Prawn Biryani with Coconut and Green Chile

About This Recipe

Prawn biryani is a coastal variation on India's most famous rice dish, popular from Kerala's backwaters to Hyderabad's Muslim quarters, wherever fresh seafood meets a serious biryani tradition. Unlike meat biryanis that need long marination and slow cooking, prawns cook in minutes, so the dish is built around protecting their texture while still layering in real depth. The prawns are marinated briefly in yogurt, green chile, and coconut, then cooked into a quick masala before basmati rice — parboiled with whole spices — is layered on top. The pot is sealed and steamed on low heat, a technique called dum, so the rice finishes cooking in fragrant steam rather than boiling liquid, picking up flavor from the masala below without turning mushy. Coconut milk softens the chile heat and ties the dish to South Indian coastal cooking, distinguishing it from the drier, more Persian-leaning biryanis of the north. The result is fluffy, saffron-streaked rice studded with plump, just-cooked prawns.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 500 glarge shrimp(peeled and deveined)
• 2 cupsbasmati rice(soaked 30 minutes)
• 0.5 cupcoconut milk
• 0.5 cupplain yogurt
• 2green chiles(slit)
• 1 tbspginger-garlic paste
• 1large onion(thinly sliced and fried until golden)
• 2 tbspghee
• 1 tspgaram masala
• 0.5 tspturmeric
• 1 tspred chile powder
• 4green cardamom pods
• 1cinnamon stick
• 2bay leaves
• 0.25 tspsaffron threads(soaked in 2 tbsp warm milk)
• 0.5 cupfresh cilantro and mint(chopped, mixed)
• 1 tspfine sea salt(plus more for the rice water)

Instructions

1. 1

   Marinate the prawns

   Toss shrimp with yogurt, half the ginger-garlic paste, turmeric, chile powder, and salt. Let sit 15 minutes while you prep everything else.

2. 2

   Parboil the rice

   Bring a large pot of well-salted water to a boil with cardamom, cinnamon, and bay leaves. Add soaked rice and cook 5-6 minutes until it is 70% done — still firm at the core. Drain.

3. 3

   Cook the prawn masala

   Heat ghee in a heavy pot. Add remaining ginger-garlic paste and green chiles, cook 30 seconds, then add the marinated shrimp and cook 3-4 minutes until just pink. Stir in coconut milk and garam masala, simmer 2 minutes, then remove from heat.

4. 4

   Layer the biryani

   Spread the prawn masala evenly in the pot. Layer the parboiled rice on top. Scatter fried onions, chopped herbs, and saffron milk over the rice.

5. 5

   Dum cook

   Cover tightly with a lid (seal the edge with dough or foil if it is loose). Cook on very low heat for 15 minutes so the rice finishes in trapped steam.

6. 6

   Rest and serve

   Turn off the heat and let the pot rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff gently with a fork, lifting from the bottom so the prawn layer mixes through, then serve hot.

Variations

• •

  Use coconut cream instead of coconut milk for a richer, more Kerala-style finish.

• •

  Add sliced raw mango or tamarind pulp to the masala for a tangier coastal Andhra profile.

• •

  Substitute cubed firm fish for prawns, adjusting cook time up by 1-2 minutes.

Storage

Refrigerate up to 2 days in an airtight container. Reheat gently in a covered pan with a splash of water so the rice does not dry out; avoid microwaving prawns too long or they turn tough.

Frequently Asked Questions