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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 9:13:04 GMT
Ingredients for 4 persons :
200 grams basmati rice
2 onions
24 large raw prawns
2 garlic pods
1 piece of fresh ginger
4 tablespoons of cashews
1 tablespoon each of
coriander seeds
turmeric
cardamom
black pepper
cumin seeds
powdered cinnamon
cloves
anis seeds
1 pinch of saffron
Salt
Olive oil
Fresh cilantro
Preparation:
Rinse the rice until the rinse water is clear. Steam it for 16 minutes and let it “dry” overnight in the refrigerator. The next day, in a deep pan or a wok, cook the chopped onions. As soon as they start to become transparent, add the garlic and grated ginger. Grind up the other spices and heat them for 2 minutes in the pan. Gradually add the cold rice and after cooking for 2 minutes, add the prawns. Salt. Cook for another 3 minutes. Before serving, add the saffron diluted in a small amount of hot water and sprinkled with chopped cilantro.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 12:45:41 GMT
This sounds fabulous!! I may buy some prawns at the market tomorrow and give it a go. Shrimp season is in full swing here right now.
QUESTION: do you remove the shrimp heads for this recipe? My guess is yes, although, many shrimp recipes call for one to not do so.
Thanks!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 12:57:24 GMT
I remove the heads. I would even shell them if I had guests because not everybody likes messy eating (I've been away from both the Deep South and Asia for too long!).
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 13:02:38 GMT
I know what you mean. Pity because the shells hold so much flavor but, some people are real picky about having to remove the shells.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 15, 2014 15:09:39 GMT
You can make stock (court-bouillon) with the shells and heads if you have fussy guests, and that way you do get a lot of the flavour.
Casimira, are those local shrimp? We don't get many from the Gulf any more.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2014 16:52:11 GMT
I might give this a try, Kerouac, because my husband is very fond of shrimp and rice dishes, and I'm not a big fan of his gumbo (the sausages and okra - shiver). Anyway, the proportions for the spices in the recipe are showing up as an obscure little cipher on my browser - I suppose I can guess at the amounts, though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2014 14:56:33 GMT
Yes Lagatta, our shrimp is local and fresh. I don't think I've ever purchased frozen shrimp ever, or any seafood for that matter. The luxury of having grown up on the Atlantic seaboard and living on the Gulf Coast.
I usually do make a stock to freeze. The remains go in the compost pile. They and other shellfish contain a mineral Chitin which is a valuable soil component.
Lizzy, there are many variations of gumbo. We are purists in this household and would never combine seafood and meat together.
It's either an all seafood gumbo or a poultry, sausage combination.
We refer to the seafood meat combination gumbo as "kitchen sink gumbo". All those strong flavors thrown together in a pot, ugh...
One would not be surprised though as to how many restaurants serve it.
I've also had some wonderful venison gumbo, duck gumbo, and one year while up in NY my husband made a fabulous gumbo from a freshly killed goose (after we ate the whole part of the goose roasted, he used the carcass and the meat left on it). It was huge hit.
Oh!! And lest I forget Gumbo Z'erbes, a vegetarian gumbo served during Lent, a combination of all manner of greens (collard, mustard,kale, chard etc). If prepared properly, it's likely one of my favorite NOLA dishes.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 16, 2014 17:33:42 GMT
I've only ever liked seafood gumbo, but I remember that my brother was a big fan of Campbell's Chicken Gumbo soup as a child. It wasn't bad, but my own favourite was cream of asparagus.
I don't understand mixing seafood with meat. I don't understand it in gumbo and I don't understand it in paella.
Of course the minute I typed that, I remembered that I like cioppino, which often mixes chicken and seafood even if it isn't supposed to.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 16, 2014 20:59:40 GMT
I've never put chicken in cioppino. (I only learnt that dish from an online recipe: it was only fish and seafood).
My paella is only seafood as well. I learnt it from Moroccan friends, who out of cultural habits didn't add any pork sausage, although they are atheists. (These happen to be "Muslim atheists"; I also know Moroccan "Jewish atheists"). Chorizo bothers me more than other meats in paella, but it isn't really necessary.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2014 13:56:23 GMT
I made this dish last evening and it was wonderful.
The only deviation that I made was to separately toast the coriander, cumin and anise seeds in a dry wrought iron skillet before adding them to the remainder of the mix.
I'm not sure how 'fresh' the saffron I used was because I have had it for a while and I think it lost some of it's potency as it's flavor was not as detectable as I would have liked.
I also used jasmine rice instead of basmati because I thought I had basmati but apparently did not...
I have some leftover and I think it will be be even better today.
My husband and I both thank you Kerouac.
We have some NOLA expats coming to visit from Georgia next month and I am definitely going to prepare this dish for them. The poor fresh shrimp starved folks that they are will love it!!
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2014 14:19:17 GMT
I'm glad you liked it. One of the reasons that I have always loved biryani is because it has so many different flavours all at the same time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2014 15:42:19 GMT
OK, as far as the "mixed meats" debate goes, what do you people put in a paella?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2014 16:29:18 GMT
Well, for me a paella contains prawns, clams or mussels, and chicken. I prefer to leave out the chorizo or other sausage.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 19, 2014 13:35:30 GMT
Most often I make a paella with seafood alone. What if any vegetables do you put in? Green peas? Anything else (beyond onion and garlic, of course)?
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 13:43:15 GMT
I put tomatoes in, and once or twice I've added strips of roasted pepper. I still can't imgaine the traditional chicken/snails paella.  |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 14:27:16 GMT
I have also had paella quite a few times with artichoke hearts in it.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 14:45:08 GMT
Ah yes, I put artichoke hearts in last time, too. Trying to get more vegetables in there.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 19, 2014 17:56:13 GMT
I've had paella with shrimp,clams, and or mussels,lobster,eel,squid,crab meat. Not all in the same dish!! I have not had it with sausage but I once with chicken and another time with rabbit.
Vegetable wise, peas (which I usually avoid unless fresh),sweet red pepper,tomato, artichoke hearts, garlic and onion of course.
One or two versions have had mushrooms.
I'm trying to think of one that I had in Mexico on the coast that had a type of fish in it but, I can't remember what kind of fish it was.
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