Saturday 14 April 2018

Recipe 24: Easy Fish Pulao

Fish and its variety of preparations are always a hit in any Bengali house.
After experimenting with chicken, mutton and egg biryani and pulaos, I wanted to learn fish pulao from my mum. She makes it in a very simple way with few ingredients. And i have always believed that a dish made with simple items, does turn out good and the flavours are natural and not masked by tons of spices.
Besides venturing out to buy fish, you would actually be using things that your kitchen must be already possessing.

Ingredients for serving 3 people:

  1. 4-5 Rohu fish pieces
  2. 2 cups basmati rice
  3. 3/4 cup sour yogurt
  4. 2 medium size onions chopped
  5. 3 tsp. ginger-garlic paste
  6. 4-5 green chillies slit
  7. 2 tej patta
  8. 1 tbsp. whole spices (cloves, cinnamon stick, cardamom)
  9. 2 tsp. red chilly powder
  10. 2 tsp. cumin or zeera powder
  11. 2 tsp. coriander or dhania powder
  12. 3 tsp. turmeric or haldi powder
  13. biryani or kewra essence (optional)
  14. salt to taste
  15. oil for frying fish and preparing pulao

Method:

Marinate the washed fish pieces with salt and 1 tsp. haldi powder. Fry them till they are crispy on the outside but slightly undone from within.
Now in a kadhai or handi, add some oil tej patta and fry the chopped onions.
After frying them well, add ginger-garlic paste and yogurt. Whisk vigorously to avoid getting yogurt curdled.
Add the dry spices and salt. Cook on low flame till the oil surfaces.
Now add washed rice to this prepared masala.
Add green chillies and fried fish pieces. On high flame fry the rice for 1-2 minutes.
Now add water judiciously. Ideally for 1 cup of rice 2 cups of water is enough.
At this stage you can add any flavor of your choice. I had the option of kewra water, biryani essence and some grated nutmeg. I chose biryani essence.
Cover and cook on low flame for 5-10 minutes or till water has been absorbed and rice is cooked. Do not overcook or try to add more water. Cover and switch of the heat, rice will continue to get cooked in that stage as well.
Serve after 10 minutes of resting.

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