Keema Biryani...Sunday traditions!

Keema Biryani…traditions…tough to explain traditions to people unless you are in the mood to deliver lengthy monologues…whether religious, national or family traditions, one needs to have short explanations which the other person can relate to…easily…give your audience the hook first, no? My short version of explaining Diwali? It’s just like Christmas but noisier!  My short version of explaining Biryani? It’s like Sunday Roast but tastier! 😜 You may or may not agree with these explanations…but do gather around people you love and enjoy your own special traditions 😊

 
Keema Biryani

Ingredients:

For Roasted Spice powder:

• Fennel seeds, 1 tbsp
• Star Anise, 2-3 small petals
• Cinnamon stick, 1 small stick

For Keema Masala:

• Minced meat, Mutton(goat)/ Lamb/Beef, 500gms
• Bayleaf, 1-2
• Cinnamon Stick, 1-2
• Black Cardamom, 1
• Green Cardamom, 3-4
• Cloves, 4-5
• Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
• Onions, finely sliced, 2 large
• Fresh Green chillies, finely chopped, 2-3
• Yogurt, 1 cup
• Fresh Ginger Garlic paste, 2 tbsp (1:1 ratio of ginger to garlic)
• Coriander powder, 1 ½ tsp
• Cumin powder, 1 ½ tsp
• Kashmiri Chilli powder, 1 ½ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil,
• Mint leaves, chopped, 2 tbsp
• Coriander leaves, chopped, 1 tbsp

For Rice:

• Rice, 500gms
• Cinnamon Stick, 1-2
• Green Cardamom, 2-3
• Cloves, 4-5
• Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
• Fennel Seeds, 1 tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, 1 tbsp
• Water

For assembling:

• Ghee, to coat the pan (or butter)
• Milk, ½ cup
• Warm Milk, ½ cup infused with a generous pinch of Saffron
• Ghee, 4-5 tbsp (or butter)
• Green chillies, sliced and seeds removed, 2-3
• Mint leaves, finely chopped, 1 tbsp
• Coriander leaves, finely chopped, ½ tbsp
• Nutmeg powder, ½ tsp

Instructions:

Roasted Spice powder:

In a small pan on low heat, lightly roast the fennel seeds, star anise and cinnamon stick till fragrant. Let cool and grind together to a fine powder.

Keema Masala:

Heat oil in a pan and add whole garam masala- bay leaf, cinnamon, black cardamom, green cardamoms, cloves and cumin seeds.

Once the spices start spluttering, add the sliced onions and cook on medium-low heat, stirring, till they turn light golden brown.

Add the keema and chopped green chillies. Cook, stirring to break up lumps, till keema is well browned and all the water released from the keema dries up.

Lower the heat, add ginger garlic paste and roasted spice powder made earlier, stir well and sauté for 2-3 minutes.

In the meanwhile, whisk the yogurt with salt, coriander powder, cumin powder and kashmiri chilli powder.

Lower the heat, add the yogurt mix to the keema and stir well to combine.

Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally for 30-35 minutes or until fully cooked with fat completely separated.

Add in the chopped mint and coriander leaves. Stir, cover and keep aside.

Rice:

Wash the rice till water runs clear with few changes of water and soak in cold water for at least 20 minutes.

Put a large vessel with sufficient water to cook the rice (about a litre and a half).

(Wrap and tie the whole spices in a small piece of muslin cloth. This will ensure that rice gets the flavor of the spices while boiling but spices can be taken out without any hassle. If you don’t have muslin cloth, simply boil the water with the whole spices for around 15 minutes and then strain and use the water)

Add the whole spices, salt, and oil to the water.

Once the water comes to a rolling boil, lower the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes to ensure the spices completely infuse their flavor into the water.

Increase the heat, let water come to a rolling boil again, add the rice and cook till the rice is almost three quarters done (the rice grain if broken should have a bite to it)

Drain the rice in a large colander and set aside to rest to ensure all the water drains out completely. (Don’t forget to discard the spice bag)

Assembling:

Brush the base and side of a deep casserole with ghee or butter.

Cover the base with a half of the cooked rice.

Spread the cooked keema masala over the rice. Sprinkle over ½ cup of plain milk, half of the ghee and all of the chopped mint and coriander leaves.

Cover with rest of the rice.

Make holes in the rice and keema layers with back of a long spoon and sprinkle over the saffron infused milk. Finish off with the remaining ghee, nutmeg powder and lastly spread the green chillies on top.

