Its been long since I made biriyani, wait there is some correction in the sentence.. its been a long time since I made biriyani in Bahrain. When I went to India a few months back for my hols, I made chicken biriyani (actually WE made, my sis in law was also there) and the reason.. my bro was bugging me so much saying that am an internet cooking fraud :) He never had food cooked by me, so his conclusion is that all the posts in my blog are a result of some fraudulent activities :)
He cannot be blamed, I never used to do any cooking before my wedding and for that part I never even dared to hold raw meat or fish, I used to stand 10 ft away from those things. Now when I think about it, though am embarrassed to say, I must admit I was such a fussy pot, hhmmm….If my husband reads this sentence, he will say some correction is there in this sentence too..”not was a fussy pot”, he will correct it as “is a fussy pot” ;)
Anyways, I made biriyani here (Bahrain) for last xmas, so its almost a year. That's a long gap right? Recently when I was chatting with my cousin sis, she said she makes biriyani almost like once in 2 weeks, so that ignited the craving for biriyani…
I've bookmarked this recipe long time back….again, this recipe comes from my friend Divya. If you are a regular reader of my blog, am sure you know her well through my posts :) I think I will have to create a new category called Div's recipes :) She emailed me this recipe saying this is her mom's all time hit prawns biriyani. I tried it and it was a hit here too…so guys go ahead and try it.
Hey, one more thing…I've published a prawns biriyani before and if you asks me what's new in this… the main difference is that this is prepared in a typical biriyani style and the other more in a pulav style. Anyways you can see it for yourself:)
Here is the recipe:
Ingredients
For the rice:
- 3 cups Basmati rice
- 5 cups Water
- 6 each Cardamom & clove
- 1 medium size stick Cinnamon
- 3 tbsp Ghee
- 3-4 tbsp Lemon Juice
- Salt
For the masala:
- 1/2 kg Prawns (cleaned & deviened)
- 2 tbsp Ginger garlic paste
- 1/2 tbsp Chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Pepper powder
- 3 med – big Onions (chopped finely)
- 5-6 Green chilli
- 2-3 medium Tomato (chopped finely)
- 1/3 cup Grated Coconut
- 2-3 tbsp Chopped Coriander leaves
- 1/2 cup Yogurt
- 6-8 Cashews (soaked in 2 tbsp water, optional (refer notes))
- 1 tsp Garam masala
For garnishing:
- Cashews & raisins – 1 handful each
- 1 medium Onion (sliced finely)
- 2 tbsp Chopped Coriander leaves
- 1 tbsp Ghee – 1 tbsp
Instructions
- Rice preparation:
- Wash and soak the rice in water for 25 minutes. Drain the water completely. Boil 6 cups water with half the quantity of whole masala & keep it aside. Heat ghee in a vessel/pan, splutter the remaining whole masala and add the rice. Fry the rice for around 5-7 minutes or until the rice starts cracking. Add the boiled water, lemon juice & salt. Cook till the rice is done and water is completely dried. Spread the rice in a tray & keep aside.
- Masala preparation:
- Marinate the prawns with 1 tbsp of ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder, pepper powder and salt and keep it for 2-3 hours in the fridge. Meanwhile grind together a handful of coconut & coriander leaves with a little water & keep it aside. Also grind the soaked cashews into a smooth paste.
- Shallow fry the marinated prawns after the specified time. Once the prawns are fried, keep it aside and use the same oil to cook onions, remaining ginger garlic paste (1 tbsp) and green chilli. Once onions are fried well, add chopped tomatoes. Once the tomatoes are cooked, add curd, coconut, coriander leaves paste. Once it boils add fried prawns and cook in low flame for 5-6 minutes. Add the cashew paste & 1 tsp of garam masala. Mix well. Cook for 2 more minutes & remove from fire.
- Garnishing:
- Heat ghee in a pan and fry the cashews & raisins. Remove them from the pan & in the remaining ghee fry the onions till it becomes golden brown. Drain the excess ghee in a paper towel & keep it aside.
