Fish biryani

Fish biryani

Whenever I have to cook for my non bong friends who are uninitiated in the art of plucking out fish bones I always prefer this fish we call “aar” in Bengali. I am not sure of its English alias. It has just a single bone going through the middle, is succulent and has lots of fish fat. The rich pockets of fat give it an amazing taste. Even if I am simply frying the fish I use just a drop of oil as the fish releases its own oil. Nothing tastes better than fried fish skin…yummmmm!!!

The fish biryani is a simple but great dish and I bet you will not be able to stop yourself. It is preferable to use a fish with fewer bones because you have to mince the fish. More bones just make it hard work.

Ingredients

500 gm fish

2 cups basmati rice

2 onions, chopped

10-12 garlic pods, chopped

1’’ ginger, chopped

3 green chillies, chopped

2 tsp garam masala powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp turmeric powder

2 bay leaf

1 big piece cinnamon

2-3 green cardamoms

1-2 black cardamoms

1 tsp peppercorns

2 cloves

1 tbsp ghee

Wash and soak the rice for 10 minutes. Parboil the rice with a pinch of salt. Spread it out on a big plate to dry while you prepare the fish.

Apply salt and turmeric to the fish pieces and set aside for half an hour.

 Take a little oil in a pan and sear the fish on both sides. The fish takes about five minutes to cook. 

Take off the heat and cool. Once it cools skin and debone the fish and make a mince out of it. Do not throw away the skin. Add it to the mince.

Now add some more oil to the pan. You must use the same pan because the fish leaves behind a lot of flavours when it is fried. Once the oil is hot add the bay leaves, green and black cardamoms, cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon. 

Add the chopped ginger and garlic, sauté for a few minutes and then add the chopped onions and green chillies.

Fry till the onions turn translucent. Add the mince fish and fry. Add the garam masala.

Now add the parboiled rice to this mixture. Mix well and cook on low flame for 5 minutes. 

You can check the seasoning. The fish already has salt and the rice too has been cooked with salt. However if you still feel the need you can adjust the seasoning.

Garnish with some chopped coriander leaves.