Shrimp Biryani/Prawn Biryani

Today I am going to share with you something special ..it is one of our favorite dish: Biryani.Here I prepared the Shrimp biryani. This is very easy to prepare one and no need to prepare any side dishes (curry poriyal etc) for this. We can prepare a tasty & delicious dinner without much effort. 

It is a very common in our menu. During our last grocery shopping I bought the shrimp. I used some of them for the fry and some for the curry. There were still some shrimps in my freezer. Today i was confused what to prepare for dinner then i saw these cute shrimps at the freezer and finally decided to prepare  this biryani. i already mentioned it is very easy one but while cooking make sure that you have nicely sauted and cooked the shrimp before adding the rice and also the rice-water ratio should be in right propotion otherwise biryani becomes payasam(Yes, It happened to me when i was in my cooking nursery school:)). Here i pressure cooked the biryani.If u r cooking the rice in pressure cooker the rice water ratio is 1:2 (its for basmati rice)

We always prefer to buy the fresh shrimp so we usually buy it from one of the intrnational market here called Jungle Jim's.The best shop I found here in OH. We get any kind of food items from all over the world and the arrangement is really good.For each country has separate sections and they display one  or the other items which are unique to that country..Our Indian section there is an Autoriksha and Elephant. I always love to go to this shop because I can buy so many new stuffs from there.

About the biryani: The fresh shrimp will give nice taste but we have to cook thoroughly and also we have to peel the shell off and clean it.. but that's not a big deal.Let me share the recipe..hope u will try this.. If you are so busy but love to cook something at home just try this.sure it will be good hit in ur  family.

Cost of the item :10.99USD/pound
Ingredients
Shrimp: 20 nos
Basmati Rice: 2 cup
Oil : enough
For marinating the shrimp
Ginger: small size
Garlic: 2 cloves
Chili powder: 1 tbsp
Turmeric Powder: 1/2 tsp
Pepper Powder: 1 tbsp
Salt: to taste
For biryani masala
Pepper corns: 3 nos
Cardamom: 2 no
Cloves: 5 nos

Cinnamon: 1 medium sized 

star anise: 1 star
Onion: 1 big size

Tomato: 1 no
Green chili: 2 nos
Garlic: 2 cloves
Ginger : small size
Green Chili: 2 nos
Coriander leaves:little
Curry leaves: 1 spring
For Garnishing
Cahew nut: 10 nos
Raisins: 10 nos
Ghee: 1 tsp
Preparation
Step1:

• Clean the shrimp -peel the shell off and wash it with Lemon juice.
• Make a nice paste of ginger and garlic.
• Marinate the shrimp with all the ingredients in the listing and keep it aside for 30 -1 hour
• slice the onion ,cut the ginger garlic and green chili into small size(cut  lengthwise )
• Cut the tomato into 8 pieces
• Soak the rice for 15-30 minutes

Step2:

• Heat oil in kadai ..Add the whole spices(Pepper corns,Cardamom,Cloves,Cinnamon,star anise) and just saute it for a minute or less.
• Add the 3G's(ginger garlic and green chili) and saute for some time then add the sliced onion..saute onions until becomes transparent
• Add the Tomato,fry it for sometime then add the Turmeric,chili and coriander powders and mix well.

Step 3: 

• Add the marinated shrimp into the spice mix..Cook until shrimps color changes.
• Add the soaked and drained rice,chopped Coriander leaves and curry leaves into the cooked shrimp mix.Mix all together and fry for 4-5 minute

Step4: 

• Transfer the content into a pressure cooker.Add 4 cups of water(use the same cup used for measuring the rice).Cook until 1 whistel..then switch off the heat let the Rice to cook to cook for sometime.

Step5: 

• Meantime heat ghee in a pan.just shallow fry the cashews and raisins.
• Pour the gheed mix to the biryani and also decorate with some cilantro

The Delicious shrimp biryani is ready to have.Have it with raitha.

