Amazing recipe for Shrimp and Asparagus Biryani. You're going to be wanting thirds with this one!
Welcome to Week #2 and Day 3 of Seafood Week. I'm enjoying a little time off with my daughter this week. University finishes up way earlier than grade or high school. So my kids are done classes now. B-Dude will stay out west for the summer, he still has 2 years of school left. No point giving up an awesome apartment for the summer and have to scout out a new one for fall. Mini-me lives at home still so I'm going to be spending some much needed time with her this week. We will be spending time going to the barn to whip horsey into shape for summer. We'll probably spend some time hitting flicks since we're really behind on our movies. So basically we'll get the horse in shape while we eat popcorn and candy. Seems about right.
Today's guest is the lovely and talented Ramona of Curry and Comfort. I adore this lady so very much. I met Ramona through something called Foodbuzz. It was a foodie website where we all hung out and shared content, and buzzed each other. I know right, foodies are whack. It's all good though, we are bonded by our absurd and unusual behaviour. Nothing bonds people quite like food.
Hi Everyone! My name is Ramona and I come to you today with some exotic flavors from a blog called, Curry and Comfort. When Kim put the call out for seafood dishes to guest post for this week, I jumped up and down and raised my hand. Now, I hope you like what I brought you.... drum roll please.... Shrimp and Asparagus Biryani. Ta-da!
I love biryani. If you are not familiar with biryani, it's a flavorful spice infused rice based dish made with meat, eggs, and/or vegetables. It's basically like a casserole. My family (even the picky eaters) enjoyed this wonderful flavorful shrimp and rice dish with a cool cucumber raita on the side (link to recipe for raita below). Biryani sounds like it would take all day to make, but it took me less than 30 minutes to get the biryani ready for the oven and then another 30 minutes baking it before we were eating dinner. This Shrimp and asparagus biryani makes a wonderful light meal for this time of year and it's perfect as a no stress dish to entertain with as well. Enjoy!! ~ Ramona 🙂
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Shrimp and Asparagus Biryani
Ingredients
For the Rice Portion:
- 2 cups of rice rinsed well. I recommend basmati style rice. I also used brown basmati
- 10 cups of water
- 6 whole black peppercorns optional
- 4 cloves
- 4 green cardamoms
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cinnamon stick
For the Shrimp and Asparagus Curry Portion:
- 1 lb of shrimp cleaned
- 1 lb of sliced asparagus
- 1 and ½ cups of buttermilk milk
- 12-15 fresh leaves
- 1 medium onion
- 4-5 dry chilies broken
- 6-10 whole black peppercorns optional
- 6 green cardamoms pods
- 3 black cloves
- 1 teaspoon cumin seed
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon of coriander powder
- 1 tablespoon salt or to taste
- 1 tablespoon of curry powder
- 1 tablespoon of canola oil
Instructions
For the Rice Portion:
- Start by parboiling the rice. You will want to wash and drain 2 cups of rice then add black peppercorns, cloves, green cardamoms, bay leaves and cinnamon stick.
- Bring about 10 cups of water a boil then add the rice and ingredients listed above for the rice. Once boiling allow to cook for 6-10 minutes. I suggest cooking the white rice for about 6 minutes and the brown rice for about 10 minutes. Once the rice is somewhat cooked, but not fully, drain in a colander/strainer and set aside.
For the the Shrimp and Asparagus Curry Portion:
- Heat 1 tablespoon of canola oil in the same pan you cooked the rice (to keep it one pot). Add the curry leaves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, red chili pods, cloves, cardamom and black peppercorns (optional). Fry for 1 minute. Then add onions and asparagus. Fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the ground spices (coriander, turmeric, curry powder) and salt. Fry for 30-45 seconds. Then add the buttermilk and shrimp.
- When shrimp starts to turn pink (but is not fully cooked) turn off stove. Taste for seasoning.
