Clean and add basmati rice in a bowl and add 2 bowls of water and soak for 30 minutes.

Put cleaned prawns in a mixing bowl, add red chilli powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder, garam masala powder, black pepper powder, salt and ginger-garlic paste.

Add mint and coriander leaves, curd, lemon juice and little oil.

Mix all ingredients, close the lid and marinate for 30 minutes.

While soaking and marination are being done, let's prepare fried onions.

Heat oil and deep fry thin slices of onions on low to medium flame till they turn a golden brown colour.

Once onions are done, remove from oil and squeeze to remove excess oil.

Add a little more oil to the same pan and add few cinnamon sticks, green cardamom, cloves, star anise, mace flower, dry fruit hub and bay leaf.

Saute for a while on low flame and add green chillies, remaining onions and tomatoes.

Close the lid and cook for a while till tomatoes turn soft.

Let's flavour rice with spices, Boil a half litre of water in a bowl and add few cinnamon sticks, little sayajeera, cloves, green cardamom, salt, bay leaf and little oil.

Cover the vessel with a lid and bring water to boil.

Drain water from rice and put rice into flavoured water and semi cook rice.

Add marinated prawns to tomato mixture and cook till rice turns soft.

Break rice grain with fingers if they break then rice is semi-cooked.

Drain starch from rice and pour cold water so that rice turns non-sticky and give a grainy texture.

Put a portion of rice over prawn mixture and sprinkle fried onions, coriander and mint leaves.

Repeat the process of layering till whole rice is spread.

Put little ghee over the last layer and place a lid and seal it.

We can either put aluminium foil as a lid, wheat dough to seal the lid layer or simply put weight over the vessel so that air is locked.

Dum biryani by cooking it on low flame for 15-20 minutes.

Once the prawns biryani recipe is ready, serve hot accompanied with curd raita.