Last week, I was craving to make some biryani! I haven't exactly had the time to make biryani and because well...I'm super hesitant it wouldn't taste as good as my moms! But I went for it and I couldn't be happier!

The key thing that makes a biryani TASTE like a biryani is the al dente chawal/rice and the masala in  the rice and biryani in general. Fish, and shrimp are my main source of protein on the days I cook after work. Every now and then I will take out chicken in the morning to de frost and make something in the evening. Beef...since I don't eat any form of beef or goat cooked at home I sometimes make kabab and keema based dishes for my husband because he loves those meat dishes!

Today I am bringing you a recipe for Shrimp biryani, but you can replace it with any meat and cook the same way.

What you will need
-2-3 medium to large red onion, for cooking and garnishing.
-2 small roman tomatoes
-1 1/2 cup of SWAD rice...you can use whatever white rice, you would like from an indian grocery store.
-4-5 pieces of whole peper
-2-3 Pieces of Elaichi
- one fourth packet of biryani masala
-2 tablespoon of korma masala
-1 table spoon of tikka masala
-1 tablespoon of cumin powder
-1/2 tablespoon of cumin powder for marinate
-1 tablespoon of coriander powder
-1/2 tablespoon of coriander powder for marinate
-2 tablespoons of Gharam masala. My mom was here a few weeks ago and made it from scratch.
-1 table spoon turmeric for biryani
-1 teaspoon turmeric for marinating
-1 tablespoon of ginger garlic paste for marinating
-1 tablespoon chilli powder for biryani
-1 teaspoon chilli powder for marinating
-1/4 teaspoon of salt for biryani ( I do not add salt in my food, all these masala's have plenty of salt.)
-1/2 tablespoon of salt for rice when you boil
-3-4 small potatoes cut in fourths
-1/4 cup of parsley for garnishing
-1 deep pot/thapela...I made everything in one big wok


Marinate

Peel, devein and take the shell off the shrimp. You can use any other meat, whole chicken, boneless chicken, lamb beef etc...clean and prep your meat. Add the spices mentioned above that are for marinate including the garlic and ginger paste. Marinate for minimum 20-30 mins.


Instructions

1. Take that cup and half of rice(This was enough for us to eat dinner, and for me to take for my lunch with some left over for the next evening. You might need more, please check) and soak it in a bowl of water for 15-30 mins. Boil water for the rice and Drop in Whole pepper and Long. You can also add in Elaichi at this time or put it in the salan. After 15-30 mins drop the soaking rice into the pot. Cook until 75% done. Drain and put to aside....let it cool down and harden

2.Go ahead and julien cut half of one red onion and begin to lightly fry in oil. Onions take some time to fry and then suddenly get black quickly. Do this on medium to high heat with not too much oil in the pan. After its the color in the final pic, take out and set it aside on a napkin to soak up all the oil.


3.In that same oil, put in your potatoes. This will probably be the longest step. To speed this process up you can boil the whole potatoes until its 40% cooked, strain peel and then put them into fry as well. Not gonna lie.. I suck at cooking aloo/potato...it in not my thing! But I think a few we ate were nicely cooked :) Let the potatoes get brown like in the picture. Poke at it with a knife or a fork to make sure its cooked the way you want. It will get added to the curry part later for 15 mins.

4. After the potatoes are brown and "fried" here comes the biryani masala part! you want to take the remaining one full purple/red onion shop and dice it as small as you can...it will take about 10-15 mins for it to become transparent. You can speed up this step by adding salt... I waited till it naturally became transparent. Chop up your 2 tomtoes finely and add it in after the 15 mins...stir until both mix together. It will take 10-15 more mins to become "one"...this is where you start adding your dry spices.

5. Add your biryani masala, korma masala, tikka masala, gharam masala, turmeric powder, chilli powder, cumin powder, coriander powder.it is optional to add the whole pepper cloves, elaichi, and bay leaves here at this step or you can put it in your rice...FOLD your mixture so it continues to become ONE. Let the oil separate from mixture.

6. Add in the potatoes, add half cup of water if your potatoes are 60% done and one fourth cup of water if your potatoes were 80-100% done. put on medium heat, cover, and let it simmer. 

7. I know biryani is a layered dish...but I cooked everything in one pan because it was already a complex dish to make and I didn't want so many dishes to wash. Add half the rice you made and start folding the mixture...you don't want the rice to break...don't mix too much! let it sit on low heat! 5-10 mins in....mix in the finely chopped parsley and sprinkle with the fried onion for garnishment! I would let the food steam and absorb all the flavor for another 30 minutes...the fried onion really brings all the flavors together and it makes it taste more like a biryani! 

I hope you all try this recipe with whatever replacement of meat you chose! I am blessed that I can attempt to make indian and other international cuisine and not fail. I secretly love cooking and I get it from my mom. I give credit to my mom for providing us with such great praise worthy food. I was never taught how to cook. First time I made consecutive amount of pakistani food was after getting married. Before I got married I cooked for myself or secretly tried out pakistani food and would cook for my dad. I hope you take a little bit of my childhood and family with you and try this out! Thank you so much! :)