Raitha

Ingredients
Cucumber: 1/4 portion of 1 medium sized one
Tomato: 1 no
Red onion:1/2 portion of a small sized one
Green chili: 1 no
Curd: 1/2 cup
salt : to taste
Pepper Powder:1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves:little
Preparation

• Cut them into very small pieces.and mix all together with curd ..serve along with shrimp biryani..Enjoy

Cook's Tip

• You can also use the cooked, frozen shrimp.
• If u r using the cooked shrimp not necessary to cook it again.just fry it in the masala for 2-3 minutes in medium heat.
• If u like u can make the shrimp masala and rice seperately and mix together and bake for sometime that also taste good.
• Be careful add the double amount of water of rice for cooking..use the same cup for the measurement.
• Add more spices according to ur taste.

CrabCake & CrabFry /Njandu cake and NjanduFry

Today i am going to share with u guys something special. That's a seafood - Crab-cake. Crab-cake is just like the cutlet prepared with crab meat. I don't know how many of you are aware of this dish,it's a very delicious food.
During the travel we always love to have food from different restaurants.I hardly prefer seafood from outside because in restaurants they do not add that much spice as we used to do and also they do not cook as much as we do. My husband love to taste any food. He loves experience new dishes(sometimes we  could have  order another dishes(because of the new dish taste) too).
We tasted this crab cake from Fisherman-wharf (Pier 39) in San Francisco.San Fransisco is one of the beautiful place in USA (It has the tropical weather similar to Kerela). Lot many attractions are there. The Pier 39 is one of them.In the fisherman wharf there are lot of street-side food shops, especially sea-food shops (like our thattukada). One of the best demanded items are "Crab-cake" and the seafood platter..Here i am attaching the picture of SFO pier 39.Its best place to enjoy,the main attarctions are the bay aquarium,fishermanwharf,cruises,wax Museum,Sea lions,shopping and eating..if u have enough time just walk from the pier 39 to pier 48 enjoy the beautiful views as well as the shops,food  etc.
When we visited SFO as a part of experimenting new dishes my husband  tried this crab-cake.Usually he won't compel me to eat any seafood item if it is an experiment but when he tried this crab-cake he told me to try that.when i tasted i really loved that and had 2 set of crab cake..That day onwards crab-cake became one of our favorite.

When I saw the Joyful Eating Whilst Traveling event, I was trying to find a dish for this event. My hus only suggested this crab-cake ..so i decided to go with this delicious food. Google found paula deen's crab cake recipe for me. finally i prepared the crab-cake and  the result was awesome.we really enjoyed having it.. I am always thankful to my fellow bloggers because of these events (we experiment new ideas and recipes and try our best to prepare these food to get good outcome).

Here I am going to share one more  simple recipe: that's "Crab fry. Let me explain how we make the delicious crab-cake and crab fry.

Here we go with the crab cake:

Ingredients
Crab meat: 1 pound
Ritz crackers: 5 tbsp
Green Onions: 3 count
Bell Pepper: 1/2 portion of a medium size
Mayonnaise:4tbsp
egg: 1 no
Worcestershire sauce: 1 tsp
Mustard:1 tsp
Lemon juice: 1 tbsp
Salt: enough
Pepper Powder: 1 tsp
Chili Powder: 1 tsp
Flour : for dusting
Oil: for frying
For the Dipping sauce
Mayonnaise: 1 tbsp
Chili sauce: 1/2 tbsp
Preparation

Step1

• Chop the green onion into very small pieces(use both white and green part)
• Chop the bell pepper into thin pieces
• Crush the Ritz crackers
• If u do not have Worcestershire sauce just add 1 tsp of wine and 1 tsp of chili powder.

Step2:

• In a large bowl add all the ingredients except flour and oil.The mix should be in the consistency of cutlet mix.

Step3:

• Make oval shaped patties from the mix.dust the patties with the flour.
• Heat oil in a pan.Fry the patties until golden brown.
• Place the fried crab cakes on a kitchen tissue.
• Mix the Mayonnaise and Chili sauce in a small bowl and use this as a dipping sauce.

