Jhinge Ka Pulao (Spicy Prawns and Rice)

Since discovering the wealth of recipes to be found on the web, especially those published on many of the food blogs I now regularly read, I find that I hardly ever feel to the need to seek out a recipe book. That said, I do like to occasionally flick through one of my few recipe books at the weekend to get ideas for meals. This Christmas, I received another two books, both with good flick-through properties and today, I decided to give one of the recipes I found a try.

My sister got me The Indian Kitchen by Monisha Bharadwaj, a really interesting book, with more emphasis on the ingredients, rather than the recipes themselves. Definitely a nice format for a book of this kind, and with lots of nice photos and illustrations too. There’s more than one ingredient mentioned that I’d never even heard of, and so I decided to make one of the easiest recipes, for which I had all the required spices already, just to be on the safe side. I also added some peas which weren’t in the original recipe.

This really was a quick and easy recipe, and I can definitely see myself making this one fairly often. Still, I’m going to have to go ingredient hunting soon to try out some of the others.

Recipe for Jhinge Ka Pulao (Serves 2)

• 2 tablespoons of Sunflower Oil
• 1 teaspoon Cumin Seeds
• 1 medium Onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of Garlic, minced
• Thumb of Ginger, minced
• 200g Uncooked Prawns, shelled and de-veined
• 1 cup of Basmati Rice
• 3 tablespoons of Tomato Ketchup
• 1 teaspoon of Turmeric
• 1 teaspoon of Chili Powder
• 1 teaspoon of Ground Coriander
• Half teaspoon of Salt
• 1.5 cups of Hot Water
• 1 cup of Peas
• 3 tablespoons of Fresh Coriander, finely chopped

Using a heavy bottomed pan (with a lid), heat up the oil, add the Cumin Seeds, and when they begin to pop, add the Onion, Garlic and Ginger. Fry for about 5 minutes until starting to brown. Then add the prawns and cook until translucent. Next put in the rice and stir in until all the rice is shiny. Drop in the powdered spices, salt and Tomato Ketchup and stir in well before adding a little water to help deglaze the pan, then the rest of it. The whole thing should be brought to a simmer, then covered until the rice is cooked and has absorbed the liquid. Stir once or twice using a wooden spoon during this time. Finally, stir in the Fresh Coriander and serve.