- Layering the Biriyani:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degree 10 minutes before baking the biriyani. Apply some ghee to a baking dish. Put one layer of masala in the dish. On top of that spread some rice and make another layer. Again spread another layer of masala on top of the rice. Repeat the process until the masala and rice is finished. The top layer should be of rice. You can drizzle ghee & sprinkle coriander leaves in between the layers. Cover the dish with a wet cloth. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.Refer notes for Stove top method.
- Garnish the baked biriyani with fried cashew, raisins, onions & coriander leaves. Serve hot with pickle, raita & pappad.
Hi Maria, I have a doubt, the coconut used along with coriander leaves is wet or dry coconut n does it need to be finely pasted or how exactly. I guess one big spoon of coconut will be enough for 1 kg of prawns.
Hi Ranju,
I guess for 1 kg of prawns, you may need 2-3 tbsp of coconut.
You mentioned about coconut n coriander leaves paste. So The coconut will be wet or dry coconut n it has to be fine pasted or how exactly…
Hi Ranju,
I used fresh coconut for this and yeah it has to be more of a fine paste.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria, Tried your shrimp biriyani. Was lovely despite my shortcuts and modifications . I guess a satisfied husband is a sign of success isn’t it hehe :)
Thanks Anusha :) Glad that you liked the biriyani. Yep, a happy husband is def a sign of success ;0
Cheers
Maria
Hi Grace,
Whole masala is the spices: cardamom, cinnamon, cloves etc;
Hi Sis. i panned to make a prawns biriyani …..once i made it i will let you now the result
Hi Paulson,
I do hope you will like the prawns biriyani. Happy cooking and eating :)
Cheers
Maria
Thanks Basheer for sharing the recipe with your friend. I do hope you also get to make this sometime and like it too..
Cheers
Maria
Hi, I don’t understand “cover with a wet cloth” won’t the cloth get burnt? Halfway thro’ the prep and confused about whether to use a cloth or not….
Hi Granty,
The wet cloth is tucked inside the vessel and it’s used to prevent the rice from becoming dry. The cloth doesnt get burnt.
However if you are using a gas oven, I recommend you to skip the wet cloth part.
Cheers
Maria
Oh Maria … it super duper hit in our family… I must say the recipe is running in our family now…
Thanks Ritu dear :)
Oh Maria … it super duper hit in our family… I must say the recipe is running in our family now…
Hi,
Sorry I didnt understand your query completely. Do you want to increase the masala, because you are using more qty of rice or you prefer more masala in the biriyani?
hai maria
how many people can b served with this 3 cups of basmathi
Hi princy,
You can serve around 4-5 people with that qty.
Cheers
Maria
Hi princy,
You can serve around 4-5 people with that qty.
Cheers
Maria
hai maria
how many people can b served with this 3 cups of basmathi
really tasty…my husband loved it..thnx a ton dear..keep goin..
Thanks Priya, for sharing the pic :) It looks nice. I’ve shared this on FB page too..
Cheers
Maria
Thanks Priya, for sharing the pic :) It looks nice. I’ve shared this on FB page too..
Cheers
Maria
Thanks Priya, for sharing the pic :) It looks nice. I’ve shared this on FB page too..
Cheers
Maria
really tasty…my husband loved it..thnx a ton dear..keep goin..
Another super duper hit i should say .. tried this recipe last week n we all loved it a lot.. it was so yummy .. thnx a lot for this ..
Do u ve any good recipe for karimeen pollichathu ?? i tried many recipes .. but ddnt like anything much .. if u happen to get any good recipe, please share it ..
Luv,
Jesna
Thanks Jesna dear :)
I havent tried a karimeen pollichathu yet. I’ve posted a prawns pollichathu recipe long time ago. Please have a look at it and see whether you use it for karimeen.
Cheers
Maria
Another hit.My husband passes on his compliments and says thank you too.I caught him licking his fingers with this one . ;)
I’ll definitely have to make this again when I host a meal next. I have a feeling the gravy that goes in will suit chicken as well…cos the flavour of prawns didn’t come through as much and we didn’t miss it as the gravy turned out so yum.
