Made by cooking rice along with prawns, onions, tomatoes, ginger, garlic, and everyday spices, this Prawn Pulao or Shrimp Pulao is a simple and flavourful recipe. Try it for your weekday meals and you will love every bite of it. Here is how to make it.
About This Recipe
Most of the days, I prefer making Vegetarian Pulao recipes such as Veg Pulao, Paneer Pulao, Mumbai Style Tawa Pulao, Matar Pulao, Gucchi Pulao, and Gobi Pulao for my everyday meals.
But this time I tried my hands on this mouth-watering Prawn Pulao and we loved it at home.
Prawn Pulao or Shrimp Pulao is a one-pot dish where rice is cooked along with onions, ginger garlic paste, green masala, lemon juice, and basic everyday spices with prawns being the star ingredient.
Easy to make and delicious to eat, this Shrimp Pulao also makes a great side dish for your house party meals, pot lucks, or even for your weekday dinners.
You can use any prawns of your choice to make this lightly spiced and aromatic recipe. I have used medium-sized prawns but jumbo prawns also work great.
This Pulao is now a casual affair at home, as I prefer to make dishes, where ingredients are easily available rather than searching for fancy ingredients for my everyday meals.
If you also like Prawns, here are some more recipes that you can try your hands on – Prawn Coconut Curry, Kerala Prawn Curry, Chilli Prawns, Traditional Goan Prawn Curry, Chemmeen Roast and Grilled Sambal Prawns.
Ingredients
To make this oh-so-good and simple Prawn Pulao, you will need two key ingredients – Rice and Prawns. I have used long grain basmati rice here as that is the best to make pulao or biryani, but the best part about this recipe is that you can use any rice that is easily available to you and it will still taste delicious.
You can also use brown rice or quinoa to make this Pulao, instead of white rice.
Use any variety of prawns to make this Pulao. Just make sure to use fresh prawns, as they deliver the best taste.
Other ingredients that are required – tomato, green chilli, fresh coconut, coriander, mint leaves, cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon, green cardamom, onion, ginger garlic paste, coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, lemon juice, salt, and garam masala powder.
Step by Step Recipe
Wash the rice and soak in water for 20 minutes. This process will make sure the rice is fluffy and cook evenly.
Add tomato, green chilli, fresh coconut, coriander and mint in a grinder. Adjust the amount of green chillies according to your taste.
Grind these ingredients along with some water to make a smooth paste. Do not add too much water otherwise, the final rice will become mushy.
Heat ghee and oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon, and green cardamom and let them crackle for a few seconds. Add onion and fry until they are slightly browned.
Add ginger-garlic paste and cook for 2-3 minutes.
Now add the ground masala, coriander powder, red chilli powder, and turmeric powder and cook for 2-3 minutes. I always use Kashmiri red chilli in my cooking as it’s not too hot but gives a beautiful color to the dishes.
Add prawns, lemon juice, garam masala powder, salt to taste. Mix everything well.
Add drained rice and 2 and 1/2 cups of water. Rice to water ratio is very important to get the perfect texture of the pulao, so be very careful with that.
Cover the pan and cook the rice on low heat until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked well. Fluff the pulao using a fork and serve hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cleaning prawns is an easy process! First and foremost, start by rinsing prawns in cold water and discard any that are discolored or slimy.
Make sure you wash them properly.
Hold the prawn tightly and firmly twist the head of the prawns. Next, hold the tail, peel away the outer shell, and pull off the legs from the underside of the shell.
Now use a knife and put a small cut that runs down the length of the prawn’s back.
Once you make a cut, you will see a small black line, it’s the vein. Use the tip of the knife to pull out the vein and discard it.
Rinse them once more with cold water and make sure that you have cleaned the intestines well. Once you are done, your prawns are ready to use now.
Follow the same recipe as given below, close the lid of the cooker and cook till the cooker releases 2 to 3 whistles on high heat. Let the pressure release naturally.
Once done, open the cooker, mix the pulao with a fork, and serve hot.
Serving Suggestions
You can serve this pulao on its own, as it is full of flavor and does not need an accompaniment to flavor it even more. Any Raita will go well with this dish.
You can even serve this Pulao as a side dish along with your weekend meals or just with a refreshing salad for everyday meals.
Storage Suggestions
You can store the leftover pulao in the refrigerator for 2 days.
If you want to keep it for a longer time, then freeze it in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Once ready to eat, just thaw for 2-3 hours over the counter, then micro until warm and serve.
If the pulao looks dry, you can splash some water over it before putting it in the microwave.
Variation
Using Cooked Rice – To make this pulao using cooked rice, heat oil in a pan.
Add whole spices and fry for a few seconds. Add onion, ginger, and garlic and fry for 3-4 minutes.
Now add green and tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes. Add coriander powder, turmeric powder, and red chilli powder and cook for a minute.
Add the prawns and cover the pan. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add cooked rice and toss everything well. You can use cauliflower rice in place of regular rice for a healthier version.
Using Coconut Milk – You can make a spicy tomato, onion masala along with ginger, garlic, green chillies and all the basic spice powder such as red chilli powder, turmeric powder and coriander powder. Add in the washed rice, prawns, and add thin coconut milk instead of water to cook the Pulao.
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Prawn Pulao Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups Basmati Rice
- 1/2 cup Tomatoes (chopped)
- 2-3 Green Chillies
- 1/4 cup Fresh coconut (grated)
- 1/4 cup Fresh Coriander (packed)
- 1/4 cup Fresh mint (packed)
- 1 tbsp Ghee
- 1 tbsp Oil
- 2-3 Cloves
- 3-4 Black Peppercorns
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 2 Green Cardamom
- 1/4 cup Onion (chopped)
- 1 tbsp Ginger Garlic Paste
- 1 tsp Coriander powder
- 1 tsp Kashmiri red chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
- 250 g Prawns
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1/2 tsp Garam Masala Powder
- Salt (to taste)
Instructions
- Wash the rice and soak in water for 20 minutes.
- Add tomato, green chilli, fresh coconut, coriander and mint in a grinder and grind to make a smooth paste.
- Heat ghee and oil in a pan. Once the oil is hot, add cloves, peppercorns, bay leaves, cinnamon and green cardamom and let them crackle for a few seconds.
- Add onion and fry until they are slightly browned.
- Add ginger garlic paste and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Now add the ground masala, coriander powder, red chilli powder and turmeric powder and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add prawns, lemon juice, garam masala powder, salt to taste, drained rice and 2 and1/2 cups of water.
- Cover the pan and cook the rice until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is cooked well.
- Fluff the pulao using a fork. Serve hot.
Dr. Deepu
Simply gorgeous!!! Heartful thanks to the entire Whiskaffair family.
Neha Mathur
Thank you 🙂
Winnie
A simple preparation using regular spices but so flavorful and absolutely delicious. The only change I made was marinating the prawns. Loved it.
Neha Mathur
Happy to hear 🙂