Kesari seafood biryani

Kesari seafood biryani

1½ cups basmati rice
15-20 prawns (deveined)
2 large-sized white pomfret fillets (cubed)
7-8 mussels
2-3 green chillies (roughly chopped)
1 inch piece ginger (roughly chopped)
5-6 cloves garlic (roughly chopped)
4 medium-sized onions (sliced)
¼ medium bunch fresh coriander leaves (chopped)
A few sprigs fresh mint leaves (chopped)
¾ cup yogurt (whisked)
Salt to taste
Oil to deep fry
2½ tbsp ghee
1 bay leaf
6-8 peppercorns
2 black cardamoms
3-4 green cardamoms
1 star anise
2 inch stick cinnamon
2½ cups fish stock
½ tsp turmeric powder
1¼ tsp red chilli powder
2 tsp garam masala powder
1 tbsp coriander powder
A few strands of saffron

Soak rice in three cups of water for half an hour. Drain and keep aside. Wash mussels and cook in salted boiling water for two minutes. Drain and keep aside unshelled.

Take yogurt in a bowl, add half the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste and salt to taste. Mix well and marinate prawns and pomfret in it. Heat sufficient oil in a kadai and deep-fry half the sliced onions till brown and crisp.

Drain onto an absorbent paper and keep aside. Heat ghee in a pan and add bay leaf, peppercorns, black cardamoms, green cardamoms, star anise, cinnamon and the remaining half of the sliced onions.

Sauté for two minutes. Add remaining ginger-garlic-green chilli paste. Stir well and add rice. Sauté for a couple of minutes and add fish stock.

Add turmeric powder, red chilli powder, garam masala powder, coriander powder and saffron strands. Mix well, add marinated prawns, fish and boiled mussels. Add salt to taste, lemon juice, chopped coriander and mint leaves. Stir and add fried onion slices.

Cover and cook on low heat for ten minutes. Remove from heat and allow to rest, covered, for five to ten minutes. Serve directly from the cooking pan in order to retain maximum flavour.