Shrimp Pulao

Shrimp Pulao
I’ve eaten this dish 3x in my life and have made it once. Usually in India, coconut paste or milk is used but this time we (my mother and I) attempted a version without anything coconutty and I have to say, this dish came out awesome. If you enjoy Indian rice dishes, then try this one out!!!

I’m more of a rice eater than a shrimp eater, so you might want to up the quantity of shrimp if you enjoy it more ☺

Ingredients:

For the Shrimp:
- Shrimp: 15 small shrimps or about 5 large ones chopped into bite size pieces. We used ¼ kg.
- Red Onion – 1 large one, chopped (you need about ¾ -1 cup)
- Roma tomato – 1 chopped
- Green Chillies – 3 slit in half (If using Serrano I would stop with 1 or 2 )
- Red Chilli powder (Indian chilli powder) – 2tsp
- Coriander powder – 2tsp
- Turmeric powder – ½ tsp
- Ginger+ Garlic paste – 1tbsp
- Oil (vegetable)

For the rice:
- Rice – 2cups
- Garlic – 8 sliced
- Onions – ½ cup sliced
- Bay leaf – 1
- Cinnamon – 2 sticks
- Cloves – 3
- Cardamom – 3
- Green Chilies – 2 slit
- Black peppercorns – 5
- Salt

Optional:
Freshly chopped cilantro for garnish.

Procedure:
First wash rice and let it dry.
Shrimp:
In a pan, add oil (about 1tbsp) and once it has heated (medium high) up a little, add the chopped onions and the green chilies and fry a little until translucent/slightly brown.
To this add the powdered ingredients, the chopped tomato, and the ginger-garlic paste. Add the shrimp as well. Sauté until the oil releases itself from the onions. Don’t cook the shrimp completely. Keep this mixture aside.

Rice:

In another pan or the same pan, add some oil and sauté the sliced onions, sliced garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon sticks, cardamoms, green chilies, peppercorns, and cloves. After about 1 minute add the washed and dried rice. Fry until the onions turn translucent.
At this point add the shrimp mixture and mix. Add 4 cups of water and once it starts boiling, lower the heat to sim, cover and cook until done.

It should take anywhere from 20-30 minutes depending on the type of rice used. Garnish with fresh coriander/cilantro leaves.

This goes well with raitha/yoghurt salad.