Thanks Rekha dear :) Glad that you both liked this very much. If you try with chicken, let me know the result :)
Cheers
Maria
This was awesome..thanks a ton
You are welcome Vini :)
I love this recipe of yours. I cooked the biriyani without coconut n it ws quite delicious! The only biryani of mine that my hubby enjoys whole heartedly is prawns biriyani (he loves anything made of prawns ;) ) Will be trying ur Chilli prawns in a short while :)
Thank you Saf! Great to know that this recipe worked well for you. I do hope you will like the chilli prawns too :)
Cheers
Maria
Sorry …chilli prawns wr not a success…the prawns didn’t get fried well enough! Do you have any suggestions for the same?
Hi Saf,
Sorry to hear that :( Btw, I didnt understand clearly.. what do you mean it didnt get fried enough? it didnt turn golden brown?
Cheers
Maria
my wife prepared this dish. It was beyond my expectations. Very tasty. Thanks for sharing such a good recipe.Â
Hi Unni,
Thank you :) Please do convey my thanks and regards to your wife too :)
Cheers
Maria
The prawns should be 1/2 kg before cleaning or after. As its weight decreases after cleaning? and also the ingredients will vary according to the weight. I love you website and have tried many dishes from the same. It really came out well. Thanks alot!!!
Hi Suby,
Nice to know that you like this blog. Thank you very much for trying the recipes from here :)
You can use 1/2 kg prawns after cleaning.
Hope you like the biriyani, happy cooking!
Cheers
Maria
We tried Chemmeen Biriyani yesterday. Understood one thing. It is really the masala which makes biriyani tasty. When we tried the prawns after frying, it didn’t have any taste at all. It was because the prawns were not good. That got us wondering whether this would end up as a flop. But…… finally the whole thing tasted so good. Wonder what would have been the result if the prawns too were good!Â
One more thing, I prefer to go by the book because of my inexperience in cooking. When it came to masala preparation, you haven’t mentioned about adding salt. My wife was sure that salt was to be added and I refused. We almost came to a row. But I admitted defeat as she looked quite intimidating with the “thavi” in her hand. After all kitchen is her kingdom….
Hi Salim,
I do agree with you… even I like biriyanis that has masala. Nice to know that prawns biriyani came out well.
Thanks for pointing out that salt was missing in the masala part, I’ll update the recipe. I’m glad you listened to your wife :)
Thanks for the comment!
Cheers
Maria
simply delicious
Thank you Estelle!
Deepthi dear,
Thanks a bunch for trying this recipe & Its a pleasure to know that your mom liked it :) I do hope that your father & husband also will like it when you cook it for them. Thanks a lot for leaving the comment.
Cheers
Maria
adipoli dear …….my mom doesnt like chiken biriyani much…so i thought of trying chemmeen biriyani this time….my mom said it wont be gud if using chemmeen…bt i said let me try…..bt this was a huge hit….my mom liked so much…… am waiting for my hubby & father to come on leave … u made me super chef…thank u so much maria
 hi mariai tried ur prawn biriyani for easter….came out so well….u ve got a real good collection of recipies….thanx a lot for sharing with us
Thanks Ann :) Nice to know that you liked the prawns biriyani recipe. Thanks for posting a comment here.
Cheers
Maria
hi maria,
Thank you so much for your wonderful recipe…:.) i tried this recipe,it turned out great….:)
Hi Greeshma,
You are welcome dear :) Its really nice to know that you liked it. Thanks for your comment.
Cheers
Maria
hey maria… this really looks yummy :)…
is there a way to make this without a oven ?
Hi Stella,
Thank you :)
I’ve updated the recipe with the stove top method, please refer to that.
Hope you like the biriyani.
Cheers
Maria
@Maria, hey maria… it turned out great !! :)
really yummy…. thanks for the wonderful recipe….
Hi Stella,
You’re welcome dear :) I’m so happy that it came out well for you..thanks a lot for sharing your feedback.
Cheers
Maria
Hi Maria,
Your blog really rocks. I just tried out your chilli paneer and only one word AWESOME. Keep up the good work. Am going to try your chicken biryani this week. and the feedback I will give it tp u next week, In case there is no feedback, then it means that I have not tried out the biryani.
Vanessa
Hi Vanessa,
Thank you so much :) Very happy to know that you liked the chilli paneer recipe.
