Malabari Fish Biryani - a delicious dish from the South West Coast of India

Yummily WoW!

Malabar Fish Biryani is a dish that originates from the south west coast of India. To be more precise, it originates from Kerala, a beautiful coastal province in India. 

This dish serves 4.

First of all, you got to marinate the fish.

Bring home some King Fish. Other fishes may also go well. Prefer fishes with less bones.

Other ingredients required are: Turmeric Powder (Haldi), Red Chilli Powder, Squashed Lemon (at least 2 lemons), Vegetable Oil. 

Marination: Mix the fish (around one kg or one fish), the lemon squash, red chilli powder (1 table spoon), turmeric powder (1/2 tea spoon)

Now gather the Masala Ingredients :

Ginger Garlic paste - 4 table spoon

Black Pepper Powder - 1/2 tea spoon

Tomato - 1.5 mashed tomatoes

Onion - 3 onions (medium sized) or 4 onions (small sized)

Green chillies - 5 

One cup yogurt

Cashew Nuts - 5 to 6 pieces - mash them

Dhania pata (Cilantro leaves) - 1/2 cup

Some more turmeric powder

Curry Leaves (Karri pataa) - little bit, around 10 - 15 leaves

1 teaspoon biryani masala (you may buy this from any Indian / Asian grocery store)

Lemon Squash (squash juice of 1 lemon)

Salt - 2 to 3 table spoons

Now gather the Rice ingredients:
Cinnamon (One), Cardamom (two), Cloves (three), Bay Leaf (One), Lemon Juice (one lemon), Basmati Rice (two cups), 

For garnishing: A few raisins and cashew nuts

Marinate and cook the fish 

Slice the fish. Add 1 table spoon lemon juice. Marinate the fish now. Add some red chilli powder. Add lemon juice, turmeric powder, and salt. Let this marinate for one hour.

Now in 4 table spoon oil, fry the fish. Fry this on medium flame. Don't completely fry the fish, just let it be slightly brown and then stop your frying process. 

Cook the rice

Soak the rice for 15 minutes and then drain out the excess water. Boil water (around 3.5 cups) and add all the spices as mentioned above. Once boiling starts, add the rice. Cook this rice for 5-6 minutes. Drain out the excess water after you stop this cooking after 5 - 6 minutes.

Cooking the garnishing ingredients:

Pour 2 table spoons of Ghee. Then add the Cashew nuts, raisins and onions. Keep on frying this for 5 minutes and then stop.

Now cook the Biryani Masala

Add the sliced onions along with one table spoon of cooking oil, on low heat for around 5 - 6 minutes. Once the onion browns, stop. Now add the ginger garlic paste, tomatoes, curd, salt, pepper and lemon juice. Now re-ignite the flame on medium. Keep on cooking for 5 - 6 minutes. Don't let the entire gravy dry. Stop.

Cooking the Biryani in a pot

Put the fish on the bottom of a flat bottom tall metallic pan. This is layer 1.

Put the rice on top of this. This is layer 2.

Now put the garnish on top of the rice. This is layer 3.

Put some ghee on top, if anything is remaining. This is layer 4.

Now add some lemon juice on top. This is layer 5.

Now cover this pot with a heavy lid. Don't let the steam go out. Put this pot on a flat pan (tawa) for 30 minutes on low flame. 

After 30 minutes, open the pot and pour some mashed coconuts on top.

Serve, eat and relish!