Fish Biryani

Ingredients

Fish Pieces - 6/8 pieces of Black Pomphret
Turmeric Powder - 3 tsp
Red Chili Powder - 1/2 to 1tsp
Corriander Powder - 2 tsp
Garlic - 3 cloves
Salt to taste
Basmati Rice - 1 and half cup
Onions - 2 large onions
Tomatoes - 2 medium size
Cinnamon 1 stick
Cardamom - 3 to 4 whole
Cloves -  3 to 4
Raisins - 2 tbsp
Cashews - 2 tbsp
Lemon Juice - 1/2 tsp
Black Peppercorn - 2 tsp

Preparation
There are multiple things to be done so lets start with the main ingredient, the fish. In a small bowl, mix the turmeric, red chili powder, salt, garlic paste and a few drops of lemon juice. This will be the marinade for the fish. Cover each piece of the fish with this mixture and keep it aside. After 15 to 20 minutes, fry the fish in a little bit of oil ensuring the fish is fried well.

Wash and soak the rice for about 10 minutes or so. Make sure it is not kept for a long time else the rice will start breaking. Take a cooking pot filled with water and put it on the stove to boil. Add the black pepper seeds, a stick of cinnamon , 3-4 cloves, 3-4 whole cardamom and salt to the water and let it boil. After the water boils, add the soaked rice and let it cook( do not over cook the rice). Once the rice is kind of cooked, drain off the water and keep it aside.



Finely chop one onion and fry it in a pan. Add turmeric powder, corriander powder and a little bit of red chilli powder to it and fry it again for a minute, then add cut tomato/tomato paste to the mix with salt to taste. let it cook for some time until gravy is formed. finally add the fried fish to the gravy. After a few minutes remove it from the stove. This is the fish gravy used later.


In a small pan, heat some ghee /oil and fry the cashews until light brown and then raisins.keep it aside. in the same ghee fry finely chopped one onion until dark brown and keep it aside.


Now we start with putting the Biryani together. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a baking dish, put a layer of rice, followed by layer of fish & gravy on the rice and then the fried onions, raisins and cashew nuts on top. Repeat the same steps with another layer of rice followed by fish gravy, fried onions, raisins and cashews on the top. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and make small cuts on the foil so that steam can escape thru it. Place the dish in the oven and let it bake for about 20 - 30 minutes at 350 degrees.


Enjoy !!!