Food Route: Rice Cooker Prawn Biryani

The past few weeks has been taxing since Mom and I have been busy cooking for my brother who is suffering from Gastritis. He needs to have non oily, non spicy food everyday and since he gets hungry really fast, he prefers having rice.

So Mom and I have gotten pretty creative and are trying to cook one pot meals. While this recipe requires two pots, it is pretty quick especially if you already have the coriander and mint paste in the freezer.

Here goes.

Main ingredients
1/2 kg prawns (cleaned and deveined)
3 cups of biryani rice (rice cooker cup)

Marinade
2 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp chillie powder (reduce if you do not want it too spicy)
2tsp cumin powder
1tsp salt
1tsp turmeric powder
2tsp Garam masala
2 tsp Biryani masala
1 tblspn coriander and mint paste
1tblspn yogurt

Sauce
3 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamoms
2 bay leafs
2 star anise
1/2tsp fennel seeds
1 large onion sliced
1 green chillie sliced (deseed if too spicy)
1tomato diced
a handful of coriander
a handful of mint
3tblspn Biryani masala powder (add more according to taste)
2 tblspn Garam masala
2 tspsn chillie powder
1tblspn ginger garlic paste
1tblspn coriander and mint paste
3tblspn of yogurt
salt to taste
ghee and oil

Method
1. First clean the prawns and marinade it with the ingredients above. Start with the dry ingredients first then add in the wet ones like ginger garlic paste, yogurt and the mint and coriander paste. Let it marinate for 30 to 40mins. The longer the better.
2. Wash the rice and soak it for 30mins
3. Heat a wok and add in a little bit of ghee and if needed top up with oil. Sautee the spices including, star anise, clove, bay leaves, fennel, cinnamon, cardamom.
4. Add in onions and sautee until pink or translucent.
5. Add in ginger garlic paste and sautee until fragrant.
6. Throw in tomatoes, cook until soft and add chillies
7. Ensure fire is on medium flame and then put in masala powder, biryani powder, chillie powder, stir and let it fry until fragrant.
8. Add in wet ingredients like mint and coriander paste as well as yogurt, chopped mind and coriander, add 1 cup of water and let it simmer until the sauce thickens slightly.
9. Once almost thick, add in prawns and cook till it turns pink. DO NOT overcook and let prawns shrivel up. Add salt to taste. Make sure slightly salty.
10. After the prawns are nice and pink remove from stove.
11.Drain rice and add in the sauce and prawns into rice cooker with the drained rice. Stir the ingredients until rice is well coated with Sauce/Masala.
12.Add in necessary water according to rice cooker instructions. Check and see for salt. Ensure the concoction is slightly salty (not too much) so that the rice will absorb the taste.
13. On rice cooker and wait for the magic to happen.

Took me an hour to get it all done (including cleaning and deveining the prawns).

Serve hot with Raita and Pappads if possible.