Cover the dish with foil or grease proof paper and a tight fitting lid.

Place the dish in preheated oven at 170C for a final cooking time of 25-30 minutes (or cook on indirect flame on the stove- heat a tawa/skillet on stove, place the casserole on top of the skillet and let cook on low heat)

Let rest for 10 minutes.

Once done, fork the rice gently, garnish with coriander and/or mint leaves and serve warm with accompaniments of your choice.

To save time:

• Wash and soak the rice first.

• While the rice is soaking, chop and start cooking the onions. This takes time, so keep the flame medium-low and check back as you simultaneously move to the next step.

• Roast and grind the spices, prepare ginger and garlic paste, chop mint, coriander and green chillies, make the yogurt mix for the keema, soak saffron in warm milk, make the spice bag for the rice.

• Put water and spices to boil for the rice and move on with cooking the keema.

• Add rice to the boiling water and keep a close eye – you can’t afford to move away from the stove at this stage! Not overcooking the rice is critical to a good biryani.\

• Drain the rice and let cool while you finish cooking the keema masala.

• Assemble and final cooking of biryani

Keema pasta...the "well cooked" Indian style!!

Keema Pasta…the last post of this year…and what a fabulous year it has been…on a personal level almost everything that I set out to do this year has been done and dusted…lots of new experiences…fun, love, laughter, lessons, learnings and blessings…all thanks to the One above, family and friends J

For the blog, some of the things that I planned to do have been done – some old posts rewritten, some old pictures replaced, the pictures are turning out slightly better than before, almost all of the picture recipe indices have been separated, the new collage compilation shows 51 posts (including a few old posts which were separated and  few old pictures which were replaced) which is not bad considering the length and number of times I went missing again this year J…the blog has more than  325,000 views, facebook has more than 1,800 likes…so I guess even the blog has had a blessed year – and all thanks to you J

We have just come back from a short vacation (head over to fb for a few snaps) and are headed out again for another short vacation (you can imagine my happy dancing feet!!)…will now see you back here in the second week of January…have a fabulous last day of 2014 and a blessed 2015…cheers!!J

So now, back to the last post of 2014…Keema Pasta or Keema Macaroni…Indian style Pasta in Indian style Bolognese sauce…so what do I mean by Indian style pasta?? Well, there are two kinds of Indian Pastas – WAIT!! Don’t go rolling your eyes at me just yet!! Wait and hear me out…sooo, two kinds – the first kind is the actual Indian Pasta, when we treat our dough like a fresh pasta dough and do our original authentic dishes like Dal Dhokli (read up on this one or wait for me to a do a version soon) and the second kind is where we take Macaroni ( yes, it is always Macaroni since it was the first pasta to reach our shores) and dress it up in an Indian avatar…I, along with millions of others, have grown up eating Macaroni cooked in a pressure cooker to be eaten like pulao or a curry side dish with roti (my mom got me to start eating peas by making macaroni and peas curry)...or given a South Indian tempering and served for breakfast like upma…or drenched in ketchup and the all-essential green peas…all delicious if you don’t turn up your snooty nose at them J

No pressure cooker involved in the recipe below but there can be if you want, after all nothing says Indian like a good old pressure cooker J...lots of Indian spices and pasta cooked the “well cooked” Indian way…

Keema Pasta/Keema Macaroni

Ingredients:

• Meat mince, 250 gm (I used beef, you could use mutton/goat or even lamb or chicken – adjust cooking times to the kind of meat you are using, if using chicken – ensure you use mince from thigh portion and not the breast)
• Pasta, 150 gms ( Ideally made with macaroni but any short to medium length tube shaped pasta would do)
• Onions, finely chopped, 2 large
• Tomatoes, pureed, 4-5 medium ( roughly chop and blitz in a blender)
• Packaged Tomato Puree, 2 tbsp
• Cumin seeds, ½ tsp
• Garlic paste, 2 tsp
• Ginger paste, 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder, ¼ tsp
• Cumin powder, 1 ½ tsp
• Coriander powder, 1 ½ tsp
• Red chili powder, 1 tsp or to taste (for heat, or use Cayenne Pepper)
• Kashmiri red chili powder, 2 tsp (for colour, or use Paprika)
• Garam Masala powder, ½ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Sugar, about ½ tsp (optional)
• Stock of your choice or water, 250 ml (I used beef stock)
• Oil, 2tbsp
• Coriander leaves, finely chopped, a handful

