Boil water, add salt, a drop of oil and lemon juice. Let it boil. Once it boils, add half the quantity of spices mentioned above like star anise, cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, bay leaf and cloves leaf. Add soaked rice and cook till half done. Drain and keep aside.

Make brownonions by sauting them in oil.

Make coconut milk by grinding fresh scraped coconut in mixer.

For prawns gravy preptn, in a pan, add pure ghee,  half the quantity of spices like cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, star anise, bay leaf and cloves leaf. Add chopped onions. Saute. Add ginger garlic paste. Add fresh green peas. Saute. Add tomatoes. Saute. Add remaining masala powders like jeera- coriander, garam masala, haldi, red chilli and Biryani masala. Salt. Mix well. Add thick coconut milk. Let it boil. Make the gravy semi dry.

Prepare a dough of wheat flour with required water.

Prepare food colored milk by adding a pinch of orange food color to milk and mix well.

Now main process of dum:

In a big heavy bottom vessel, add pure ghee, layer cooked rice.
Add prawns gravy. Spread with spatula.
Again add rice.
Add spoon of food colouredmilk and spread fried onions.
Add layer of prawns gravy.
Add rice.
Repeat the process till you are finished off with your prawns gravy and rice.

Then apply wheat dough to the lid and press the lid against vessel using pressure and close the vessel.
Keep a tawa on hot flame and keep your vessel over this tawa and let it cook on dum for 20 mins.
Then off the gas and let it rest for another 30 mins.
Open the lid with knife and discard the wheat dough.

 You are done with your aromatic prawns dum biryani.

Serve with raw chopped onion and lemon or raita.

Though a hectic process, I found it very easy at my first attempt. Next time I have planned to go for chicken or mutton biryani with basic biryani ingredients in place😁😁.

Till then enjoy dear friends!!

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