Sundarban 4-Prawn Pilau With Steamed Mango
Author: Kiran Jethwa
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Ingredients
- 200g Tiger Prawns
- 200g Red Tail Estuarine Prawns
- 200g Fresh Water Prawns
- 200g Estuarine Shrimp
- 200ml Mustard oil
- 4 Bay leaf
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 4 Cloves,
- 2 Cardamon
- 4 tsp Cumin seeds
- 4 red Onions
- 1kg Tomatoes
- 4 tsp Coriander powder
- 2 tsp Chilli powder
- 4 cloves crushed Garlic
- 2 Green and Red Chilli
- 1 bulb crushed Ginger
- 4 tbsp Honey
- 3 Green mangoes
- 4 Red and green aubergines thinly sliced (alternativey use regular aubergines)
- Corn Oil to fry
- Salt to taste
- 1 kg Pilau Chao rice (Substitute jasmine, Basmati)
- 1\2 bulb fresh turneric
- 200ml Oil
- Water
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Prawn sauce:
- To a pan add bay leaf, cinnamon, cloves, cardamon, and cumin seeds, and fry in hot mustard oil to release their aromas.
- add chopped onions then cover and sweat down.
- Add chopped tomatoes, two teaspoons of powdered coriander, a sprinkle of chilli powder and a drizzle of honey to balance the flavour.
- For extra spice ,throw in crushed garlic, chilli and ginger and leave to cook down on a low heat.
- After 15 minutes set aside to cool then throw in the prawns into the cooled prawn sauce. Top this off with one peeled green mango sliced into chunks. Allow to marinade in the warm sauce for 20 mins
- Season with salt and set aside.
- Deep Fried Aubergines and Deep Fried Onions:
- For added texture , deep fry some finely sliced red and green aubergines until a lovely golden colour.
- Set both to cool.
- The Rice:
- Shallow fry the rice in hot oil and stir repeatedly until it changes in colour and goes more white. (Be careful not to burn the rice.) **This method of cooking helps to gives fluffy, separate, perfectly cooked rice**
- To build the pilau:
- Into a large pan, add a layer of the uncooked, fried rice, followed by a layer of the deep aubergines.
- Add a good scoop of the prawn and mango, then top with more rice.
- Repeat this process till you have multiple layers and all your rice and prawn mixture is used up.
- For added colour, chop half a dried turmeric and dot it within the pilau.
- Continue the layering process until the pan is full.
- Then Add one and a half times the volume of seasoned water to rice,
- Bring this to a boil, then reduce the heat and allow to gently steam until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is beautifully cooked.
- Your pilau is now ready to serve. Garnish with some green and red chilies and enjoy the feast