I really hope you get a chance to try the chicken biriyani too. Hope you will like it.
Happy cooking :)
Cheers
Maria
Hey Maria,
I really njoy reading thru & trying out ur recipes…I do make mutton & chicken biryani often….bt this was my 1st experiment with prawns…it came out really really well…gt a lot of appreciation from my family…Thanx again for the wonderful recipes….
Hi Jemy,
Nice to know that you like this space and thanks a lot dear for trying the prawns biriyani. I’m really happy to know that your family enjoyed it.
Thanks for sharing your comment here :)
Cheers
Maria
oooooommmmgggggg! these dishes r really delecious.yummy very tasty
Thanks Shubha :)
I think there is a chance of putting on weight just looking at the pics of ur dishes!!!! You have a wonderful site out here :)))
Hello, dint know you have a food blog too! I came here from Ria’s blog and lo and behold, a familiar smiling face! You are the third college friend to be on a cooking roll :). great work, I intend trying out your prawn biriyani.
Hi Sunitha
Happy to meet you here :) I started blogging 3 years ago!!
Hope you are doing great!!
Hope you will like the prawn biriyani :)
Cheers
Maria
Hello Maria,
Enganeyo ee site kandu…I am thrilled to the core …I was reading some of your posts…Innocent aayittanu ellam ezhithiyirikkunne and that makes it all the more interesting :).
I love cooking but I am a lazy bum :) It is 2 Am here …so gotta hit bed now :(. I would definitely comeback for more reading :)
Seems like a perfect way to close my day :) Thank you so much for some of the wonderful recipe’s out there. I will definitely try them and let you know the results.
Hope to stay in touch…
Regards
Vandana
Hi Vandana
Thanks a lot for dropping in and saying hi :)
Very happy to know that you like my space, thanks a lot again for your sweet words.
Btw, am also a lazy person ;), anyways please do try out the recipes when you’ve time and let me know how it comes out.
Hope to see you again…
Cheers
Maria
hi,
love ur recipes.do u have north indian veg dishes /
Thanks Divya :)
Yes, I’ve some north indian veg dishes, please check out the following links:
Malai Kofta: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/spicy/malai-kofta
Dal Palak: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/vegetarian/dal-palak
Mushroom Peas Masala: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/spicy/mushroom-peas-masala
Paneer Masala: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/spicy/paneer-masala
Aloo gobi: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/vegetarian/aloo-gobi-masala
Paneer Butter masala: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/vegetarian/paneer-butter-masala
Palak Paneer: https://mariasmenu.wpcomstaging.com/vegetarian/palak-paneer
Hope you find it interesting.
Cheers
Maria
Ligi, thanks a lot for taking time to write your feedback and really happy to know that your hubby liked it very much :), btw thanks for sharing the snap through ammu :)
hi maria..am ammus frend.i saw ur blog as she recommented.. and this was the first recipe i tried.. i must say it was superb.my hubby liked it very much..
thanks yasmeen :)
I love prawns,spicy biryani well presented:)
thanks Lubna for dropping in..please do visit again :)
thanks Rachel :)
ok fussy pot..that s a scrumptious platter of biriyani.
Wow pics make me drool. First time here. Iam happy to discover this space. Will b back soon.
Thanks mishmash…you sure can have a portion from it :)
Thanks reena…please do try it and let me know. would love to know your feedback.
Happy cook – I guess its the case with the majority, starting their cooking adventures after wedding :)
Thanks tina…parentsnu saudiyil ninnu pettannu varallo, moreover its weekend too…will give your share also to them :)
OOOOOOOOOOOOHHH kothipikkanalle ingane cheyunnathu….nice presentation…ente parents saudiyil undu, so enikku varan patilla avare ayachekkam…..theerkaruthu ketto…
Hi hi reading your post remind me of myself, i was same before i got married.
I have never made buruyani with chemeen. Should try it once.
Will have to comeback as i coudn’t see the pic of the dish.
maria..very nice recipe..so simple ingredients..i think i have all the stuff in my pantry..i shd try this..ohh lovely picture too :)
That’s one stylish chemmeen biryani, maria :) Kandittu kothiyayee…..:)