The delicious Crab cake is ready to serve.Have it with the dipping sauce

Cook's tip

• Do not add any water while mixing the ingredients.
• If the mix is not in the correct consistency  just add some bread slices into it.
• If u don't find the sauce replace it with 1 tbsp wine and 1tbsp pepper powder
• U can shallow fry the crab patties instead of deep frying..
• Be careful by changing the sides of the crab cake while frying
• The crab meat will be available in all grocery stores meat/seafood counter.

Sending this Crabcake to Jagruti's Joyful Eating Whilst Traveling event.

Crab Fry/Njandu Fry

We both love eating crab dishes. This Crab fry is really simple  and very delicious one too It's a very healthy seafood,good source of calcium.Let me share the preparation steps of this wonderful dish
Ingredients
Crab legs:2 nos (Try to use King Crab Legs)
Ginger: 1 medium size
Garlic:6 pods
Pearl Onion/Re Onion:10 nos/1/2 portion of a medium sized
Turmeric Powder: 1 tsp
Chili Powder: 2 tbsp
salt : to taste
Cloves: 2 nos
Cinnamon: 1 small portion
Cardamom: 1 no
Fennel seeds: 1 tsp
Pepper : 4 nos
Coriander Powder: 2 tbsp
Preparation 

• Cut the crab legs into medium size pieces (1 inch length). Just wash it with lemon juice.
• Make a nice paste of all the ingredients. Marinate the crab and keep it for 30-1 hour.
• Heat oil in a pan and fry it until done (the crab became brown in color).

The Delicious Njandu fry is ready to have..Have it with Rice

Cook's Tip

• If u r using the whole crab just cut them into  small pieces .
• Wash with lemon juice.

Kanava Thoran /Squid Thoran/Calamari Thoran

Kanava is the kerala name of  squid  (In English-speaking countries, it is known as calamari - Italian word) .This species is unique in nature because of the structure and texture...About the structure,  it has eight arms arranged in pairs and two longer tentacles and also have a ink sac mainly used to escape from its enemies..If any one of its enemies are in action it produces a black ink and makes the entire environment in black in color so enemies can't see them and also according to the environment it has the ability to change its body color too... 

Usually we are not using the ink sac for preparing any dish but we saw travel channel's bizarre foods by Andrew Zimmerman (our ever time favorite TV show) was eating the squid soup prepared with this ink. He commented about that special dish as " Oh man unbelievable". Sure if we get a chance we have to try that too...Got bored because of my story? Don't worry let's talk about the recipe. Today I am going to share you the kanava thoran recipe.

Kanava Thoran is one of our favorite dish from mom's menu..Especially my brother fond of this squid thoran..we used to have it only with rice ..no other curries required..so u can imagine how delicious our mom's kanava thoran is..I hardly get chance to prepare this dish as because my hus didn't get a chance to taste it before( my in-laws place they doesn't like this fish) and also another thing i thought it is a very hard process to clean and cook..When mom came here we bought this from our Chinese store Cam Asia (a good Chinese grocery in our neighborhood with almost all fish) and my hus got the chance to taste our favorite dish ..He also liked it so much..another thing is that the same time mom taught me how to clean and cook this special food...I think its not a hard job, but we need little patience. that's all. I can guarantee that everyone love this dish..because it has a very unique taste.

Last week we got very fresh kanava from our Chinese store..so this time i tried my mom's recipe and it came out really good...Thanks to my mom..always miss her food..So hope all of you will try and enjoy this wonderful dish.

It is very important to know about cleaning this. You should be careful and follow the four important things given below:
1.Carefully remove the ink sac from the body.
2.There is a stone kind part is there in the head.you should remove that part before cooking.
3.Peel away the skin.
4.Carefully remove the cuttle bone.. (In Kerala it is known as Sea Pen - Kadal Pena)

If you want to know more details about cleaning this squid,visit this link. Actually the person described the cleaning process in a very detailed way..sure it will help you a lot...

