Malabar Fish Biryani

Ingredients For Fish Masala

• • Seer/King fish - ½ kg
• • Onions - 2
• • Ginger-garlic paste - 1 tablespoon
• • Green chillies (crushed) - 1 tablespoon
• • Tomatoes (chopped) - 1 cup
• • Coriander powder - 2 teaspoons
• • Yogurt/Curd - ¼ cup
• • Ghee - 1 tablespoon
• • Oil - as required

---

Ingredients For Marination

• • Chilly powder - 2 teaspoons
• • Pepper powder - ½ teaspoon
• • Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
• • Ginger-garlic paste - 2 tablespoons
• • Onions (small, chopped) - ½ cup
• • Fenugreek - a pinch
• • Mustard - a pinch
• • Salt - as required

---

Ingredients For White Paste

• • Coconut (grated) - 2 tablespoons
• • Poppy seeds - ½ tablespoon
• • Cashew nuts (soaked in water) - 1 tablespoon

---

Ingredients For Rice

• • Basmati rice - 2 cups
• • Water - 4 cups
• • Cardamoms - 6
• • Cinnamon sticks - 2
• • Cloves - 6
• • Ghee - 2 tablespoons
• • Lemon juice - 2 tablespoons
• • Mint leaves (chopped) - 2 tablespoons
• • Coriander leaves (chopped) - 3 tablespoons
• • Salt - as required

---

Ingredients For Garnishing

• • Cashew nuts (broken) - 1 tablespoon
• • Raisins - 1 tablespoon
• • Ghee - 1 teaspoon

---

Method

• 1. Marinate the cleaned fish with the ingredients meant for marination and keep it aside for 30 minutes.
• 2. Put all the ingredients for white paste in to a blender and grind it into a soft paste and keep it aside.
• 3. Heat the frying pan in medium heat and pour some oil and shallow fry the marinated fish and keep it aside.
• 4. Chop the onions into thin slices. Heat the frying pan and pour 2 Tablespoon of ghee and fry the onion till it turns golden brown color. Add the ginger-garlic paste, coriander powder, crushed green chillies and saute it for a couple of minutes. Now add the chopped tomato and fry it a couple of minutes. Once the tomato is cooked add yogurt & salt to taste, stir it well. Now add the shallow fried fish pieces and make sure the fish pieces are covered with the masala. After 5 minutes add the white masala and mix it well. When the gravy becomes thick and fish is cooked remove the fish masala from the fire and keep it aside.
• 5. Heat the pan in medium fire and add 1 Tablespoon of ghee. Add whole cardamom, cloves and broken cinnamon and fry it. Add washed rice and stir it. When the rice starts cracking add 4 cups of boiling water. Add salt to taste, coriander, mint leaves and lemon juice. Cook the rice until the water is dried completely.
• 6. Heat the ghee in a pan and add the cashew nuts and raisins and fry till it turns into golden color and keep aside.
• 7. 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 cashew nuts and raisins and cover with a rice layer.
• 8. Layer it up, finishing with the garnishes on top.
• 9. Take a napkin (radius of the vessel), dampen it with water and cover the vessel.
• 10. Put the biryani on dum for 1 hour in low heat for the flavours to develop. Serve hot.