Fish biryani is not a delicacy but just another version of Biryani. After combining 4 recipes; 2 from my family, 1 from YouTube and 1 from a friend, and adding some of my own ingredients, I came up with my very own recipe which I am sharing with my Ayesha’s Kitchen family. This recipe is extremely easy, quick and yum if you follow whatever is written below…..

Ayesha’s Kitchen

Ingredients:

FOR FISH KORMA

• 500 gms boneless fish cut into 3 finger sized chunks (I used gummy in Australia, you can use any fish which is not flaky) I like using gummy for my curries, soups & gravies as it does not have any strong odor and it does not break while cooking. My second favorite for this kind of cooking is Barramundi. Barramundi does not break as well but has a good fishy odor which I like.
• 2 tbspns yogurt
• ¼ cup lemon juice
• 2 tbspns chopped coriander & mint
• 1 tspn freshly crushed ginger, garlic & green chilli
• A generous pinch of salt (to taste)
• 1 tspn red chilli powder
• A generous pinch of carom seeds (ajwain)
• A generous pinch of caraway seeds (shahi zeera)
• 1 tspn cumin seeds
• ½ tspn paprika
• ½ tspn turmeric
• 1 tspn coriander powder
• A generous pinch of amchur powder
• A pinch of sugar
• 1 tson garam masala (1 big cardamom, 2 green cardamoms, ½ tspn fenugreek leaves, a piece of cinnamon, 3 cloves, 4 peppercorns, a piece of mace and a dash of nutmeg)

FOR BIRYANI

• ½ cup oil
• 1 medium sized onion (sliced)
• ½ cup fried onions
• 4 – 5 lemon slices
• 2 tbspns chopped mint & coriander
• 2 sprigs of dill
• 1 tomato
• Water + 1 tbspn salt + 1 star aniseed + 3 cloves + cinnamon + 1 big cardamom + 2 small cardamom to boil rice
• 2.5 cups basmati rice
• Few curry leaves
• 1 tspn ghee
• Few drops yellow food colour
• 1 tspn freshly crushed ginger, garlic & green chilli

Method:

1. Combine all the spices given for fish in a bowl and add ginger, garlic and chilli paste along with lemon juice.
2. Apply this paste to fish chunks and keep aside to marinate for 15 minutes.
3. Meanwhile cut the veggies, soak the rice and put a pot on stove with water, salt, spices& dill sprigs to boil.
4. Once the water starts boiling, add soaked rice and cook until the rice are 90% done.
5. Add 2 tbspns of yogurt to the marinated fish and mix. (We add yogurt to fish 10 minutes before cooking so the fish does not break in the curry)
6. Drain the water and keep the rice aside.
7. In another pan, heat some oil and fry onion. Add crushed ginger, garlic & chilli to it and saute’ until the onions are golden. Add tomatoes & curry leaves and cook on medium heat until the tomatoes are done. Add a splash of hot water if needed.
8. Reduce the flame to low and add fish chunks to masala in a single layer and cook covered for 10 minutes. Flip the side and cook for further 5 minutes.
9. In the rice boiling pot, lay a layer of par boiled rice, then lemon slices, chopped coriander and mint and half of the fried onions, then fish masala, then rice and then another layer of lemon slices, chopped coriander and mint and the remaining fried onions. Splash some yellow food colour, add some ghee on top and cook for 10 minutes on low heat.
10. Take off the lid and gently mix the biryani with a straight spoon or a spatula. Let it rest for 5 minutes with lid open and then take it out onto your serving dish and serve hot.

Ayesha’s Kitchen