Jhinga Biryani Recipe

INTRODUCTION:

I have made at least 10 different types of recipes with prawns and shrimps, but this is the first time I made a biryani of it according to my style, just experimenting with different spices and flavours and trying to make something finger-licking. I didn't even have an idea that it would turn out to be such a mouthwateringly delicious piece of surprise.

This is the only recipe I would say that just took my heart away and turned out to be the superstar of the day.

My family was not stopped from praising me for a week and still demands to make it again. Yes, this prawn dum biryani is worth sharing with you all.

Just like others, I have always thought yaar biryani means chicken or mutton only. Who eats prawn biryani?

I mean, how will it give that superior taste which we get while eating mutton or chicken dum biryani?

But after eating it, man!! It really tastes so delicious that, yes, you can easily get lots of love from your guest after giving them this seafood treat!

So for seafood lovers, let's dive into the taste of prawn dum biryani 

INGREDIENTS:

1 kg of prawns, big or medium size, based on availability If you want to make shrimp biryani, that is also fine; just use more in quantity.

Onions, half a kg

Tomatoes, 6 medium size

Yoghurt, 50 g

Lemon 2

Potatoes 4 (optional)

Ginger-garlic paste: 3 tsp.

Green masala (a combination of 6 green chillies, 7-8 garlic pieces, half a tsp of cumin and a handful of coriander with 1 small onion)

Coconut half piece

Red chilli powder, 7 tsp (Kashmiri and tikhalal)

Coriander powder 7 tsp.

Haldi (turmeric) powder, 5 tsp.

Garammasala powder, 2 tsp.

Cumin powder, 1 tsp.

Rice: 3 1/2 glasses

Kasuri methi

Coriander

Mint leaves

Whole garam masala, like

2 bay leaves

10 cloves

1 tsp Black pepper

Shah jeera 1 tsp

Jeera (cumin) 1 tsp.

Staranise 1

Green cardamoms 3

Black cardamom 2

Detailed Prawn Dum Biryani Recipe Step by Step with Photos and Videos for Reference:

Wash and clean the prawns thoroughly and marinate the prawns with one lemon, 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp red chilli powder, and 1 tsp coriander powder. Keep aside for a minimum of 15-30 mins.

BIRICHTA PROCESS:

Take a heavy-bottomed pot and add a good amount of oil in order to fry the sliced onions into golden brown. This golden brown crispy onion is called asbirichta, which plays a very important role in every type of biryani, so the quantity and quality of birichta are the core of biryani.

Always be very careful while making it at home; if it gets black while frying, it turns the entire biryani into a bitter flavour, and if it gets underfried, it will not give that sweet biryani flavour.

Thus, it is important to make it properly and do it before doing anything else first.

Once we make biryani, now use the same oil to fry potatoes.

Let both the things get cool separately.

COOKING BIRYANI MASALA:

After that we will start making biryani masala.

Now grind all the tomatoes and coconut into a fine paste.

Now use the same pot but lessen the oil to about 2 big spoons. Add 1 bay leaf, 5 cloves, 1 black cardamom, 1 tsp black pepper, 1 cinnamon stick (1 inch), 1 star anise, and 1 tsp shahi jeera.

Add 2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste and 2 tsp of green masala paste, stir well, and let it fry in the masala. Give it a nice bhoon so the smell of the masala gets lost and the flavours of it come into the oil.

After 1 minute of frying, add tomato coconut puree into it and again fry it on a medium-low flame. Now add powdered masalas like red chilli powder (3 tsp), turmeric powder (1 tsp), coriander powder (3 tsp), cumin powder (1 tsp), and garam masala powder (2 tsp). Add salt and let it fry nicely so that tomatoes and coconut get cooked fully and the oil gets separated from the gravy.

Once we see oil coming at the top, add marinated prawns and cook for 2 minutes; add curd and add water (half a glass if needed); then add fried onions (half the quantity which we prepared) – half will be required for garnishing on the top of the biryani while layering.

Now add freshly chopped coriander and mint leaves, add kasuri methi and squeeze half a lemon. And let it get cooked for 5 minutes more.

Taste and check if the spiciness and saltiness are correct or not. Once satisfied, now switch off the flame.

COOKING RICE:

Now take another pot to boil water and add whole garam masala like cumin, bay leaf, cloves, black pepper, star anise and a cinnamon stick (1 inch).

Let the water boil with masala and add half a lemon.

After 5 mins, water starts to boil.

Always add double the normal amount of water since we want to rinse the rice.

Add rice, 3.5 glasses, and salts accordingly. Don't close the lid.

After 5 mins check the rice to see whether it's 80% cooked or not. Once done

Rinse off the rice and keep it aside.

LAYERING THE BIRYANI:

Now take the heavy-bottom pot, add a little amount of rice first, then add the prawn gravy which we prepared and add fried potatoes, add fried onions, add coriander and mint leaves. Now add the remaining rice with food colour on the top, like yellow and green colours, a little bit, and add basmati flavour essence and add coriander and mint leaves chopped at the top, add the remaining fried onions and half a glass of water on top of the rice so we can get nice dum without burning.

Once done layering, it's time for smoking.

COAL SMOKING PROCESS:

Now let the piece of charcoal get hot red in colour.

Keep a small steel bowl, add desi ghee into it and keep that hot charcoal in it. Add half a tsp of ghee on top of it, and the coal smoke starts to form.

Just cover it with newspaper or aluminium foil properly so the smoke gets trapped inside the pot.

And cover it with a lid and put some heavy object on top of it to have dum and smok simultaneously.

Keep it for half an hour on a low flame.

Now have some rest; you did a great job! 👍

After half an hour, switch off the flame and check the rice to see whether it's been cooked fully. Remove the coal and stir the oil into the biryani so the coal smoke and flavour get into the biryani and give it the tandoori or grilling effect.

And all you need to do now is to enjoy it with your loved ones and share your experience with me. 🥰😘