Prawn, Pea & Quinoa Biriyani

A slight Mexican twist on the Indian Classic!
Nothing can beat a good curry and all week I had had the hankering for something spicy. My plan was to make a prawn, pea and tomato curry, however I was feeling creative so decided to whip up something a bit more adventurous! A Biriyani is basically a curry baked in the oven with the rice. the dish is a drier version of the traditional Indian favourite but what it lacks in liquid, it makes up in the amazing fragrant and spicy rice! I often eat quinoa (a South American grain) instead of rice so thought I'd chuck that in as an alternative and to my surprise the result was better than I could of imagined! Here's the recipe so you can try it out! 

Ingredients:

1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of bhuna curry paste
400g can of chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon of tomato purée
1 teaspoon of hot paprika
1 teaspoon of ground coriander
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 tin of chickpeas
150g frozen peas
100g prawns
100g quinoa

Method:

Start my pre-heating your oven to about 180 degrees. Finely chop the onion and garlic and fry for 5 minutes in a big pan until the onion starts to brown. Add a sprinkle of cumin seeds (if you don't have then don't worry they're not essential, I just love 'em!) and fry for another minute before stirring in the curry paste.

The mixture will quickly start to stick to the bottom of the pan so chuck in the chopped tomatoes and a good splash of water (about half a can), then follow with the purée and spices! 
Give the pan a good stir and when it reaches a simmer add in the chickpeas and let the curry simmer for a couple minutes longer.

Now you can add the peas and prawns and remove the pan from the hob. Weigh out your quinoa (rice will do just as well) and stir this into the mixture. Pop it all in an oven proof dish and bake in the oven for around 40 minutes. You may want to take it out a few times whilst it's cooking and give it a quick stir, over wise the top can get a little crunchy, or alternative you can cover the dish with foil. 

After 40 minutes most of the liquid should of disappeared and you should be left with a lovely moist Biriyani! My recipe made 2 generous servings for myself (however I do have a big appetite, so it could easily serve 3 people that aren't as greedy as me!) I hope you enjoy the dish as much as I did :)