Fish Biriyani

For fish masala

1. King fish – 1/2 kg
2. Onion – 2 big
   Crushed Ginger & garlic – 1 tablespoon each
   Crushed green chilli – 1 tablespoon
3. Tomato – 3 medium
4. Coriander powder – 1 tbsp
5. Curd – 1/4 cup
6. Ghee/dalda – 1 tbsp
   Oil

For marination

1. Chilli powder – 2 teaspoon
   Pepper powder – 1/2 teaspoon
   Turmeric powder – 1 teaspoon
2. Ginger & garlic – 1 table spoon each
   Small onion – 3,4
3. Fenugreek – a pinch
   Mustard – a pinch
4. Salt

For white paste

1. Coconut – 2 tablespoon
   Poppy seeds – 1/2 tablespoon
   Cashew nuts – 1 tablespoon (soaked in water)

For rice

1. Basmati rice – 2 cups
   water – 4 cups
2. Cardamom – 6
   Cinnamon – 2  medium size stick
   Clove – 6
3. Ghee/dalda – 2 tbsp
4. Lemon Juice – 1-2 tablespoon
   Salt

Masala Preparation

Grind together all the ingredients for marination into a fine paste. Marinate the cleaned fish pieces with this paste for half an hour. Grind together the ingredients for white paste & keep aside. Shallow fry the marinated fish till it is half cooked. Add 1 tablespoon ghee/dalda to this oil & saute the onion till it becomes soft. Add the crushed ginger, garlic & green chilli & saute for 3 minutes. Add coriander powder. When the oil starts appearing add the tomatoes.When the tomatoes are cooked well add 1/4 cup curd. Mix well. Add the shallow fried fish pieces.Make sure that the fish pieces are covered with gravy.After 5 minutes add the white paste. When the gravy becomes thick & fish is cooked remove from fire.

Rice Preparation

Boil 4 cups of water with half of the whole masala ( cardamom, cloves & cinnamon ) & let it cool. Clean the rice & soak for 25 minutes & drain the water completely. Heat  ghee/dalda in a pan.Fry the remaining whole masala and add rice. When the rice starts cracking add boiled water, salt & lemon juice. Cook the rice till the water is completely dried.

Layering the biriyani

Preheat the oven to 180 degree 10 minutes before baking the biriyani.Butter a baking dish. Spread one layer of fish masala first & a layer of rice on top of it. Repeat the same.The top layer should be of rice. You can drizzle ghee & sprinkle coriander leaves in between the layers. Spread a wet cloth over the dish while baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes. Garnish with fried onions,nuts, raisins.

Note: water for cooking the rice should always be double the amount of rice.

Serve the biriyani with raitha,mango chutney & pappad.

Also check other biriyani recipes in this blog: