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Shrimp Pilaf

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Shrimp Pilaf is juicy flavorful shallow fried shrimp with aromatic spiced rice. The easiest mouth-watering seafood lunch to put together on a Sunday.

Shrimp Pilaf is juicy flavorful shallow fried shrimp with aromatic spiced rice.

This recipe comes from Quick- fix Indian , a cookery book gifted to me by Rafee from The big Sweet Tooth. Written in a lighthearted manner allowing ample substitution for  ingredients, I fell in love with some of her really quick fix ones.
Never used poppy seeds and always thought that went into making “Bhang “:)  (intoxicating drink ) . But I wanted to try the original recipe so went ahead and bought some. It did add a nutty flavor to the rice. I have made few changes in the cooking method adapted it to my convenience. Like using a rice cooker to cook rice instead of conventional method given in the recipe and directly cooked the rice without frying it in Ghee. This in my opinion cuts a lot of grease.

Update – I have been making this recipe from 2013 – It is one of the fool proof keeper recipe I keep coming back to.

steps for shrimp pilaf
Shrimp pilaf best tasting rice and shrimp

Shrimp Pilaf

Spicy flavorful shallow fried shrimp with aromatic spiced rice. 
5 star rated
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Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 30 mins
soaking and marination time 20 mins
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian, Indian
Servings 4
Calories 316 kcal

Equipment

  • Rice cooker
  • Non stick pan

Ingredients
  

For the rice :

  • 1 cups Basmathi rice
  • 4-5 pods whole Cardamom
  • 4 Whole cloves
  • 2 inch piece Cinnamon stick
  • 1 tsp Poppy seed (white not blue)

For shrimp :

  • 1/2 lb Shrimp (peeled and deveined ) I used Jumbo sized shrimp
  • 1/2 tsp Turmeric powder
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp Chili powder / Cayenne
  • 1 tsp Ginger garlic paste
  • Salt to taste

To garnish

  • 1- 2 medium sized Onion (Red or white) thinly sliced (julienned then cut once in centre)
  • Few sprigs Cilantro
  • 2 Boiled eggs ( 1 per head) Cut into 4
  • 1 tbsp Fresh shredded coconut (optional)
  • 1 -2 Green chili cut into 3-4 pieces (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes.
  • Marinate the shrimp with turmeric powder ,chili powder ginger galic paste and salt. Keep aside.
  • Dry roast the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon stick and finally poppy seed. only until they are lightly aromatic. When it is cool powder it. (I don't powder cinnamon stick and use as it is )
  • Fry the onion in few tbsps of cooking oil to golden brown if using green chili fry it now. Keep everything aside to garnish later.
  • Dump the rice in the rice cooker, freshly powdered spices, cinnamon stick, salt, 1 -2 tsps of oil from the fried onion (do not skip this it adds a lot of flavor to rice) few strands of fried onion, required water stir well and allow it cook.
  • Meanwhile in the same oil shallow fry the shrimp in batches. (Per side 3-4 minutes on medium heat) Cook only until the shrimp curls and becomes tender. Set aside.
  • When the rice is fully cooked carefully remove onto a wide mouthed serving dish or platter. Now lay the fried shrimp on top distribute equally then the fried onion,fried chili, chopped cilantro, shredded coconut and boiled egg slices. Cover and let it sit for 5 minutes for the flavors to sink in
  • Serve the shrimp pilaf with beetroot raita (link below the recipe card.

Notes

  • – Make sure to get brown or natural poppy seeds, not the blue black ones it will ruin the color of the pilaf.
  • Do not skip dry roasting as grinding poppy seeds becomes impossible.
  • Use nonstick pan to fry shrimp in 2 -3 tsp oil. Fry in batches.

Nutrition

Calories: 316kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 19gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 185mgSodium: 119mgPotassium: 420mgFiber: 4gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 360IUVitamin C: 7mgCalcium: 121mgIron: 2mg
Keyword Shrimp pilaf
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Beetroot raita recipe – click HERE

How to check if shrimp is cooked ? (For beginners)

  • Shrimp will turn from transparent grey to opaque white. It will curl to a ‘C ‘ shape . Don’t wait until it turns into a full curled shape this will be over cooked.
  • Use a fork and gently press on the edge of a piece it should be tender and fall apart easily. (perfectly cooked)
  • Do not over crowd the pan with shrimp to finish in one go. Fry on medium heat.After about 4 -5 minutes the shrimp begins to curl.
  • Remove from heat to prevent further cooking. Don’t leave it unattended or overcook the shrimp will become tough and hard to chew.