- Butter a baking dish and layer some of the parboiled rice on the bottom. Then layer some of the shrimp and asparagus. Make sure you get some gravy on top of the rice. Layer with rice and shrimp and finish off with a rice on top. Pour gravy from the curry over the rice.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place a tight fitting lid or tin foil over the baking dish to trap all the steam. Cook in the oven for 35 minutes. Once cooked, allow the dish to sit covered for additional 10 minutes before serving. Enjoy.
Notes
Here's the Cucumber Raita that we enjoyed with the biryani:
Thank you so much to Ramona for guest posting for me today. I have to admit I have not had really good Indian food in my life. There are not many authentic restaurants here, so I've been holding off trying it. My goal is to continue to hold off until I meet Ramona in person so she can make me really amazing curry. That way I'll know the best and I have a great comparison when I go out to eat it. Seems like a sensible plan to me, I just hope we hurry and meet so I can get my munch on as soon as possible.
Be sure to swing on by Ramona's blog, Curry and Comfort so you can check out all her amazing recipes. Ramona can cook everything from curry to comfort, quite literally. She makes some seriously stellar desserts too. You can follow her on Facebook, that way you get alerted to all the new recipes on her site. You can also follow her on Twitter, that way you can get instant gratification for new recipes. She is also on Pinterest, so you should hop over there to follow her. She also hangs out on Instagram, it's where all us cool kids spend our time. So be sure to follow her there, and everywhere else too. Bloggers like to followed everywhere, we're weird like that. I mean cool like that. Right.
As the week continues I figure I may as well continue to fully embarrass myself with old, weird photos. I do not know why I started this odd tradition but I'm rolling with it. So prepare yourself for the horror that is about to unfold.
Let the games, er, embarrassment, begin:
Hey Kim, sit by the fire in the flammable snuggly. Okay, sure Dad, why the hell not! I'm really not sure how to explain this one. Apparently my parents hated me. Look at all the signs pointing to it!
I mean why even wear pants, or shorts, at this point, cripes:
At least my Gramma loved me! PS. Who wears short shorts, We wear short shorts, They're such short shorts, We like short shorts, Who wears short shorts, We wear short shorts.
Some days you gotta wonder what I was thinking:
Wait, does that shirt say "touch of class" or "she's an ass"? It's a toss up. And for anyone who wondered when my obsession with unicorns began this is proof it was prior to Despicable Me! Way prior!
More Seafood Week Recipes from my Awesome Buds:
Movita Beaucoup’s Lobster Pasta Salad
Cooking in Stilettos’ Coconut Almond Crusted Cod
Dinners, Dishes and Desserts Brown Butter Seafood Risotto
Crazy Foodie Stunts Braised Salmon with Mushrooms, Potato Purée and Watercress
Crumb’s Saganaki Shrimp
That Skinny Chick Can Bake’s Sea Bass with Tomatoes, Olives and Capers
Try Anything Once's Stuffed Clams
Rants from My Crazy Kitchen's Cajun Crab
Toodles and smoochies! xx
Ramona W
So glad to be apart of your seafood week!! You made me homesick for the Foodbuzz days. 🙁 I loved all that buzzing. LOL! Thanks again for the lovely wright up and yes I will definitely cook you a curry meal someday if we meet up face to face. 🙂
Kim Beaulieu
I miss Foodbuzz. We all seemed so much more connected when it was alive and kicking.
I am so glad you honoured me by doing this. I adore you girl. I can't wait till we meet in person. Cooking together would be so fabulous. I think it would be cool to get a bunch of bloggers together and rent a beach house for a long weekend. So much cooking would happen. And so much laughter.
Emily @ Life on Food
This looks so good! I love all of the flavors in just the rice portion. I would eat this any day.
Kim Beaulieu
I know right, it's so full of flavour. I want to try it, sans shrimp for me though.
Gloria
Coming over from Ramona's space...Indeed delicious Biryani..loved the flavours ...You have a great blog...Happy to be your new follower.
Kim Beaulieu
Thanks for swinging by. And thanks for the compliment. Any friend of Ramona's is a friend of mine.
Samantha
Oh wow. These photos have me cracking up. Not really the photos so much but the commentary about "she's an ass" - I love it! You're too funny.
