Description
Eral Biryani is one of my favourite dish and there are quite a few ways of making it. Cooking seafood with a tinge of coconut has been a family tradition and this one is no exception. Making this with fresh baby prawns would be awesome but quite hard to find small shrimp or prawn around my place and ended up making with jumbo shrimps to satisfy my palatte. This mild flavoured biryani requires minimal work and comes in handy for a quick non-veg treat.
Shrimp Briyani / Prawn Briyani / Prawn Biryani / Eral Biryani / Eral Briyani / Era Biryani / Era Briyani
| Ingredients | |
|---|---|
| 10 nos | Shrimp |
| 2 nos | Onion (cut lengthwise thinly) |
| 1 no | Tomato (diced) |
| 3 nos | Green chili (small) |
| 6 nos | Dry mint leaves |
| 5 stks | Coriander leaves (for tempering) |
| ½ tsp | Ginger garlic paste |
| ¼ tsp | Red chili powder |
| ¼ tsp | Turmeric powder |
| 1 tsp | Coriander /dhania powder |
| 1 tsp | Salt (or to taste) |
| 1 tsp | Ghee |
| 3 tsp | Oil |
| 6 stks | Coriander leaves (for garnishing) |
| 2 cup | Basmati rice |
| 1 no | Bay leaf |
| 3 nos | Cloves |
| 2 nos | Cinnamon stick (small) |
| 2 nos | Cardamom |
| 2 nos | Choice of any other unique spice) |
| 1 tsp | Fennel seeds (perum serakam) |
| 2 cup | Coconut milk |
| 2 cup | Water |
Instructions
Clean the shrimp, wash in cold water and set aside. Cut the onions lengthwise, dice the tomatoes and slit open the green chilies. Dilute coconut milk (if using store bought cans). If making at home… ground some coconut to a thick paste like consistency and mix them in hot water, squeeze out the milk.
Now take a sauce pan, heat oil and ghee, add all the whole masalas(bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, star anise and fennel seeds) one by one and let them sizzle for a while. Add the mint leaves and coriander set aside for tempering and let them become crispy. Add the onions and green chilies and fry till translucent, followed by the ginger garlic paste, tomatoes and shrimp pieces. Cover and cook over medium flame for 5 minutes to cook the shrimp thoroughly. Now add the turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder and salt. Fry till the masala leaves the sides as shown in the picuture. Switch off.
Wash basmati rice add 2 cups water, 2 cups coconut milk, the cooked masala and let it soak for 5 minutes. Now pop it in the rice cooker and let it cook. When done and if its ok with you, add few drops of ghee and garnish with coriander leaves. Do not disturb by stirring harshly, this would break the rice. Slowly scoop with a slotted spoon and spread over a plate or bowl and cool. When its cooled to some extent, mix gently, check for salt and add garnishes which you prefer. Serve with boiled eggs and raita.
Notes
Basmati Rice used — Royal Basmati from Sams club. Soak just for 5 minutes. Try swad, tilda theya re equally good too.
For 2 cups rice its 4 cups water for fluffy and fully cooked rice. Here in this recipe for 2 cups rice I’ve added 2 cups water and 2 cups coconut milk. If you prefer the rice to be lightly chewy then use only 3 1/2 cups of water and coconut milk.
If using a regular pressure cooker use the proportion which you are comfortable with, as its varies with the quality of rice used and pressure cooker.
You can also substitute coconut milk with diluted curd / butter milk.
Due to non-availability of fresh mint leaves I’ve used dry, you can use fresh leaves too.
Choice of unique spice– the spice showed in picture I guess is nagasungu but net shows it as val milagu(puzzled and still exploring) pretty sure that they use it for biryani and included. You may also use star anise, jathi poo and pinch of nut meg. This step is purely optional.
Serves 4 approx.
How to clean shrimp
1. To remove the shell from the shrimp, first hold onto the tail while gently removing the shell around the body, then the tail can be detached completely by just pulling it.
2. After this, the vein has to be removed, make a shallow cut lengthwise down the outer curve of the shrimp’s body using a paring knife, pick out the dark ribbon-like vein running lengthwise along the shrimp’s back.
3. Then rinse the shrimp in cold water and keep them iced or cook them off.
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