Fatima's Fabulous Kitchen

I don't eat to live. I live to eat.

Shrimp Biryani

by

Shrimp Biryani is one of my favorite types of biryanis and a great weeknight dish when you want biryani but don’t have the time it takes to cook a chicken or lamb biryani which often requires you to marinate your meat overnight.

Biryani is mostly about getting ratios right – there needs to be the right amount of rice to masala, the correct amount of spices, yogurt, ghee, and fried onions. Too much or too little of anything can throw the whole dish off.

For the shrimp biryani, I start off by sauteeing the shrimp in the same pot I fried my biryani onions in along with some chili powder and turmeric. I then made a paste with some ginger, garlic, and serrano chilies (allows more of the heat and flavor of the chilies to come through) and added it to the shrimp with some salt, yogurt, garam masala and biryani masala. Some people also like to add tomatoes but I do not add any to my shrimp biryani.  

The rice is pretty standard – I parboil it and add all the typical aromatics – cardamom, cloves, mace, peppercorn,  shahzeera, fennel powder (except cinnamon which I feel is too strong for shrimp biryani but works great in a lamb biryani).

I then layer the shrimp biryani in the following order – rice, shrimp, fried onions, cilantro, another layer of rice, fried onions, lime juice, saffron, butter. Cover.

If you are using an oven – cook at 350 F for about 20-25 minutes or so. If you are using your stove-top, cook for about 5 minutes on high-heat and 8-10 minutes on low heat. As you can see it comes together very quickly!

I didn’t post many pictures showing the step-by-step process because I did in fact make a Tik Tok video for it. Follow me at fatimasfabkitchen.

Print

Shrimp Biryani

Servings 4 people

Ingredients

  • 5-7 Tbsp butter and or/oil (divided plus more for frying onions)
  • 1 2/3 cup sliced onion (to fry)
  • 1 lb shrimp
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tsp chili powder
  • 6 garlic cloves
  • 1 large piece of ginger
  • 4-5 serrano chilies (divided)
  • 2/3 cup yogurt
  • 1 Tbsp garam masala
  • 3 Tbsp biryani masala
  • salt or to taste
  • 2/3 cup cilantro (chopped)
  • 4-5 mint leaves
  • lime juice (to taste)
  • 3-4 saffron strands (optional)

Rice

  • 2 1/4 cup basmati rice
  • 1 mace
  • 3 cardamom
  • 2 clove
  • 1 tsp shahzeera
  • 1 tsp fennel powder
  • 6 black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 Tbsp salt (to salt the water)

Instructions

Biryani Onions

  1. In a pot, add a couple tablespoons of oil. Add your sliced onions and stir on high heat for a few minutes. Then turn the heat down to medium low and fry until golden brown. Be careful not to burn the onions! Set the onions aside.

Shrimp Masala

  1. In the same pot you fried your onions, add some more butter or oil (if necessary). Now add in your peeled and de-veined shrimp.

  2. Add a teaspoon of chili powder and turmeric each. Stir and cook until shrimp is pink.

  3. Now take your ginger, garlic, and a couple of serrano chilies and form a paste by grinding the ingredients together in a blender. Add to the shrimp. Cook for five minutes.

  4. Now add in your salt, yogurt, garam masala, and biryani masala. You can add some whole serrano chilies (add some slits) too. Add a couple tablespoons of water and cook down for several minutes. At the end, the gravy should be mostly dry.

  5. Toss in some chopped cilantro and mint. Set aside.

Rice and Assembly

  1. Wash and rinse your basmati rice very well. Soak the rice in cold water for about 30 minutes or so.

  2. In the meantime, fill a pot with water and add your aromatics -bay leaves, shahzeera, fennel powder, cardamom, mace, cloves and a tablespoon or so of salt. Bring to a ferocious boil.

  3. Once your rice soaking in water turns translucent, add it to the boiling water. Cook for a couple of minutes or until almost al-dente. The basmati rice shouldn't be about 80% of the way cooked through.

  4. In your assembly pan or pot add a layer of rice. Then your shrimp. Then cilantro, half of your fried onions, then another layer of rice, more fried onions, butter, and saffron (make sure to soak the strands in a few tablespoons of warm milk).

  5. If you are baking in the oven, make sure to cover baking dish tightly with foil and bake at 375 F for about 25 minutes. If you are using the stove, cover your pot with foil and top with the lid so that no steam escapes. Cook on high-heat for 5 minutes, then turn the stove to low-heat and cook for another 8 minutes or so.