Malabar Fish Biryani
- 1 kg seer fish or King Fish
- 1 kg onions
- 100 gm green chilies
- 70 gm ginger
- 70 gm garlic
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 1 cup coriander leaves
- 1 cup yoghurt
- 1 kg rice (kaima rice )
- 1 cup cooking oil
- ½ kg tomatoes
- 1 Tsp turmeric powder
- 3 Tbsp ghee
- 2 Tbsp raisins
- 4 glasses water (in proportion to the number of cups of rice)
- 3 pods cardamom
- 2 Tbsp cashew nuts broken
- 3 cinnamon sticks
- A pinch of garam masala
- Salt to taste
How to Make Malabar Fish Biryani
- Take 250 gm onions and cut them into thin slices. Heat oil and 1/2 cup ghee in a pan, and fry the onion till golden brown. Fry cashew nuts and raisins and keep aside.
- Apply turmeric powder with enough salt and little water on the fish.
- Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a frying pan. Lightly fry the fish till half done and keep aside.
- In a heavy-bottomed vessel, heat 3 tablespoons of oil. Grind the remaining onion in a blender with 1/2 cup water. Add this onion mixture to the hot oil.
- Meanwhile crush ginger, garlic and chilies. Add this paste to the onion mixture. Stir well for 3-4 minutes.
- Add tomatoes, yoghurt and salt. Cook for some time till the water evaporates. Add the fried fish pieces, coriander leaves and the juice from the lemons. Keep aside.
Rice Preparation:
- Heat ghee in a non-stick vessel. Add about 1/2 chopped onion, cardamoms and cinnamon.
- Immediately add the washed rice (drain without any water).
- Add boiled water (1:2 ratio) and salt and cook on high flame till the water is absorbed by the rice.
- Keep the rice covered for 10 minutes. Sprinkle garam masala powder over the rice.
- Now take a heavy bottomed vessel and add the cooked rice in one layer at the bottom. Add a few spoons of the fish masala. Toss some fried onion, nuts and raisins and a little garam masala powder and cover with a rice layer.
- Layer it up, finishing with the garnishes on top.
- Take a napkin (radius of the vessel), dampen it with water and a little rose water, and cover the vessel.
- Put the biryani on dump for 1 hour with light heat for the flavors to develop. Serve hot.