PS. Shrimp and Asparagus = amazing. I would devour this!
Kim Beaulieu
It's okay, you can laugh at me. I'm laughing at myself, ha. I am having an absolute blast looking through all the old pics. It's hilarious to look back and think wth.
I am so over the moon for Ramona's recipe. She knows her stuff.
Rose | The Clean Dish
This is so rad, I actually have every single ingredient and I *love* to try new recipes!! I think it's destiny and I am meant to try this 🙂 Love the old photos. Such sweet memories!
Kim Beaulieu
You must try it. I am going to make myself sans the shrimp (allergies). Ramona outdid herself.
And thanks, I am having far too much fun looking through old photos this week.
Ginny McMeans
This looks just great! My husband will love it!
Kim Beaulieu
You must try it for him Ginny. Let us know what he thinks.
Lora @cakeduchess
I was just speaking w/someone about foodbuzz and it was how we had found each other (I know that's how I found you too)...I also miss it. Love this fun guest post from Ramona (your photos are soooo great, Kim!!)xx
Kim Beaulieu
I hear you Lora, I think a lot of us miss that sense of community we had over there. It was so easy to keep up with everyone and felt like a family. I wish someone would come up with a similar idea. Less buzz work though. It was a cool concept and I feel like those of us who met there will be friends for life.
Thanks Lora. I had so much fun this week going through old photos. I really shouldn't do it for guest posts cuz it's time consuming but it's just such a cool sneak peek into my life. My dad was a picture-aholic. We were always having photos taken growing up. Such great memories.
xx
Erin
This looks amazing! I love biryani, but have only ever had it with chicken. Love this idea!
Kim Beaulieu
I really need to try it. It's the downside to living somewhere that is foodie challenged. Not much variety here. I need to put it on my conference to do list.
Lana @ Never Enough Thyme
I've never had biryani, but boy does it sound delicious! I have to try this soon.
Kim Beaulieu
Me either, but I aim to try soon. I'm thinking maybe Miami for blogher food, perhaps there's a good restaurant there to try. This looks utterly delish, a must try.
Rebecca {foodie with family}
Foodbuzz was great while it lasted, wasn't it? And this biryani? Oh heck. That would be better than Foodbuzz while it lasted. It'd be gone in a heartbeat here.
Kim Beaulieu
It really was. I met so many amazing friends there.
I know right. I really need to find some place that makes good biryani so I can try it before attempting to make it. I keep eyeing this and wanting to make it. But I don't trust myself to nail it the first time.
John@Kitchen Riffs
Mmmm, looks wonderful. I love a good biryani, and this looks spectacular. Great dish -- thanks.
Kim Beaulieu
I really need to try it. Asap. I wish I lived closer to you and Mrs Riffs. I think your dinner conversations are way more entertaining than ours. It's weird how quiet the house gets as the kids grow. Dinner used to be boisterous, now it's quiet.
Joelen
I've only dabbled with some Indian dishes but this is one I can definitely see myself trying and my familiy enjoying! We're a big rice loving family and with shrimp involved, it's sure to be a winner!
Ashley @ Wishes & Dishes
Seafood week is my kinda week! Love it all!
Anonymous
This looks delicious! I love rice dishes because I know I will walk away happy and full. The old pictures are cracking me up. That fire picture was hilarious...pointy object about to fall on my melon...haha.
Angie
I've never heard of biryani, but it looks so good! I love all the flavorful spices, I know it must be amazing!
Elizabeth@ Food Ramblings
Curry, asparagus, and shrimp- three of my favorite things. So excited to try this!
The Mom Chef ~ Taking on Magazines One Recipe at a Time
Oh man, I love Ramona and the amazing food she cooks. I want to come back as her kid so I can eat at her dinner table. And I'd make her cook this exact dish.
Dawn Lopez
This sound absolutely delicious and I adore basmati rice.. my favorite! Loving all the flavors in this dish, thanks!
Jessica (Savory Experiments)
Hand me a spoon, this looks fabulous! I've never used basmati rice with curry, I'll have to give it a try. I love your old photos, too funny 🙂