Prawn pulao

Weekends are always hectic..with the grocery shopping for the weekend and week(you see everything is closed from sat 4:00 and whole of sunday), then the ensemble, followed by an outing with the family gives me very little time to be in the kitchen. As far as possible I try to cook on friday night for the following day so that I can do all of the above....  Since fish of our liking is not available, we bring in prawns on a regular basis which are very good in taste. That also means I have to keep on searching for new recipes to prepare them. I sat with my favourite chef Sanjeev Kapoor's Konkan cookbook and found this recipe...Prawn Pulao. The recipe serves four, but I altered the measures accordingly since I wanted servings for 8. The original recipe is noted ..

You need :-

• 1 cup prawns(cleaned)
• 1 and a half cups basmati rice
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• salt to taste
• half bunch coriander leaves
• half cup scraped coconut
• 3 green chillies roughly chopped
• 1 inch piece ginger roughly chopped
• 7 cloves garlic roughly chopped
• 15 fresh mint leaves
• 3 tbsps oil
• 1 inch stick cinnamon
• 4 black cardamoms
• 2 star anise
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 medium sized onions finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut milk

Method :-

1. Soak rice in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
2. Wash prawns, marinate with lemon juice and salt.
3. Grind green chillies, ginger, garlic, coriander leaves, mint leaves and coconut to a fine paste.
4. Heat oil in a thick bottomed vessel and add cinnamon, black cardamom, star anise, cloves and cumin seeds. Saute for one minute.
5. Add onions, saute till it turns light golden brown. Add ground masala paste, stir fry for half a minute and add prawns. Saute for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Add soaked rice, stir gently and then add coconut milk.
7. Add three cups of hot water. Bring it to a boil, stirring once or twice. Cook on medium heat till water has almost dried. Reduce heat, cover and cook till rice is done. 
8. Serve hot with any raitha of your choice.