Instructions:

In case I wasn’t clear with the preamble!!...First things first, in Indian pasta dishes, pasta is cooked a little beyond “al dente”, to what we call “well cooked”…so keep this in mind when you get to the pasta stage in the recipe…now that doesn’t mean a gooey mess but just a couple of minutes beyond the time specified on the packet to make it softer. Though if you must, you can cook it al dente if you want (am guessing if you are trying this Indian pasta recipe, you are anyway not much of a purist, so do try and go beyond the “al dente” stage!!J )

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed deep pan. Add cumin seeds and when they start spluttering add in the onions.

Fry the onions till golden brown on low heat. Add in the garlic paste and let it cook for a minute or two.

Add in the turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, red chili powder and kashmiri red chili powder. Mix well with the onions and sauté for a couple of minutes – stir continuously and don’t let the spices burn.

Increase the heat to high and tip in the mince. Stir and keep breaking up the mince till it is well browned.

Add in the salt, sugar, ginger paste, fresh and packaged tomato puree. Stir and mix well and continue to cook for 5-6 minutes.

Add in the stock/water and let the mix come to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the pan and leave to simmer for about 40- 45 minutes. Stir intermittently to ensure the meat doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. After simmering the sauce should look thick and moist.

(Taste and adjust seasonings as well as consistency – simmer uncovered if too saucy, add some pasta water if too thick.)

Now while the sauce is about to be done, start with the pasta. Add salt to a pan of boiling water and cook the pasta according to your liking - “al dente” according to the packet instructions or “well cooked”.

Once the pasta is ready, drain it well in a colander.

Add the pasta and coriander leaves to the pan with the mince sauce. Give it all a good stir, coating the pasta well in the mince sauce. 

Load up and dig in!! J

Moroccan Style Chicken and Vegetable Soup....cooking light, feeling bright!!

Moroccan Style Chicken and Vegetable Soup…adapted from a recipe in Cooking Light magazine from a couple of years back or perhaps more…turns out beautifully whichever veggie option you choose to go with

Moroccan Style Chicken and Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• Onion, finely chopped, 1 large/ 1 cup
• Garlic cloves, finely chopped, 3
• Skinless chicken drumsticks, 4/around 450 grams( I used drumsticks since that is what I had at home, you can use boneless pieces as well for ease but I prefer using bone in pieces as they add much more flavor to soups/stews/curries and remain softer. I would also suggest using thigh or leg pieces instead of breast for the same reason. But, you can go with what you prefer.If using boneless chicken, cut them into bite size pieces)
• Tomato Paste, 1 ½ tbsp or Tomato Puree, 4 tbsp
• Butternut Squash, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes, 300 grams/about 3 cups (or Carrots or Sweet Potatoes)
• Chicken Stock or any stock of your choice, 4 cups (again less or more depending on the consistency you want)
• Green Peas, frozen, 2 cups
• Couscous, ½ cup (less or more depending on the consistency you want)
• Cumin powder, 1 tsp
• Cinnamon powder, ¼ tsp (or about an inch long whole cinnamon)
• Red Chili powder, ½ tsp
• Paprika, ½ tsp
• Black Pepper, to taste
• Salt, to taste
• Oil, 1 tbsp
• Fresh Parsley or Fresh Coriander leaves, a handful, finely chopped
• Lemon Zest or Orange Zest, about 1 tsp

 Instructions:

Heat the oil in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium high heat and stir in the onions.

Once the onions start to soften, add in the chicken and fry till it turns golden brown on all sides.

Lower the heat and add in garlic, cumin powder, cinnamon powder, red chili powder, paprika, black and pepper powder and toss to coat.

Add in the butternut squash and tomato paste. Stir and mix well and sauté for a couple of minutes more.

Increase the heat to high and add in the stock. Once the stock comes to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low and leave to simmer for about 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. The squash should get tender and chicken completely cooked.

If using bone in pieces, remove them with a slotted spoon and keep aside.

Stir in the salt, peas and couscous. Let them simmer with the soup for about 6-7 minutes.

In the meanwhile, shred the chicken pieces with a fork and discard the bones.

Switch off the heat and gently stir in the shredded chicken, parsley and lemon zest. Serve hot.