An extract of the old blog post published on June 26. 2013 :

 

Hope you enjoy reading it !

 

 So excited to reveal the contents of the parcel I had asked u guys to guess last week  :).
Here is the prize  my blog won for Story telling with food  event by  The Big Sweet Tooth.
The books I received are  The Complete Photo Guide to Cake Decorating and Quick-fix Indian.
The winning entry is Baked fish with Kerala masala.

As I was reading thru Rafee’s 100th post I would have reached somewhat the middle of it  and there I was seeing my name  I was like what!!! some sort of brain freeze was going on.. seriously! I read it may be three times  … I mean commo..on I have never received a gift from someone I have not met.
I must say Rafee went out of the way in shelling out lavishly on me and pampering me.So sweet of her.Thank You so much dear for taking all the pain of shipping it this far I really appreciate your efforts.So this post dedicated to you.

 

Hope you will give this shrimp pilaf recipe a try and let me know.

Meena

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Comments

  2. Rafeeda AR

    that pilaf looks adipoli dear… so sweet of you 2 put up this lovely post.. there's nothing of pampering i did, it was just what i was supposed to do… 🙂 xoxo…

    Reply

  6. Sona - quick picks/pick quicks

    wow !! congrats !!! and so sweet of Rafeeds too. and Meena..jsut got to say, there something diffferent in here..land in ur space, and some uniqueness falls in,..might be of the plain simleness of the white back ground, or the lovely fond you are using for the images..ariyilla..but, i really like ur space. the rice is too tempting.and i believe i start dieting from today ! u are devil, then !!! ( just joking !) …really tempting me. hey..feel free to pop in to my “pick quicks” blog. have made 2 new posts in there. i have the reply for ur queiry on my very short post. 🙂

    Reply

  7. Sebeena Loyd

    Meena, I am having my morning oats and you made me hungry for rice. beautifully done shrimp pulao, love those egg wedges, your raita too.

    Reply

  9. Rekha Vengalil

    Congratulations Meena!! That was indeed so sweet of Rafee:-) Pilaf looks wonderful and loved all the pics.:-)

    Reply

  11. Navaneetham Krishnan

    Congrats Meena. There's surely plenty of recipes in the book which will be worth trying out. Indeed its a wonderful gift. Beautiful combo of ingredients and its a one pot complete meal which we are will enjoy at home.

    Reply

  12. Priya

    Yeayyyy, I guessed it right! Ha ha 🙂 The books seem to be really good. So sweet of Rafee.

    Also, the pilaf sounds great. Love the clicks 🙂

    Reply

  15. Nilu A

    Congrats Meena.. Really sweet of Rafee.. Books really good and so does your pilaf.. Adorable clicks Meena.. Thanks for sharing dear 🙂

    Reply

  16. Meena Kumar

    Hey Sona,thank you u made my day.
    This recipe is perfect for dieting too because I too get so scared seeing 5 tbsp of ghee instead 1 finished off cooking in few tsps of oil(I have underlined alternatives;).
    Will surely drop by.

    Reply

  23. Divya Shivaraman

    congrats meena…i know sometimes we feel like what…are we serious about all these…getting gifts form people whom we saw in pic's and had a talk through mails….crazy but funny and interesting. always makes us feel special too…wonderful rice…simply loved that prawn platter

    Reply

  25. Abbe Townsend

    Meena, you are making my tummy rumble. I love, love, LOVE shrimp in any guise and this recipe looks absolutely delicious!

    Reply

  33. Chitz

    Congrats Meena.. So I guessed it wrong then 😉 And so sweet of Rafee to have sent u those wonderful books 🙂 And that's an awesome looking pilaf.. I wud finish it off right away, if that plate was in front of me 🙂

    Reply

  34. Meena Kumar

    Thank you Chitz,U were on vacation when all this happened 🙂 ya I can accept a tab if u plan to send me one :)) Just kidding.Really so sweet of her to send it this far.Come over I will make a fresh pilaf for u.

    Reply

  36. Ramya Krishnamurthy

    HI meena sis happy to see ur blog with nice recipes.loely recipes and lovely snaps.happy to follow you sis

    Reply

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