Go Back
+ servings
Print

Fish Biriyani (Kerala Style)

An Indian one pot meal. Fish marinated, fried, cooked in spicy masala gravy and then layered with rice. A really delicious one :) I used pomfret which turned out awesome. You can also try seer fish or king fish.
Course Main Course
Cuisine kerala
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings 4 serving
Author Jane Jojo

Ingredients

  • ½ kg fish

Marination

  • 1 tsps chilli powder
  • 1 ½ tsps pepper powder
  • ½ teaspoon turmeric powder
  • ½ tablespoon ginger (crushed)
  • ½ tablespoon garlic (crushed)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Masala

  • 2 tbsps ghee
  • 2 numbers onion (medium)
  • 1 tablespoon ginger (crushed)
  • 1 tablespoon garlic (crushed)
  • 5 Chilly green
  • 1 teaspoon coriander powder
  • 1 teaspoon garam masala
  • 2 tomato (medium)
  • 2 tbsps curd
  • 2 tbsps coconut grated
  • 2 tbsps cashew
  • ½ bunch coriander leaves
  • ½ bunch mint leaves
  • salt

Rice

  • 3 tbsps ghee
  • 2 cups basmati rice Jeerakasamba/Biriyani/
  • ½ tablespoon Ani seed
  • 3 cinnamon (1" stick)
  • 1 Star Anise (thakolam)
  • 4 Cloves
  • 3 Cardamom Seeds
  • 2 Bay Leaf
  • 1 sprig curry leaves
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 lemon juice salt
  • salt

Garnish

  • ghee
  • 2 tbsps cashew nut
  • 1 tablespoon raisin
  • 1 number onion (medium)

Layering

  • coriander leaves
  • mint leaves

Instructions

  • Grind ginger and garlic. Marinate cleaned fish with the ingredients listed under marination - chilli powder, pepper powder, turmeric powder, ginger, garlic, lemon juice and salt. Keep it aside for 30 minutes. I used pomfret which turned out awesome. You can also try seer fish or king fish.
  • Heat oil in a flat pan. Shallow fry the fish pieces for 2 minutes each on both sides at medium flame.
  • Fry fish in batches.
  • Prepare masala - Thinly slice onions. Soak cashew in hot water for 10 minutes. Heat ghee in a pan. Use a flat surfaced pan so that it would be easy to add and mix fish pieces towards the end.
  • Saute these onions well until golden brown. Adding salt, helps the onion to get cooked fast.
  • Grind ginger, garlic and green chilli. Add it to the above pan and saute well. Add ghee as needed.
  • Add garam masala and saute for a minute. Add sliced tomatoes and saute until tomatoes are done.
  • Mix the curd and cook for 2 -3 minutes.
  • Saute the grated coconut until golden brown. Let it cool for 5 minutes.
  • Grind the coconut and cashews (previously soaked), with some water and make it a good paste.
  • Add coconut cashew mix and mix it with the masala.
  • Chop mint and coriander leaves. Mix it with the masala. Add ½ cup water, mix well and add salt as required.
  • Then add fried fish. Make sure that fish is covered in the gravy.
  • Cook it for around 10 minutes or until fish is done.
  • For rice preparation - Clean rice. Heat ghee in the pan / cooker. Fry aniseeds.
  • Fry cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom seeds, curry leaves, cloves, star anise.
  • Once it is sauted well, add rice. Saute it till rice is crispy. Add ghee if needed.
  • Add 4 cups water and lemon juice to it with enough salt. Cover and cook until rice is done. Don't pressure cook. It would approximately take 15 - 20 minutes.
  • For garnish - Thinly slice onions and deep fry it in ghee. Sprinkle salt and bit sugar. Roast cashews and raisins in ghee.
  • ** Never miss this step. Layer and cook - You can either layer the biriyani and bake in the oven or you can cook on stovetop. I have tried both. Preheat the oven at 350F. Layer a pan with alternating layers of rice and the fish masala. Add coriander leaves, mint leaves, 1 teaspoon ghee, fried onions, cashews and raisins at every layer. Cover the pan with aluminium foil. Bake for 20 minutes. Without aluminium foil, rice gets dried up easily.
  • If you wanna cook on stovetop, layer the biriyani in a cooker or in a pan. Cover with a lid and cook for 20 minutes.  Rice and biriyani masala gets blended well with this. You need not add water since biriyani masala has good gravy content.
  • Serve it with raitha, pickle and papad.

Notes

Masala preparation - Instead of ghee, I have also used the leftover oil from frying fish for the masala preparation. It worked out for me :)