Notes:

• If there are leftovers, you would need to add more stock while reheating as couscous would have absorbed a lot of the leftover soup. Get the stock to boil and then add in the leftover soup. Simmer for 2-3 minutes and it is ready to serve again.

Chana Biryani...how my plan failed!!

Chana Biryani…I can be a very mean person when I want to...like nasty mean…this biryani was made to torture someone who has been showing up demanding food every week for the past month...this time the request was pretty simple though…“Biryani”…since he didn't specify, this is what he got…this was supposed to discourage any further visits for at least a couple of weeks but unfortunately it turned to be quite good…result, another self-invite for the coming week!!! Lesson learnt - I need to get “the mean me” some practice sessions a.s.a.p. L

Chana Biryani

Ingredients:

For the rice:

• Basmati Rice, 1 cup
• Bayleaf, 2-3
• Cinnamon, 1 “stick
• Black Cardamom, 1
• Green Cardamoms, 2-3
• Cloves, 2-3
• Fennel seeds, ½ tsp
• Salt, to taste
• Water

For the marinade:

• Safed Chane/Chole/ Chickpeas, boiled/canned, 2 cups
• Plain Yogurt/Dahi, 1 cup
• Fresh Ginger, grated/ paste, 1 heaped tbsp
• Red chili powder, 1 tsp (less or more to taste)
• Kashmiri Red chili powder, 1 tsp
• Turmeric powder, ½ tsp
• Fresh Green chilies, split into two, 2-3
• Mint leaves, finely chopped, ½ cup
• Coriander leaves, finely chopped, ¼ cup
• Salt, to taste

For the Biryani:

• Cumin seeds, 1 tsp
• Onion, finely sliced, 1 cup
• Coriander leaves, a handful
• Saffron, a few strands
• Milk, ¼ cup
• Fresh Green chilies, a few
• Ghee/Oil, 2 tbsp + more for brushing the container
• Kewra water/ Screwpine essence, a few drops (optional)

Instructions:

In a bowl, whisk the yogurt and add in the boiled chickpeas, ginger paste, red chili powder, kashmiri red chili powder, turmeric powder, green chilies, mint leaves, coriander leaves and salt. Mix well and keep aside.

Wash the rice till water runs clear. Soak in cold water for about 20 minutes. Drain and boil the rice with bayleaf, cinnamon, black cardamom, green cardamoms, cloves, fennel seeds and salt till they are about 60-70 % done. Drain the rice in colander. Keep aside till cool.

Soak saffron in warm milk, add in Kewra water (if using) and keep aside.

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the sliced onion till turn golden brown. Add in the cumin seeds. Once they start sizzling, add in the chickpeas with the entire marinade. Stir well and let it cook on low flame for about 5-7 minutes. Switch off the flame.

Time to assemble...

Take a heavy bottomed pan and brush the base and sides with oil.

Place the chickpeas mix at the bottom and then layer on top with the boiled rice. Sprinkle saffron infused milk and coriander leaves on top.

Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook over low indirect heat (pan placed over tawa) for about half an hour or so, until it steams and it's done.

If making it in the oven. Preheat the oven to 175 C and bake covered with a tight fitting lid for about half an hour.

Let it rest for about 5 minutes. Remove the lid, fluff up and mix the rice well with the chickpeas at the bottom with a fork. 

Important: In spite of coating the pan with oil, keep you fingers crossed and hope that some rice do get stuck to the sides and bottom of the pan, IMO the crusty crispy bits are the most delicious part of the biryani. You can either keep it all aside for yourself or if you are generous sort, sprinkle it on top of the serving plate!

Serve hot, garnished with some chopped green chilies, coriander or mint leaves.

Summer Pasta Salad...Carb addict!!

My Summer Pasta Salad…different people have different addictions…mine is carbs (among a few others, but let’s not get into that now!!)…I can’t survive without carbs…I just cannot...I have tried and failed miserably each time…my salad meals need to have either bread or pasta or rice in them…this is one such meal

Summer Pasta Salad

Ingredients:

• Shell shaped or Wagon wheel Pasta
• Tomatoes
• Spring onions
• Bell peppers, Red, Yellow and Green
• Sweet Corn, boiled
• Green or Black Olives (optional)

Dressing: 

(Specifying measurements to give an idea of proportion, adjust to taste and quantity) 

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, 4 tbsp
• Balsamic Vinegar, 1 tbsp
• Lemon Juice, 1 tbsp
• Fresh Basil, chopped, 4 tbsp
• Fresh Garlic, crushed, 1
• Italian seasoning, ¾ tsp
• Parmesan cheese, 3 tbsp
• Sugar, ¼ tsp (if for dietary requirements you can’t use sugar add honey instead)
• Red chili flakes, ¼ tsp
• Crushed Black pepper, ¼ tsp
• Salt, to taste

Instructions:

Boil the pasta, drain and cool.

