Shrimps/Prawns are our favorite seafood. I can try any variety and not feel bored. I wanted to try a pulao or biryani and was looking for a different recipe this time. That is when I found the shrimp biryani recipe on showmethecurry.com. I tweaked this recipe to my taste and voila! It turned out delicious.

Ingredients:
500g prawns cleaned and deveined
1 1/2 cups basmati rice
2-3 tbsp roughly chopped ginger
2-3 tbsp roughly chopped garlic
5-6 green chillies or to taste
2 medium size onions thinly sliced
3-4 green cardamoms
3-4 cloves
1″ piece cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
2 medium tomatoes finely chopped
1 cup mint leaves chopped
2 cups coconut milk + 1 cup water
4 tbsp ghee/oil
red chilli powder to taste
salt to taste

Method:
Grind the ginger, garlic and green chillies into a paste and keep aside.

Heat oil in a thick bottomed pan or a pressure cooker. Add the cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamoms and bay leaves. Fry for 30 seconds. Add the sliced onions. Fry till the onions turn golden brown. Add in the ginger, garlic and green chilli paste and mix well. Fry till the raw smell goes and  the paste is fried.

Add in the chopped tomatoes, mint leaves, red chilli  powder and salt. Fry till the tomatoes are soft and cooked. Now is the time to add the shrimps (prawns). Mix well. If you are using a pan, cook these prawns for a while till they turn opaque.

Add in the rice and mix well for about 2 mins. Add the coconut milk and water. Bring to a boil.

If you are using a pan, let the water evaporate till the rice is seen on top. At this point cover the pan and let the pulao cook on a low flame for about 10 minutes. If the coconut milk is thick and it forms a layer on top, just mix gently before closing with a lid.

If you are using a pressure cooker, close the lead. Once the steam begins to come out, put on the weight. Let it whistle once and turn off the flame. Let the pressure go down by itself.

Now open the lid and gently mix the rice. Let it stand for 5 minutes.

Serve hot!!

Ingredients:
600 gm chicken (with or without bone)
2 cups basmati rice
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp cashewnuts (optional)
2 bay leaves
6-8 cloves
2″ piece cinnamon
6 green cardamoms
2 medium size onion sliced
3-4 medium tomatoes finely chopped
1 tbsp red chilli powder or to taste
1 tsp garam masala (optional)
4 tbsp oil or ghee

For marinating chicken:
1/2 cup thick yogurt
2 tbsp ginger paste
2 tbsp garlic paste
Salt to taste

Method:
In a bowl mix yogurt, ginger paste, garlic paste and salt to marinate the chicken. Add the chicken pieces to this and make sure the chicken pieces are well coated with the marination. Keep aside for half an hour.

Pick, wash and soak the rice in water for 15-20 mins. Drain the water and keep aside.

Heat a thick bottomed pan with oil or ghee in it. Once the oil or ghee is hot, add cumin seeds. Once they start spluttering, add the cashewnuts. As they begin to turn golden, add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaves. Saute for a min. Add in the sliced onions and fry them till they are golden brown.

Now, add the tomatoes, red chilli powder and garam masala to the onions. Stir on high heat for about 3-4 minutes. The tomatoes should form a kind of pulp and should leave the sides of the utensil.

Once that is done, add the marinated chicken along with the leftover marinade. Stir on high heat for 5 mins. Then let the chicken cook on medium heat for about 10-15 mins or till the chicken is almost done.

Add in the rice and mix well. Stir the mixture for about 2 mins. Add salt. Now, add 3 cups of water and bring to a boil. Once the water evaporates and rice comes up lower the heat. Cook covered on sim for about 10 minutes. Turn off the flame and let it stand for 5 minutes. Then with a fork fluff up the pulao.

Serve hot!! Raita is optional!!

Ingredients:
A big bowl of egg bhurji
12 bread slices
Butter

Method:
For the recipe of egg bhurji, visit the recipe here.

Heat the sandwich maker. While the sandwich maker heats up, apply butter to both sides of the bread. Spread a layer of the egg bhurji on one bread slice. Place another slice of bread on the top. If you find the sandwich too thin, repeat the procedure to add a third slice of bread. Now place the sandwich in the sandwich maker to grill it.

