One-Pot Shrimp and Tomato Pulao
Updated Sept. 24, 2025

- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1cup basmati rice
- 1pound peeled, deveined large shrimp
- 1teaspoon Kashmiri red chile powder (or other mild red chile powder)
- ¾ teaspoon ground turmeric
- ¼ cup ghee or neutral cooking oil (such as vegetable or canola)
- 4whole peppercorns
- 3whole cloves
- 1teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1medium yellow, white or red onion, thinly sliced
- 1½ tablespoons garlic paste or freshly grated garlic
- 2 to 3Thai green chiles, chopped
- 1½ teaspoons ground cumin
- 3plum tomatoes, chopped
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2teaspoons white vinegar
- 1teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 1½ cups chicken stock or water
- 2tablespoons fresh lemon juice plus 3 lemon slices (from 1 lemon)
- 1tablespoon chopped cilantro, for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
In a bowl, cover the rice with water and set aside to soak. In a bowl, combine the shrimp, chile powder and turmeric, tossing to coat the shrimp.
- Step 2
In a Dutch oven or other heavy pot, heat ghee on medium until melted, about 30 seconds. Stir in the peppercorns, cloves and cumin seeds. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts to turn golden, 7 to 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
- Step 3
Stir in the green chiles and cumin. Add the tomatoes, 2 teaspoons salt and 1 ½ teaspoons pepper, and stir some more. Continue cooking until the tomatoes start to become jammy and the oil separates from the tomato mixture, 5 to 10 minutes.
- Step 4
Stir in the seasoned shrimp, vinegar and Worcestershire sauce, and continue cooking for a few minutes, until the shrimp start to turn pink.
- Step 5
Drain the rice, add it to the pot and stir to coat. Stir in the stock, lemon juice and lemon slices. Turn the heat up to high. Once the liquid is boiling, reduce to a simmer. Cover and cook, undisturbed, for 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let the pulao rest, still covered, for 10 minutes.
- Step 6
Uncover and fluff the pulao with a serving spoon. Adjust seasoning to taste, and top with cilantro before serving.
Private Notes
Comments
How are the shrimp after that long cooking time?
Wow, was this good! I thought it was perfect the way it was, but I did like another commenter’s suggestion to use more tomatoes and lemon slices and I plan on making a version using those suggestions soon. I live on Cape Fear where we have access to fresh-caught shrimp for much of the year. The cooking method here did not cause the shrimp to become tough or otherwise less appealing. In fact I thought they were pretty perfect. I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend this recipe to anyone
Easy, wonderful one-pot dish that works perfectly for the weekdays. Do remember to put the lemon slices in as they soak up all the spices. Getting mouthfuls of soft lemon and jammy tomatoes is the experience to have here. I might even suggest adding more tomatoes and lemon slices the next time I make this. It's a keeper!
Doubled the recipe. Ended up with mushy rice despite having taken out 1/2 cup of the recommended liquid in the recipe. Also reduced the amount of tomatoes. Still mushy rice. I find the one pot recipes to be challenging as I oftentimes end up with mushy rice. Too bad.
I scaled the recipe 2x, and it was too much liquid for the amount of rice. I don't see other complaints about this, so I assume the recipe works fine for the stated amounts. I probably should have reduced the diced tomatoes for a good bit longer (since I had twice as many in a reg-sized dutch oven). Flavors were excellent, and I will make it again. But, for ease of scalability, more precise guidance on what the tomato "jam" is meant to look like before we can add the rice/stock would be nice.
Once again I failed myself by not reading the comments on a recipe before trying it. I stupidly followed the recipe as provided and of course the SHRIMP WAS HORRIBLY OVERCOOKED. Not a little bit. A lot. I used shrimp shells to make a quick stock while doing the other prep. Using this instead of chicken stock or water will get the shrimp flavor in the mix so that a late addition of the uncooked shrimp will still work. Would work well with chicken instead of shrimp.