Wash and chop the veggies of your choice into bite size pieces

Mix all the ingredients from dressing in a small bowl and whisk until well blended.

Pour the dressing over the pasta and toss

Add the veggies and toss again.

Cover and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Serve cold.

Notes:

• You can add bite size pieces of Mozzarella cheese or cooked chicken as well.

• If you want to add salad leaves, add them at the time of serving.

Egg Korma Biryani...for Easter Sunday (or any Sunday !!!)

Egg Korma Biryani…Our Easter Sunday lunch…followed by a peaceful and long nap J which led to the delay in the post to this morning instead of yesterday itself…This is Zubaida Tariq’s recipe with minor modifications

Egg Korma Biryani

Ingredients:

For the rice:

• Basmati Rice, 2 cups 
• Green Cardamom, 2
• Black peppercorns, 4-5
• Cloves, 4
• Cinnamon, 1” stick
• Star Anise, 1
• Salt, to taste
• Ghee/Oil, 1 tbsp
• Juice of half a lemon

For the Egg masala:

• Eggs, 6
• Onions, thinly sliced, 4 large
• Bay leaf, 1-2
• Ginger, paste, 1 tsp
• Garlic, paste, 2 tsp
• Plain Yogurt/ Dahi, a little more than ½ cup
• Red Chili powder, 1 tsp
• Kashmiri Red chili powder, 1 tsp
• Coriander powder, 1 tbsp
• White Poppy seeds/Khus Khus/ Posto, 1 tbsp
• Green Cardamom, powdered, ½ tsp
• Garam masala powder, 1 tsp
• Green Chilies slit whole, 4-5
• Salt, to taste
• Fresh Coriander leaves, 3-4 tbsp
• Fresh Mint leaves, 3-4 tbsp
• Oil, 2 tbsp + 2 tbsp

Assembling:

• Ghee, 2-3 tbsp
• Milk, ½ cup
• Saffron strands, ½ tsp (optional) 
• Green chilies, slit and seeds removed, a couple
• Fresh Coriander leaves, finely chopped, 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
• Fresh Mint leaves, finely chopped, 1 tbsp + 1 tbsp
• Juice of one lemon

Instructions:

Wash and soak the rice for about half an hour. Boil with all whole spices and salt till about 70% done. 
Add ghee and lemon juice at the end of boiling time.
Drain well and spread out on a flat tray to cool and dry. 

Hard boil the eggs, peel and keep aside.

Soak saffron in warm milk and keep aside.

Dry roast poppy seeds on low flame till light golden and then with a little water grind into a paste.

Whisk yogurt well with red chili powder, kashmiri red chili powder and coriander powder.

Take 2 tbsp oil in a heavy bottom pan and on low flame fry onions till golden brown. Drain and keep aside.

Egg Masala: 

In the same pan that you fried the onions in, heat the remaining 2 tbsp oil and add bayleaf.

Add in ginger garlic paste and fry for about 30 seconds on low heat. Pour in the whisked yogurt and cook for about 10 minutes on low heat.

When the oil starts to separate, add half of the onions fried earlier and poppy seed paste. 

Stir well and let it cook for a further 5-6 minutes. Keep on stirring to ensure that the paste doesn’t stick to the bottom of pan. If needed, sprinkle with a little water. 

Add in the slit green chilies, salt, garam masala powder, green cardamom powder, eggs and gently stir to ensure eggs don’t break. Another 2-3 minutes and switch off the gas. 

Mix in the coriander and mint leaves.

Assembly:  

Take a heavy bottom pan and smear the base with ghee .

Spread half of the rice at the bottom of the pot, followed by the egg masala, a tablespoon of ghee and then top this with the rest of the rice. 

Sprinkle saffron infused milk, green chilies, some fried onions, some chopped coriander and mint leaves. 

Pour in the lemon juice and rest of the ghee on top. 

Cover with foil and tight fitting lid. Cook over slow indirect heat (pan placed over tawa/griddle) or in an oven for about 20-25 minutes or so.