If you don’t like it grilled or do not have the sandwich maker, there are two options. You can either eat it plain or fry the slice of bread on  both sides on the tava first and then spread the egg bhurji.

Either way serve hot with tea! Enjoy!

Ingredients:
18-20 medium to big prawns (shrimps)
2 tsp Tandoori Masala
¼ tsp turmeric powder
½ tsp red chilli  powder
1 tbsp  lime juice
Salt to taste

Method:
Red chilli powder and lime juice can be varied according to your taste. A word of caution is that prawns require less salt as compared to fish or vegetables. So, be careful how much you add in.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and marinate the prawns, so that the prawns are covered with the marinade. You can also add in a pinch of orange red food colour, but this is completely optional. Keep in the refrigerator for about an hour at least. Keeping it in the refrigerator will keep the marinated prawns dry.

Heat a pan. Once hot sprinkle some oil. Now, place the marinated prawns one by one on the hot tava. Fry on medium flame. Turn the prawns to fry them on  the other side. Fry till the prawns are completely cooked.

Serve hot as a starter or eat it the way you like! Prawns taste good anyway :D.

In this recipe, I did not use tomatoes as I don’t like the combination of egg and tomato. If you like tomatoes with egg, you can use one tomato in this recipe. This is how I prepare it.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
4 green chillies finely chopped 
2 medium onions finely chopped
6-8 garlic cloves finely chopped
½ tsp pepper powder
¼ tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp kitchen king powder (optional)
Coriander leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
1 tbsp Oil

Method:
Heat the oil. Once the oil is hot, add the green chillies and the chopped garlic. Fry for a min. Add the chopped onions. Fry the onions till they are translucent if you like them crunchy or till golden brown if you like them really soft and blended.

Once the onion is fried, add the pepper powder, kitchen king powder, turmeric powder and fry for a min. Now break the eggs and add them to the pan. Add the salt.  Mix well. Keep mixing on a low flame till the egg is completely cooked.

Garnish with coriander leaves. Serve hot!!

Butter chicken is a dish that all of us have at least tried once whenever we have dined in a non-veg restaurant. For people who do not like spicy dishes, this is a favorite :)! So, no wonder I was excited when I saw the recipe on Aayi’s Recipes after a lot of search. I wanted to try and see how close I can get to the restaurant taste, and I must say it was very close!

Ingredients:

For the marination: 
300g chicken
1/2 cup thick or hung yogurt
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
Salt to taste

For the gravy:
2 big onions finely chopped
1 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/2 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
3 tomatoes pureed
10-15 cashewnuts ground into a smooth paste
1/2 -1 tsp kasoori methi
2-3 tbsp butter
Oil
1/4 cup fresh cream
Salt to taste
Coriander leaves for garnishing

Method:
Marinate the chicken with the ingredients mentioned for marination. Keep the marinated chicken aside for an hour or so. You can also keep it in the fridge if you don’t want the marinade to get watery.

Now, heat 1 tbsp butter and a tsp of oil. Add the marinated chicken and shallow fry the chicken till its 80% done. Be sure not to turn the butter in the pan to ghee in the frying process :D. Keep aside.

Heat the remaining butter. Add the ginger garlic paste. Fry for a minute and then add the onions. Fry till the onions are translucent. Now, add the chilli powder, garam masala and kasoori methi. Fry the masala till its fried and the raw smell is gone.

Add in the chicken pieces, tomato puree and cashewnut paste. Mix well. Once the gravy comes to a boil, simmer the flame. Cook covered for 10 mins or till the gravy thickens to desired consistency. Now add in the cream and mix well. Continue boiling for 2 mins and turn off the flame.

Garnish with coriander leaves and cream. Serve hot with chapati/roti/naan/bread :)!!

Ingredients:
500gm chicken (cleaned)
1 cup coriander leaves (cilantro)
8-10 green chillies
1 cup grated coconut
7-8 black peppercorns
1” ginger knob
8 garlic flakes
2 onions
2 tbsp oil
salt to taste

Method:
Grind together coriander leaves, green chillies, ginger, garlic, pepper into a fine paste and keep aside. Grind the coconut into a fine paste separately and keep aside.

