Prawns Biryani Recipe with step bu step photos. This biryani is mouthwatering, delicious and yummy. We love sea food home. I wanted to make some nice dish from fresh prawns. Hence came up with idea of making Prawns Biryani. You could make this one day in advance as biryani generally tend to taste better the next day.
Generally fish biryani is made with yogurt. However I have skipped yogurt replaced with coconut milk and cashew-almond paste instead. Reason being as per ayurveda fish shouldn’t be mixed with yogurt. I am not sure how true it is but I never like to mix yogurt Or milk with fish products. You could use yogurt if you are comfortable.
We were only two and the biryani was too much in quantity. So I gave some to neighbor some to my hubby office mates. To my surprise yet we ate this biryani yet for 2 days. We loved the biryani so we ate it without complaining. I have tried earlier Hyderabadi Chicken Biryani which also is equally good.
For some reason I am a big aloo (potato) fan. Love adding potatoes in chicken curry, biryanis Or pulaos. In fact potatoes actually gives out nice flavor in biryanis be it chicken Or fish.
This biryani is easy to make. But yes it has layering, pastes, spices to be added. So be prepared to spend some quality time to make this biryani. It’s worth the effort. If you don’t have time to chop onions and need help. Please don’t assist to take help from your family members. After all you are cooking for them 😉
How to make Prawns Biryani recipe :
1. Firstly mix prawns with chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, lime juice and salt.
2. Marinate prawns for 20 mins.
3. Soak basmati rice in water for 10 mins.
4. To make the biryani rice. Heat oil / ghee in a large pan. Saute onion until golden brown. Add sugar which will help the onion to caramelize faster.
5. In the same pan add cashew nuts, raisins. Saute for 2 mins more. Place these fried onion and cashews aside.
6. Add little oil in the above pan Or in the vessel which you will cook rice. Add bay leaf, star anise, cinnamon and black cardamom.
7. Saute until it leaves nice aroma. Now add coconut milk and half of mace powder stir all nicely.
8. It’s time to add the soaked basmati rice. Add water and cook uncovered on high heat. When the water is reduced lower the heat. Cover tightly and cook till half cooked Or par boiled. Strain if a any excess water.
9. For the white paste blend all ingredients. Grind until smooth paste is formed add little water if required.
10. Take oil / ghee in another wide bottomed vessel. Add caraway seed, green cardamom, bay leaf, pepper corn, cinnamon stick, black cardamom and stone flower.
11. Saute for a minute then add onion. Add some salt stir for 2 to 3 mins until they change color to light brown.
12. Now time to add tomatoes, green chilies and ginger-garlic paste. Mix all nicely.
13. Also add pepper powder and stir, cook the tomatoes until slightly soft.
14. Add coriander leaves mix all nicely.
15. Now put biryani masala and garam masala powder. Stir all well.
16. Put chopped potatoes.
17. Pour coconut milk and mace powder.
18. Add the grounded white paste. If you like it spicy then add some more red chili powder this time.
19. Stir all nicely. Finally add prawns. Cover and cook with some water over a lid. Cook until potatoes are half cooked. Check the taste and salt as per taste. Alter any spices if required.
20. Take another big vessel / pan for stacking layers for biryani. Spread some prawns gravy first at the bottom.
21. Now spread some parboiled rice enough to cover the prawns gravy.
22. Place some fried onion, ghee, mint leaves, saffron strands, fried cashews and raisins over the parboiled rice.
23. Again spread prawns gravy , then parboiled rice, again spread some fried onion, ghee, mint leaves, saffron strands, fried cashews and raisins. Repeat until gravy is over and finish with rice on top.
24. Cover tightly with a heavy weight and cook till done. Should take about 25 mins on slow heat. Just remove one potato and check if potatoes are cooked so is your prawns biryani. Serve prawns biryani with fried onion and salad.