To ensure that no steam escapes while cooking – you can cover the edges of the lid with a thick kitchen towel.

Remove the lid once done, fluff up the rice and remove the eggs from the middle. Mix well but lightly to mix the layers without breaking the rice.

Arrange the rice on a serving platter and top it up with the eggs. 

Garnish with the remaining coriander leaves, mint leaves and fried onions.

Serve hot with some raita, salad and/or gravy of your choice.

Viral Prawn Pulao..errrr no...Biryani..err no..Pulao..err no...WHATEVER!! BUT VIRAL STAYS!!

Soooo...I had this post planned in my head...was going to talk about the difference between a pulao and a biryani...and in the end reveal the answer to what I had cooked before getting to the recipe...and also show how knowledgeable I was...but NOOO!! Something went wrong with the Anti – virus on my laptop and I lost some of my data and pictures I had taken with the camera…only left with a few of pictures in the phone…ughhhh...soooo…the new name !!

“Viral Prawn Rice thingy”

Ingredients for the rice:

• Basmati Rice,  1 ½ cups 
• Green Cardamom,2
• Cloves,2
• Cinnamon,1” stick
• Star Anise,1
• Salt, to taste

Ingredients for the Prawn Masala :

• Fresh Prawns, cleaned & deveined with tails intact, 30  medium size
• Onions, thinly sliced, 3 large
• Tomato, finely chopped, 2 large
• Plain Yogurt/Dahi, 3 heaped tbsp
• Ginger, paste, 1 tsp
• Garlic, paste, ½ tsp
• Green Chilies, finely chopped, 2-3
• Salt, to taste
• Sugar, ½  tsp
• Bay leaf,2
• Black Cardamom, 1
• Green Cardamom,2
• Cloves,2
• Cinnamon,1” stick
• Mace, ¼ tsp
• Nutmeg, a big pinch
• Red Chili powder, 1  tsp
• Kashmiri Red chili powder, 1 tsp
• Coriander powder, ½ tsp
• Cumin powder, 1 tsp
• Fresh Coriander, only leaves, finely chopped, 3-4  tbsp
• Oil, 2 tbsp

Ingredients for assembling:

• Desi Ghee, 1 tbsp
• Milk, 3-4  tbsp
• Saffron strands, 1 tsp (optional) 
• Green/Red chilies, slit and seeds removed, a couple

Instructions:

Soak saffron in warm milk and keep aside.

Heat oil in the pressure cooker , add the bay leaf and black cardamom. After about 30 seconds , add the onions with salt and sugar. Fry the onions till golden brown. 

Add ginger garlic paste, green chilies, the spice powders, rest of the whole spices and tomatoes. Stir for 5-10  minutes, till tomatoes go mushy. 

Add the prawns, stir and remove from heat. 

Add the yogurt – spoon by spoon and mix. Mix well and close the lid. 

After full pressure comes, bring the flame to lowest. Let it cook for 2 minutes- no more! Release the pressure and immediately open the lid.

If there is a little too much gravy or it too runny, take out the prawns and cook the gravy till it gets the thick enough to coat the prawns. Mix in the coriander leaves. 
(This method of cooking the prawns for the pulao is my MIL’s and has never failed me as the timing is perfect. If you think you can cook the prawns in a pan without overcooking them, please go ahead)

Wash and soak the rice in cold water for not more than 10-15 minutes. 

Drain and boil the rice with green cardamom, cloves, bay leaf, cinnamon, star anise and salt till they are about 80% done. 

Drain well and spread out the rice on a flat tray to cool. 

Now to assemble :  
Take a heavy bottom pan and smear the base with ghee.

Spread a layer of rice at the bottom of the pot, top it with prawns masala and then top this with the rest of the rice. 

Sprinkle saffron infused milk ,green chilies and ghee on top. 

Cover with a tight fitting lid and cook over slow indirect heat (pan placed over tawa/griddle) or in an oven  on "Dum " for about 25-30 minutes or so, just ensure that no steam escapes while cooking – you can either cover the edges of the lid with a thick kitchen towel or with dough to seal it . 

Remove the lid once done, fluff up the rice with a fork and it is ready to serve with some raita or salad of your choice.

Oh!! and forgot to tell you, if you are greedy, put in some extra prawns while making the Prawn Masala and keep some aside to eat with plain rice the next day!! J