Heat oil. Add onion and fry till golden brown. Now add the green paste and fry for a min. Add in the chicken piece and fry on high flame for 2 minutes. Add half cup of water and cook covered till done or cook it in the pressure cooker for about 10 mins or till the chicken is cooked  and  tender. Optionally you can cook the chicken pieces separately and then add it to the onion.

Once the chicken is cooked, add the coconut paste and salt to it. You can increase the quantity of coconut if you like more gravy. Add water if required and bring to boil. Let the gravy simmer for 5 mins and the chicken in green gravy is ready to serve!!

Serve hot with bread or chapatti or anything you like :D!

Ingredients:
500gm boneless chicken
8 medium sized onions finely chopped
2 tomatoes finely chopped
2 green chilli
1-2 garlic flakes finely chopped
1 tsp coriander powder (dhaniya powder)
1/2 tsp jeera powder (cumin powder)
1/2 – 1 tsp red chilli powder
1/2 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1-2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tsp chilli sauce
Coriander leaves finely chopped (Cilantro leaves)
1 tsp lime juice
Salt to taste

Method:
Clean and wash the chicken, keep aside.

Heat oil in a pan. Add the green chilli and chopped garlic. Stir for a minute. Add the onions. Fry till the onions are golden brown. Now, add the coriander powder, jeera powder, garam masala powder, ginger garlic paste, red chilli powder. Stir fry till the masala separates from oil. Add the tomatoes and fry on high flame till the tomato fries. Add the chicken pieces. Fry on high flame for a couple of minutes. Then cook covered on low flame for 20-30 mins or till the chicken is cooked and tender. Can add a little water if needed. Alternately you can shallow fry the chicken first till it is almost cooked or cook it in the pressure cooker and then add it to the fried onion. You can add more water if you need some gravy.

Once the chicken is cooked, add the tomato sauce, soya sauce, chilli sauce and mix well. Add salt to taste. Let the mixture simmer for about 5-10 mins. Add the coriander leaves and stir for a minute. Turn off the flame. Add the lime juice and mix well.

Serve hot!! 

Ingredients:
8 – 10 medium to big pieces of surmai (king mackerel fish) or any fish of your choice
15 – 20 garlic flakes finely chopped or crushed
3 – 4 tsp chilli powder for marinate
1-2 tsp of chilli powder for rava mixture
1 pinch turmeric powder
Tamarind – the size of a lemon
2-3 tbsp -Fine Semolina(Chiroti rava)
Salt to taste

Method:
Here the fish can be any fish of your choice, ideally the flesh should be firm.

For the tamarind pulp, soak tamarind equal to size of a lemon in water. Squeeze out the pulp with some water. Add just enough water to extract the pulp, else the marinate will become watery and will not stick to the fish.

Mix all the ingredients except the fish and make a mixture with very little water. Add water only if necessary. The consistency of the mixture should be a thick paste. Then apply the paste to the fish and marinate for couple of hours. The fish has to marinate properly, if not the fried fish will not taste good.

Mix about 1-2 tsp of chilli powder in the rava. Roll the fish in the rava mixture and place on a hot tawa. Sprinkle oil as needed and shallow fry the fish on both sides till done.

Serve hot with rice and curry (kande tamboli). Yum yum yum :)!!

Ingredients:
500 gm prawns cleaned/deveined
4-5 medium size onions finely chopped
1 tbsp tamarind pulp
2 tsp red chilli powder
5-6 cloves garlic crushed
Salt to taste
oil for seasoning

Method:
For the tamarind pulp, soak tamarind equal to size of a lemon in water. Squeeze out the pulp with some water.
Now, heat 2 tbsp of oil. Add the onions. Stir fry till brown but not burnt(Yep.. a little tricky, should be done on a low flame). Add the red chilli powder and stir for a min. Add the tamarind pulp and bring to a boil. Now, let the prawns go in. Add the salt. Cook on low flame till the gravy thickens and prawns are cooked.
Heat 2 tsp of oil separately for seasoning. Add the crushed garlic cloves. Fry till they turn golden brown. Add this to the hot gravy.
Phanna upkari is ready to serve!!