Fish Biryani

- Submitted by Dahlia

(Meen Biryani, Machli Baath, Fish Pulao, Fish Biriyani)

Recipe For Fish Biryani

Ingredients

• Basmati rice - 2 cups
• Fish fillets - 4 
• Onion - 1
• Green Chillies - 2 (minced)
• Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tblsp
• Tomato - 2 ( crushed)
• Coriander leaves(Cilantro) - handful
• Mint leaves - handful 
• Chilly powder - 2 tsp
• Coriander powder - 1 tsp
• Cumin powder - 1tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Curd - 1/2 cup
• Salt - to taste
• Ghee - 2 tblsp
• Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
• Cloves - 5 
• Cinnamon stick - 2 pieces 
• Cardamom - 2 pods
• Bay leaf - 1
• Star anise - 1
• Cashew nuts/ Almonds - 10

For Fish

• Oil - 3-4 tbsp
• Chilly powder - 1/2 tsp
• Salt - 1/2 tsp
• Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
• Pepper powder - 1/4 tsp
• Egg - 1

Method

1. Wash and soak the rice for half an hour. Fry the rice in 1 tblsp of ghee and keep aside.(optional)
2. Cut the fish fillets into small pieces.
3. Take a small bowl, beat the egg in it and mix the spices under 'For fish' with it (chilly powder, pepper powder, salt and turmeric powder).
4. Coat the fish pieces with the above mixture and shallow fry it. Keep it aside.
5. Heat ghee in a deep pan and add cinnamon, cardamom, bay leaf, star anise and cloves.
6. Add onions and fry till it becomes golden brown. Add the remaining ginger-garlic paste and green chillies and fry for 2-3 mins, until the raw smell disappears. 
7. Add the tomato puree along with the chilly powder, coriander powder, cumin powder, turmeric powder and curd and fry till a nice spicy paste is formed.
8. Add part of the chopped coriander leaves saving a part for garnishing. Add chopped mint leaves and fry for another minute. 
9. Add the nuts to this mixture.
10. Put the above mixture with the rice into a rice cooker with 3 cups water and let it cook.
11. Once the biryani is done add the fried fish pieces to it. Gently toss everything without breaking the rice and keep covered for 10 minutes. Do this when the biryani is still very very hot so that the flavor of the fish will get blended with the rice.
12. Garnish with cilantro and few fried fish pieces on top and serve with raita.

Variations

• Try using dried fish and make Karuvadu Biryani (Dry Fish Biryani).

Tips

• The juice of a lemon can be mixed at the end to give additional flavour. 
• If you like bits of fish pieces all over the biryani. scramble the fried fish pieces and mix it with the cooked rice.

More Biryani Recipes

Hyderabadi Biryani	Vegetable Biryani	Kappa Biryani	Malabar Prawns Biryani
See more ⟩⟩

Comment by Lenka Smiesko
    Hi, I would love to prepare some biriyani but I do not have a rice cooker. Can I just prepare the rice and as usual and add the mixture into it? Thanks a lot :-). Lenka
 
Reply :-
    Yes you can do it that way. Another option is to add the water and rice in the same pot in which you cook the masala. Bring it to a boil, reduce the flame to low, cover it and let it cook till the rice is done.

Comment by janisha h on 06 April 2010 01:52AM
    Hi there,
Thanks for posting this recipe. I have a question though, what type of fish can you use? I usually buy tilapia, cod or salmon but what type of fish can I use for this particular recipe?
Thanks a bunch,
J.
 
Reply :-           
    Hi Janisha, I usually use tilapia for this recipe. I guess cod should work pretty good too.

Comment by a sunitha menon on 29 December 2009 16:24PM
    i prepared the chicken biriyani on christmas... it was awesome... even my 4 year old kid had a lot... my husband insisted me to prepare this atleast once in a month....thanks my dear dahlia..... you r great.....
 
Reply :-
    Hi Sunitha, Good that your little one also loved the biriyani. You can make it once in a month and enjoy.