This dish is loosely based on my Nanima’s Prawn Akhni. You could easily use prawn meat instead but I used shrimp just because of #Januworry. You can buy a packet of Shrimp meat for R34,99 as opposed to 500g of Prawns for R99. As a midweek meal and nothing special, I wanted that Prawn taste but not the price! Check out my “Same Same But Different” post to see how I used the same ingredients to create a whole new dish!

Ingredients:

• Shrimp or Prawn meat (use according to how many you want to serve)
• Oil
• 1 onion, sliced
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 cardamom pods
• 2 tsp red masala
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tomato blended (with water)
• 1/2 tin coconut milk
• 1.5 cups brown basmati rice
• mixed vegetables
• mushrooms, sliced
• peppers assorted, sliced

Method:

1. Heat oil in a pot, it should be enough to cover the bottom of the pan in a thin layer. Add the cinnamon stick and cardamom pods, sliced onion.
2. Cook the onion on medium heat. When fragrant add the red masala, shrimp, and spices. Cook until there is no water.
3. Add the vegetables, tomato with water, rice and coconut milk. Brown Basmati takes longer to cook, therefore I added more water than usual. This process is the same as my Chicken Akhni recipe. 
4. Once the liquid has been added to rice/pot, cover with a lid and cook until the liquid has  been absorbed. Stir every now and then to make sure the rice is not sticking to the pot.
5. When the liquid has been absorbed but the rice still looks wet, take off the heat but leave closed until the rice has steamed in its own residual heat.
6. After 10 – 15 minutes the rice should be fluffy and all the liquid should be fully absorbed leaving the rice fluffy and perfectly separated.

Tips:

Using a non stick pot helps with the rice not sticking as well as adding enough oil to the pot. If you want to serve this straight away, decant the rice into a microwavable container and steam in the micro or oven. I always end up making this in advance, so taking it off the heat and leaving it to cool down/ steam suits me. I then reheat when we want to eat. Serve with yoghurt, salad and atchaar for a full meal experience.