Easy Shrimp Birayani
Festive moments entangled with birayani ( a layered casserole of rice and usually meat). Today’s simple version is a shrimp biryani. Made to satisfy meal cravings and feed mom and the brood.
My Shrimp Biryani Story
The past two days have been surprisingly different and very peaceful. I took them off to spend some time with mom. . It is amazing how refreshing and relaxing one can find a few hours of downtime. This morning I slept in. After getting all a good breakfast. And for lunch I cobbled this simple but festive shrimp biryani.
While you can get several variations of a biryani, the Kolkata style biryani tends to be characterized with milder seasonings, and the addition of both eggs and potatoes into the mix. Today, I did a middle ground and did not add potatoes but did add in the egg, the highlight of the nuanced flavors of this dish was the marriage of mint, saffron and rosewater.
I spent the requisite time to actually brown the onions and dished this up with a raita made with fresh garden cucumbers and mint.
I cobbled up this elegant and simple meal in about 45 minutes from start to finish, and interestingly since Anshul was at home today, we enjoyed this meal in quite silence, almost like poetry in food. Happiness, was my mother’s pure enjoyment of the simple fare that I cobbled for her. Possibly, an added delight was the fact, the fusspot husband gave it a seal of approval, in fact, so much so he polished off the leftovers as a so called snack today – a day later. All things considered a success, fragrant, flavorful and not excessively heavy.
Other easy to cull together biryani recipes include my egg biryani and lunchbox chicken biryani.
An easy recipe for shrimp biryani, that is light and fresh tasting.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 large red onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tablespoon ghee (clarified butter)
- 11/2 teaspoons ginger paste
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
- 1 medium sized tomato, dices
- 3 cloves
- 1 large stick cinnamon, broken into smaller pieces
- 3 to 4 green cardamoms
- 1 black cardamoms
- 1 pound of medium to large shrimp, shelled and ed-viened
- 11/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
- 1 cup of Basmati rice, rinsed and soaked
- 11/2 cups water
- 1 teaspoon saffron strands
- 4 hard boiled eggs, shelled and halved
- 1/2 cup finely chopped mint leaves
- 1/4 cup slivered or chopped almonds
- 1 tablespoons rosewater (optional)
Instructions
- In a large pan heat the oil and add in the onion, and cook stirring occasionally. for about 15 minutes until the onions are golden brown. Set half the onions aside.
- Add in the ghee and the ginger paste and garlic. Add in the tomato and mix well.
- Stir in the cloves, cinnamon, green and black cardamoms and continue cooking until the sauce is thick and soft.
- Add in the shrimp, salt and red cayenne pepper and mix well.
- Stir in the rice, water and saffron strands. Cover and cook for about 20 minutes until soft.
- Stir in the mint leaves, almonds and gently mix in the eggs.,
- Cover the mixture and save for about 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle with the rosewater (if using) and serve.