Fish Biriyani

Aromatic and Flavorful… An Authentic Kerala Style Fish Biriyani with Spices, Fresh Herbs & Coconut milk…!

Biriyani – it’s that one dish which every Indian will unanimously say YES if offered! A scrumptious pot of a zillion ingredients put together; the pre-preps, marinades, layers, garnishes, and all the hard work will surely pay off when you savour your first bite. It’s quite interesting to read about the origin and history of biriyani, check out my earlier Prawn Biriyani post to know more.

The preparations and the core ingredients of this dish remain the same as that of my Prawn Biriyani recipe, with the only difference being the protein used. And today the hero of my recipe is Pompano; a firm, non-expensive, and tasty fish perfect for any biriyani! You can use any firm fish; back in my hometown we commonly used King fish, but after coming to the US the one thing I miss is fresh fishes and the varieties we used to get back home. Finding Golden Pompano or the Yellow Pompano in the US markets was a life saver for me; be it a curry, fry, or a biriyani, this fish is awesome.

Always use a basmati rice, a good quality one for making biriyani, unless you plan to cook a Thalaseery Style Biriyani (North Malabar) which uses Kaima rice or Jeerakasala rice.

Unlike the popular dum style preparation, this is another simple n easy, flavor packed, traditional means of cooking without any loss to the authentic taste of biriyani. But if you still prefer a dum version, you can seal the lid and follow either an oven or tawa method, after the layering process. This authentic Kerala style biriyani recipe is straight from my mom’s cookbook, I love it and have prepared it many times whenever I crave for biriyani.

Also, Don’t forget to check out my Lemon Dates Pickle, which is a great side dish with biriyani !!!

Interested in more Kerala style fish recipes, check this out:

• Anchovy Fry/ നെത്തോലി നിറവ്
• Fish Fry / മീൻ വറുത്തത്
• Roasted Coconut Fish Curry / വറുത്തരച്ച മീൻ കറി
• Fish Curry with Coconut Milk /തേങ്ങാപാൽ ഒഴിച്ച മീൻ കറി
• Red Fish Curry/മീൻ മുളകിട്ടത് 
• Fish Molly / Kerala Style Fish stew 

Enjoy, Happy Cooking…!

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Fish Biriyani

Prep Time

50 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Total Time

1 hr 50 mins

 

Aromatic and Flavorful… An Authentic Kerala Style Fish Biriyani with Spices, Fresh Herbs & Coconut milk…!  

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: fish biriyani, kerala, meen biriyani

Servings: 5

Author: Akhila

Ingredients

For the fish marinade

• 1 lb fish (pompano, king fish, or any firm fish can be used)
• 1 tsp red chili powder
• ½ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp black pepper powder
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp water
• Salt (as required)

For the fish masala

• 2 medium sized onions (finely sliced)
• 1 tomato (chopped)
• ½ inch sized ginger
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1-2 green chilly
• ½ tsp red chili powder
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ½ cup thick coconut milk
• ¼ cup water
• Handful of cilantro leaves (chopped)
• Handful of mint leaves (chopped)
• Oil/ghee/butter (as required)
• Salt (as required)

For preparing rice

• 2 cups basmati rice
• 3 cups water
• 1 tbsp butter/ghee
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 3 cloves
• 2 cardamoms
• 1 star anise
• Salt (as required)

For garnish

• 2-3 tbsp ghee/butter
• ½ of a medium sized onion (thinly sliced)
• ¼ cup cashews
• ¼ cup raisins
• Cilantro leaves (chopped, garnish)
• Mint leaves (chopped, garnish)

Instructions

For the fish marinade

1. Clean and cut the fish into pieces.
2. Mix the ingredients to prepare the marinade; chili powder, turmeric powder, black pepper, lemon juice, and water.
3. Marinate the fish and keep aside for 30 minutes.

For preparing rice

1. Wash and soak rice for 30 minutes and drain the water completely.
2. Heat ghee in a skillet; add cardamoms, cinnamon, cloves, star anise, bay leaf, and sauté until fragrant.
3. Add the drained rice with a little salt and stir continuously for 1 minute. When the rice starts crackling, pour water, lemon juice and cook till water is completely absorbed. Fluff it up using a fork and keep aside.

For the fish masala

1. Heat oil in a pan, shallow fry fish on both sides until they are cooked and golden. Transfer to a paper towel and keep aside.
2. Into the same pan, add oil if necessary, sliced onions, and sauté until they are translucent.

3. Meanwhile, grind ginger, garlic and green chilies to a paste.

4. Add the paste to the pan and sauté for 2 minutes.

5. Add chopped tomato and place the lid, cook for 2 minutes until the tomatoes turns mushy.

6. Add chili powder, turmeric powder, garam masala and sauté for 2 minutes until the raw smell of spices are gone.

7. Add coconut milk and water, followed by adding chopped mint and cilantro leaves. Mix everything together, check the seasoning and allow the masala to slightly boil.
8. Add the fried fish and coat them with the masala. Lower the flame, place the lid and cook the fish in the masala for another 5-7 minutes until the gravy becomes very thick.

Garnish and layering

1. Heat ghee/butter in a pan. Fry the sliced onions until they are golden brown, keep aside.
2. Into the same pan, fry cashews and raisins until they turn golden. Keep aside.
3. For layering, into a heavy bottomed pan add a half of all the prepared ingredients as detailed below. The remaining half is to be repeated later as instructed.
4. Start with spreading the prepared masala first, evenly covering the bottom of the pan.
5. Follow by spreading rice on top of it. Sprinkle cashews, raisins, fried onions, and cilantro mint leaves.
6. Repeat the process of steps 4 & 5 with the second half of the ingredients.
7. Close the lid tightly and cook the biriyani on a low flame for 5-7 minutes. Allow it to rest for 10 -15 minutes before serving.
8. Serve warm with boiled egg, pappad, salad and pickles.

Tips

1. To prepare beautiful golden brown evenly fried onions for the garnish, first marinate the onions in salt and keep aside for an hour. The salt makes the onions relieve all its moisture; squeeze the onions tightly with your hand for any left over water to ooze out and then fry in the heated pan with ghee/butter.

Notes

1. Any firm fish like tilapia, king fish, pomfret or pompano can be used for this dish.
2. If you are using thin coconut milk, skip water and add ¾ cup thin coconut milk to reach the same consistency.
3. Coconut oil can be used as a healthy replacement for ghee/butter.
4. You can vary the amount of chili and pepper powders to suit your spice level.