Cooking time : 20-30 minute
Cost of the item: 3.99 usd/Pound
Ingredients:
Kanava : 1 large
Salt : to taste 
Water : 2 cup
Coconut : 1/2 cup
Garlic : 4 pods
Green chili: 4 nos
Pearl onion : 3 nos
Turmeric powder : 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder : 1 tsp
Coriander Powder : 1 tsp
Chili powder : 2 tsp

For seasoning 
Mustard seed: 1 tsp
Red chili : 2 nos
Curry leaves : 5leaves

Preparation 
Prior to cooking

1.Clean and cut the squid into small pieces

2.cut the pearl onion  into very small pieces

3.split the green chili into 2 pieces

Cooking steps

Step 1 : Boil the kanava pieces with enough water and salt.Here, what i did was i cooked the squid using pressure cooker...If you cook this in a vessel it will take long time to cook. If you use pressure cooker, within 2-3 whistle the cooking will get done. (boiled kanava -see the snap). 

step 2 : make a coarse paste of coconut ,garlic with chili powder ,coriander powder and pepper powder.
Step 3: Heat oil in a pan ..add the mustard seeds,once it started spluttering add red chili and curry leaves then add the cut pearl onion and green chili,saute for 2 minute .

Step 4 : Then add the coconut mix into it.Let it fry for about 3-5 minute

Step5: add the cooked kanava pieces into it.mix the kanava with the coconut mix  stir well and close the pan, let the mix to  cook  about 5-7  minute in medium heat.

The delicious kanava thoran is ready to have..Have it with rice ...

Points to ponder 

• Cut the kanava into very small pieces..that will make the dish more tastier.
• If you like to make the thoran spicy increase the amount of green chili and chili powder.
• Do not forget to add salt while cooking the kanava pieces..

Shrimp thoran/Konchu thoran/ Chemmen Thoran

Today's recipe is Konchu thoran.Its a different style of konchu curry.It's really tasty with rice and also its very easy to prepare . if u have shrimp on stock just try it today .We prefer to use uncooked shrimp that have more  taste compared to the frozen cooked one.You can find the fresh shrimp at almost all the Chinese shop..So if u already bought the cooked one don't forget to shop the uncooked one next time.Hope all of you tried my shrimp fry recipe...We really liked the taste.Just try this sure you will enjoy the new taste.
   
    Cost of the item : 7.99 usd/30-40 shrimps in a bag
    Cooking time : 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:
    Shrimp/Konchu : 1 pound
    Ginger : 1 medium size sliced into small pieces
    Pearl Onion/Red Onion: 10-15 nos/1 medium size
    Coconut : 1 small cup
    Green chili: 3 nos
    Chili Powder : 2 tsp
    Banana pepper: 1 no
    Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp
    Small Onion : 5 nos or small slice of medium red onion

For Seasoning:
    Oil : 2 tsp
    Mustard Seeds: 1 tsp
    Curry leaves: 4 leaves

Preparation:
Step 1 : Dice the onion into small pieces.Cut the green chili into 2        pieces.Cut the banana pepper into small pieces.Clean and cut the shrimp into 2 pieces if the shrimps are big enough.

Step 2 : Crush the coconut,Green Chili,Onion (small portion) with Turmeric and Chili powder.

Step 3 : Heat Oil in a pan,Add mustard seeds,once it started spluttering add red chili and curry leaves.then add the ginger, just saute for  sometime add the banana pepper and onion pieces.. saute well.

Step 4 : Add the shrimp into the mix and sauté for some time. once shrimp gets light read color add the coconut mix into it. mix all the
ingredients, add salt too. Stir well.

Step 5: Add 1 cup of water into the mix. Let it cook about 10 minutes in  medium heat until the shrimp gets cooked.
 
         The Delicious shrimp thoran is ready to serve.