Prawns Biryani Recipe card details below:
- 2 tbsp oil
- 40 prawns shelled and de-veined
- 2 tbsp red chili powder
- 1 t/s coriander seed powder
- 1 t/s turmeric powder
- 1 tbsp fennel seed
- 1 tbsp biryani masala (I used shaan biryani masala)
- 1 tbsp garam masala powder (I used homemade)
- 300 gms onion julienne
- 1 cup coconut milk / 1 cup yogurt
- 4 green chilies
- 7 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
- 250 gms tomatoes sliced
- 1.5 tbsp pepper powder
- 3 cinnamon stick
- 1 tbsp caraway seed (shahi jeera)
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 black cardamom
- 4 green cardamom
- 1 star anise
- 1 tbsp pepper powder
- 4 to 5 cloves
- 4 to 5 peppercorn
- 2 stone flower (dagad phool)
- ½ cup chopped coriander leaves
- 2 potatoes diced lengthwise (optional)
- few mint leaves
- 2 lime juice
- salt as per taste
- 2 tbsp melon seed
- 2 tbsp white sesame seed
- 1 tbsp poppy seed
- 6 to 7 almonds
- 3 to 4 cashewnut
- For the rice- 1 kilo basmati rice
- 2 cups coconut milk
- 4 cups water Or as required
- 150 gms onion julienne
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 10 to 12 cashew nuts
- 10-12 raisins
- big black cardamom
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 t/s mace powder (javitri)
- salt as per taste
- few drops of ghee
- few saffron strands (optional)
- few mint leaves
- salt as per taste
- Firstly mix prawns with chili powder, coriander powder, turmeric powder, lime juice and salt.
- Marinate prawns for 20 mins.
- Soak basmati rice in water for 30 mins.
- To make the biryani rice. Heat oil / ghee in a large pan. Saute onion until golden brown. Add sugar which will help the onion to caramelize faster.
- In the same pan add cashew nuts, raisins. Saute for 2 mins more. Place these fried onion and cashews aside.
- Add little oil in the above pan Or in the vessel which you will cook rice. Add bay leaf, star anise, cinnamon and black cardamom.
- Saute until it leaves nice aroma. Now add coconut milk and half of mace powder stir all nicely.
- It's time to add the soaked basmati rice. Add water and cook uncovered on high heat. When the water is reduced lower the heat. Cover tightly and cook till half cooked. Strain if a any excess water.
- Blend all the ingredients for white paste. Grind until smooth paste is formed add little water if required.
- Take oil / ghee in another wide bottomed vessel. Add caraway seed, green cardamom, bay leaf, pepper corn, cinnamon stick, black cardamom and stone flower.
- Saute for a minute then add onion. Add some salt stir for 2 to 3 mins until they change color to light brown.
- Now time to add tomatoes, green chilies and ginger-garlic paste. Mix all nicely.
- Also add pepper powder and stir until tomatoes are slightly soft.
- Add coriander leaves mix all nicely.
- Now put biryani masala and garam masala powder . Stir all well.Put chopped potatoes.
- Pour coconut milk and mace powder.
- Add the grounded white paste. If you like it spicy then add some more red chili powder this time.
- Stir all nicely.
- Finally add prawns. Cover and cook with some water over a lid. Cook until potatoes are half cooked. Check the taste and alter any spices if required.
- Take another big vessel / pan for stacking layers for biryani. Spread some prawns gravy first.
- Now spread some parboiled rice enough to cover the prawns gravy.
- Place some fried onion, ghee, mint leaves, saffron strands, fried cashews and raisins over the parboiled rice.
- Again spread prawns gravy , then parboiled rice, again spread some fried onion, ghee, mint leaves, saffron strands, fried cashews and raisins. Repeat until gravy is over and finish with rice on top.
- Cover tightly with a heavy weight and cook till done. Should take about 25 mins on slow heat. Just remove one potato and check if potatoes are cooked so is your prawns biryani.
- Serve prawns biryani with fried onion and salad.
Instead of making white paste you could use yogurt.
2. I have used coconut milk you could skip it. But coconut milk imparts nice flavor to this biryani.
3. The process is lengthy but it's worth it.
4. While layering any biryani start with gravy first and end with rice on top.
5. While frying onion if you add a dash of sugar and salt. The onion will fry much faster and caramelize soon.
6. You could make this biryani with any fish fillets.
Harshavardhan Rao says
Hi, you have not said what paste to make ..I mean what are the ingredients to be grounded together to make the paste.. elaborate please
maria says
Harshadvardhan, scroll down for the white paste mentioned towards the bottom. Hope this helps you.
lahari says
This is yummy prawns biryani I like it .read this also
maria says
Thanks 🙂
Marina says
Hi Maria, wishing you merry Christmas and a happy new year. I have made this recipe twice and will make it again for Christmas. It is awesome. You take care.
