Fish Biryani

This dish was extra special because my awesome hubby caught the fish himself. It tasted that much sweeter! ♥

Recipe serves 4-5

I got the fish filleted, then cut it up into about 10 good-sized pieces. Marinated in salt, chilli powder, lemon, cumin powder, garlic paste and turmeric powder for about 6 hours. Approximately 500gm of fish fillet.

Then fry the fish for just 2-3 mins on each side. Just enough to help it hold its shape in the biryani so that it doesn't fall apart whilst cooking. Remember that it will get cooked further in the masala later.

Next, proceed with the following ingredients and instructions:

INGREDIENTS 

4 sliced onions
3 cubed tomatoes
2-3 tbsp. tomato paste
1 tsp. garlic paste
1 tsp. ginger paste
½ tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. turmeric powder
1 tsp. cumin powder
½ cup yoghurt, whipped well
1 tbsp. mint leaves chopped
2 tbsp. coriander leaves chopped
some green chili’s to taste
salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Pour about ¼ cup oil in a pan, then fry your sliced onions until golden. Remove half of them from the pan and set aside, leave the other half in the pan.

Add the tomato cubes and stir-fry on medium to low heat until well softened. You can even cover this for a while so it keeps cooking until the tomatoes are very soft.

Add ginger and garlic, followed by the tomato paste and cook for a few minutes. Then add the whisked yoghurt and stir together, keep cooking this on low heat until the yoghurt is well blended into the mixture and some oil starts coming out from the sides. Now add the spices and green chili, some coriander and the fish. Cook in the masala for about 15minutes on low heat, you can add a bit of water (less than half a cup) if you find it too dry.

Now for the rice:

Wash then soak 3 cups of rice in water for about 20-30 minutes.

Soak a few saffron strands in some water and set aside.

Bring a big pot of water to boil, add salt, 4 cardamom pods, 2-3 cinnamon sticks and 2-3 cloves plus about 2 tbsp. of oil.

Drain the soaked rice and add it to this water when it is boiling. Cook until the rice is about 3/4 done, remove and strain out all the water. Put half the rice back into the pan, add the fish masala, followed by the fried onions set aside from before, the rest of the chopped coriander and the mint leaves, then cover with the rest of the rice so that the fish masala is sandwiched between the rice layers.

Drizzle 2 tbsp. of oil, the soaked saffron water and some orange/yellow color on the rice. Seal the pot and put on dum/steam it on the stove....or bake in the oven for about 10 minutes. Serve!!