    Points to ponder:

 

•      If you want to make gravy dish, add 1 1/2 - 2 cup of water.  
•      Use coconut oil for cooking it will make the dish more tastier
•    Use the pearl onions .If u do not have it in stock use the red     onion     The  pearl onion will give more taste to the dish.

Clams/KakkaIrachi Thoran/Poriyal

I think almost all  malayalees are familiar with kakka irachi.one of the very tasty seafood .You can find the raw kakka (Clams) at Costco (the wholesale shop).Usually we are preapring kakka irachi thoran .Here is the details of making kakka irachi(clams) thoran/Poriyal.We can find 5/8 pound bag of clams which contains 40-50 clams..

Cost of the item = 3.99/pound

Cooking time = 30 to 45 minutes

Ingredients:

Clams :5 pound

Salt : to taste

Onions/Shallots : 1 big/20 nos

Green Chili: 3 nos

Ginger : 1 medium size

Coriander powder ; 3 tsp

Black pepper powder : 1 tsp

Chili powder : 1 tsp

Turmeric Powder :1 tsp

Oil : 2 tsp

Curry leaves : 4 leaves

Mustard Seed : 1tsp

Red Chili : 1 no

Preparation

Step 1 : Boil the Clams with turmeric powder for 15-20 minute...

Step 2: Let it cool for sometime then remove the meat from the shell... and also remove the black portion(its on the left side-very small portion) from the meat.

Step 3: Heat oil on a pan ..once it gets heated add the mustard seed,once its started spluttering add the Red chili and curry leaves..then add the onion( Dice the onion into small pieces)

Step 4: Once the onions get brown color add the green chili and grated ginger.let it fry for 2 minute

Step 5:Add the boiled clam meat then saute it for sometime then add the turmeric,coriander, pepper and chili powder

Step 6: add the grated coconut into the mix and cover the pan .Let the mix to boil in a very low heat for about 10 minute..

        The tasty clam Thoran (kakkairachi Thoran ) is ready to serve

Points to ponder:

•  Donot overcook the clams..
•  Do not boil,Once the clams shells split.
•  Just wash before boiling...
•  If you like to make the thoran more spicy add more green chilis,pepper   powder  makes the dish more tastier so don't forget to add that.
  

ShrimpFry or Chemmen Pollichathu

Shrimp or chemmen fry is a mouth watering dish for all non-vegetarians..Especially its very common at Kerala.

Here in USA you can buy it from any of the grocery shop or wholesale shops like Costco ....There you can find cleaned and cooked shrimps.If you are buying the cooked shrimp just fry it donot cook before frying...

In Chinese shop you can find the fresh live shrimp..that will give more tastier than the frozen one...Today i am going to share the recipe of the Chemmen Fry...

Cost of the item : 6.99 usd to 10.99 /pound according to the type of the shrimp.

Cooking time : 20-30 minute

Ingredients

Shrimp : 1/2 lbs

Garlic : 3 cloves

Ginger : medium size

Pepper Powder : 1 tsp

Chili powder :1 tsp

Turmeric Powder : 1/2 tsp

Fenugreek Powder : a pinch

Onion - 1 no

Salt to taste

Preparation

Step 1:Wash and Clean the shrimp.

Step 2: Make a coarse paste of garlic ginger and all the powders.add salt to taste

Step 3 : Marinate the shrimp with the mixture(step 2).Keep it refrigerate for 30 -1 hr.

Step 4:Heat oil in a pan,Once it get heater add the shrimp one by one.just fry  both side

Step 5:Make the onion into very small slices ..add this into the frying shrimp.Close the pan  for a while.

Step 6.Once the onion get saute mix it with the shrimp.then deep fry it for 15 -20 minute.In between stir occasionally.

    Your fried shrimp is ready to eat..just add some curry leaves too if u have

Points to ponder

• If you are buying the cooked shrimp donot fry it for more that 3 minutes (both sides)
• If you are buying the fresh one fry it for some more time then only add the onion..
• Do not put high heat..Entire cooking should be done in low to medium heat..
• If you keep the marinated shrimp for long time it will give more taste.