Prawn Pulao w/ Mango Salsa

Every family has their version of the PRAWN PULAO. Some fry the prawns before adding them into the rice, others like potatoes in their pulao, sometimes it is made with freshly made prawn stock, few others prefer to use stock cubes in their pulao. You can adapt any of these methods to suit your taste. After all it’s about spending time with family with lots of fun, laughter and chatting on a Sunday afternoon.

I personally like to have my prawn pulao with potato wafers on the side. My friends / family give me a look when I add those wafers to my plate, they find it weird – but that’s me. (Not very sure how my physial trainer will react to this 😀😀)

For most sea-food lovers prawns is on the top of the list. I am one among them. I have eaten some of the best prawn pulao at my family gatherings. Most of my extended family members are pretty good at making this. Sometimes, it is made with ground green masala, sometimes layered with fried prawns on top, sometimes with red gravy to accompany it. (not really required though) and many other versions of prawn pulao. I love them all.

It basically a very flavourful dish, with right amount of spices, zesty lemon juice and lots of freshly chopped coriander.

Just a few things to keep in mind when making the pulao. Prawns should be absolutely fresh, good quality basmati rice soaked for atleast 15 minutes ahead of cooking and ofcourse the addition of the prawn stock. It tastes best when you use freshly made prawn stock. The dish is a perfect one pot meal and ideal to have on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

And since, I had some ripe mangoes at home. Here, I have tried accompanying the pulao with some freshly cut ripe mango salsa. It complimented the pulao extremely well !!! Somehow mango makes it to my table in some way or the other.

For the salsa just chop the mangoes, add in a chopped green chilli, a dash of lemon, salt to taste and a few chopped coriander leaves and that’s about it.

You can also serve the pulao with some raita and papad.

Prawn Pulao recipe

Ingredients :

500 grams prawns, cleaned and deveined
½ teaspoon turmeric powder
salt to taste

For the rice:

4 cloves
3 black peppercorns
2 cardamoms crushed
1 ” cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 onions chopped
2 medium-small tomatoes finely chopped
1-2 medium-small green chillies slit
2 teaspoons ginger & garlic paste
1-1/2 teaspoons plain red chilli powder
1/4 cup fresh coriander finely chopped
2 cups basmati
2 cups water
1 cup prawn stock
salt to taste
Juice of half a lemon
ghee and oil for frying

Method :

Marinate the cleaned and deveined prawns with the salt & turmeric powder for about 15-20 minutes. Wash the rice in 2-3 changes of water and soak for 15 minutes.
Heat ghee in a heavy based pan and add the cloves, cardamoms, cinnamon stick and bay leaf one by one and let them sizzle for a few seconds.
Add the green chilli and fry it for a few seconds on a low heat. Next, add the sliced onions and fry them till translucent (pale)
Add the ginger & garlic paste and fry for half a minute or till the raw smell goes away. Toss in the chopped tomatoes and continue to fry for at least 4-5 minutes on a medium-high heat till the tomatoes are all mushy and the oil begins to separate.
Reduce the heat to low and add the red chilli powder & cumin powder and mix well. Add the soaked & drained rice and mix it well.
Pour in the freshly made prawn stock, water lime juice and salt to taste. Add the 1/4 cup of chopped coriander as well.
Bring the mixture to a rolling boil and let it bubble for 1-2 minutes. Then reduce the heat to a sim, add the prawns, cover the pan with a lid and simmer for 5 minutes or so. Then turn off the heat and let the pulao sit for a 10 minutes.
Then open the lid and garnish pulao with chopped coriander
Serve hot with mango salsa.