Regards
maria says
Thanks so much Marina 🙂 wishing you a happy new year.
Evelyn says
Hi Maria ,
i love your recipes and like to try new dishes from your manual , for some reason i am not able to find hyderabadi chicken biryani on the site , have you deleted it ?
maria says
Thanks Evelyn for positive views 🙂 I have deleted all the chicken recipe. But I can mail you the hyd chicken biryani recipe, let me know thanks.
Madhurima says
Hi Maria! The recipe looks great. Plan to make it for my father in law’s birthday soon. Could you please tell me approximately how much 40 prawns would weigh? Thanks!
maria says
Thanks Madhurima, its difficult to predict the weight of 40 prawns it depends on its size. I guess if they are small they should be around 1 kilo and if large then 1/2 kilo.
marina says
hi maria, i had prepared this biryani a couple of weeks back… it is awesome and the taste is best,,, i cooked for half kg rice and with half of all ingridients ,,, it turned out very nice ….. and i am preparing it again tomorrow…. ….thanks a lot for sharing….
rgds n tk care
marina
maria says
Welcome Marina 🙂 glad you liked the prawns biryani recipe. Thanks for positive feedback, have a great weekend, take care.
sonu says
Awesome biryani made them for potluck all relished them.
maria says
Pleased to know this Sonu thankyou for your positive words.
sonu says
Loved the biryani tried for first time prawns biryani and my family loved it could u pls share egg biryani recipe thx..
maria says
Thankyou so much Sonu glad you liked the prawns biryani recipe 🙂 also thankyou for the 5-star rating. Have taken your request would share the egg biryani recipe too soon.
Shalaka says
I kg of rice equals 8 cups. Is that the quantity I should use?
maria says
Shalaka you could check the grams on the cup and then total accordingly as all measuring cups have different measurement’s. Hope this help’s you and all the best thankyou.
jawnsin says
the ingredients looks like a complete shop list..
maria says
surely try them Jawnsin.
Moncho says
Maria,
Hello Maria,
I’m an American guy but love these kinds of flavors, and like my food highly flavorful and HOT! Your recipe looks absolutely mouth-watering. Here’s my question. I’m not sure how many people this recipe is intended to serve, but 1 kilo of rice seems like a huge amount to me. I’ve made biryanis with half that amount of rice and it still made 4-5 very generous servings (by my standards, anyway). My question is, if I halve the rice, should I also halve the amount of masala, chili-garlic-ginger paste, herbs, and white paste? My intuition tells me that if I halve everything, the biryani may come out under-flavored. I’d appreciate your feedback.
maria says
Moncho yes if you wish to halve the biryani then also reduce the other ingredient’s into half proportion. You could keep some spare gravy for the biryani and feel if the biryani is too dry or under-flavored then add some gravy while serving. Hope this help’s you let me know if there is any query or concern and all the best 🙂 thankyou so much for your kind words.
Shalaka says
Hey…for the first time my Biryani tasted so well..:)Thanks for the wonderful receipe!
maria says
You are welcome Shalaka pleased to know you liked the prawns biryani 🙂
Rosette says
I just made this biryani. It turned out absolutely yumm! Will surely make it again. I cut down on the ginger garlic paste. Used half the quantity for 900 gm prawns.
Thanks for the recipe!
maria says
Great Rosette I am pleased to know you liked the prawns biryani recipe. Thankyou for trying and sharing your views 🙂 have a great weekend.
Harjinder Singh says
This is a great motivator to get into the kitchen. Thank you!
maria says
You are welcome Harjinder 🙂
Lourdes says
I just love to try your recipes!!
maria says
Thanks do share your feedback once you try them 🙂
Ash-foodfashionparty says
Maria, this looks so yummy. Love the prawns and the spices. A perfect sunday lunch.
maria says
True Ash do try them surely 🙂