I got this recipe from an arabic food blog. It is sooo good. What's in the parenthesis is from me. When I made it, I didn't cook the rice as long because it doesn't take long to cook the kind I bought. After layering the shrimp and rice, you just want to cook it until it's done.
Cuisine: Arabic
Category: Arabian Gulf
Serves: 8 persons
Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Medium
Preparation time : 20 minutes
Cooking time : 1 hour, 30 minutes
Ingredients
2 cups basmati rice or 400 g
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 medium onion or 250 g, finely sliced (if you want crunchy fried onions, wring out the onions in a towel before frying)
2 medium onion or 250 g, finely chopped
500 g shrimp, peeled, raw, de-shelled & de-veined
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 cup fresh dill or 50 g, finely chopped
3 tablespoons curry powder
2 cinnamon sticks
5 whole cardamom pods
3 cubes MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon or 30 g (the bouillon cubes here are bigger so be generous)
½ cup water or 125 ml, hot
2 cups cilantro leaves or 100 g, roughly chopped
6 cups water or 1½ liters
2 tablespoons ghee (or oil)
1 tablespoon saffron, powder (didn't use this as I haven't found it yet and it's very expensive)
pinch of salt
pinch of ground pepper
Preparation
Wash and Soak rice in cold water and set aside for 30 min.
In a large pot, heat vegetable oil, fry sliced onions till golden brown, remove and set aside.
In the same pot on medium high heat fry chopped onions till golden, add shrimp and sauté till pink (about 4-5 minutes), add tomato paste, Garlic, Dill, Spices, Cinnamon sticks, Cardamom pods, MAGGI® Chicken Bouillon , and Water and bring to a simmer. Add chopped fresh coriander leaves and remove from pot and set aside.
In the same pot, bring to boil 1.5 liters of water, place rice and cook until rice is ¾ cooked (andante).
Drain rice in a colander and discard excess water.
Melt Ghee on the bottom of the same pot; add a layer of strained rice, followed by a layer of shrimp and onion mixture and a sprinkle of Saffron powder. Follow this step until all the rice and shrimp sauce is used.
Steam rice and shrimp on med-low heat until rice is fully cooked (about 20 minute).
Gently fluff cooked rice ensuring even distribution of rice and shrimp.
Serve on a large plate, and garnished with fried sliced onions.
