Top 5 signs of a good Indian recipe:

1. Garlic is measured in heads. not cloves.
2. Spices to actual ingredients ratio is at least 1 to 1.
3. Two words: Serrano Chilies (ribs, seeds and all).
4. The house begins to smell like an indian restaurant about halfway through the prep process and continues to smell that way for a week.
5. Involves creating a paste of herbs, spices, garlic ginger, peppers etc. that looks and smells like a medieval cure for pneumonia.

This one has all 5. And we needed it.

One of the (many) let-downs we’ve experienced since we left Montreal is the Indian restaurant situation. We were really hoping, Seattle being the tech hub that it is, that we could find some decent, cheap Indian food. Sadly, this seems not to be the case. The situation seems to be bleakest around the area of spiciness (we have asked for 5/5 on the spiciness scale and not even broken a sweat) and biriyani (which some places appear to have confused with rice with chicken curry glopped on top). Now, rice with chicken curry glopped on top is not a bad thing…but it ain’t biriyani. Biriyani, done right, is supposed to be dry, but still remarkably spicy (despite the lack of sauce). The trick here is to cook the rice in such a way that the rice itself becomes spicy. The meat, if it hasn’t disintegrated completely into the rice, should be falling-off-the-bone tender, and flavourful, but again *not drenched in sauce*. And so, we did what any 2 desperate chefs would do in such a state of deprivation: we made our own.

Fish Biriyani (Recipe courtesy of Suneeta Vaswani, shortcuts courtesy of us)

Ingredients:

Fish and Potoato Layer

– 3 dried Indian red chiles
– 1/2 tsp saffron threads
– 2lbs fish (we usually use tilapia or red snapper fillets)
– 3 serrano chiles (possibly more. depending on how brave you’re feeling, you can leave the ribs and seeds in, or remove them)
– 1 head of garlic (about 25 cloves)
– 1 piece of peeled minced ginger root (2″x1″)
– 2 tbsp oil
– 3 sticks of cinnamon (1″ each)
– 3 green cardamom pods, cracked open
– 4 whole cloves
– 10 black peppercorns
– 8oz all-purpose potatoes, cut into 2″ pieces
– 8 dried apricots, halved
– 1/2 cup plain yogurt at room temp.
– 1tbsp salt, divided
– 1tbsp corriander powder
– 1/2 tsp turmeric
– 1/2 tsp garam masala
– 1/4c fresh lime or lemon juice
– 1/2c cilantro leaves
– 10 – 12 mint leaves

Rice Layer:

-1 1/4 cups basmati rice
– 2 tsp salt
– 1/2 cup crispy fried onions (you can buy these in giant bags at indian grocers, and they keep forever)
– 2 tbsp oil
– 1 stick of cinnamon 2″ long
– 3 whole cloves
– 3 green cardamom pods cracked open

Prep:

1. Rinse fish and pat dry. Cut into 2″ pieces and set aside

2. In a mini-food-processor, combine red chiles and soaking water, serrano chiles, garlic and ginger, blend to a paste.

3. In a large saucepan, heat 2 tbsp oil, over med. heat, add cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and peppercorns and saute for 1 min. Add potatoes and saute for 6-8 min until golden on all sides. remove potatoes and set aside. In the same pan, add the chile paste and saute until mixture is fragrant (this will be hard to miss–and good for anyone with sinus troubles) and almost dry (2 to 3 min.)

4. Add apricots, yogurt, corriander, 2 tsp salt, turmeric, and garam masala, cook stirring continuouly, until almost dry 3 to 4 min. Return potatoes to pan and mix well. Reduce heat to low, and cover and cook until potatoes are about half cooked (5 minutes)

5. Carefully arrange the fish in the pan, sprinkle with remaining salt. Drizzle lime juice, saffron and soaking water over top. Spoon masala on top of fish (I usually just mix it briefly with a silicon spatula — to avoid breaking up the fish too much). sprinkle with cilantro and mint. Increase heat to medium, and cover and cook for 5 min. Uncover and cook until liquid has reduced by half, leaving a fairly thick gravy in the pan. Set aside.

6. Rice Layer: Place rice in a large bowl with plenty of cold water, swish vigorously with fingers. Drain. Repeat 4 to 5 times until water is fairly clear (I usually just put the rice in a fine mesh seive, and lift the seive out of the water to drain). Cover rice with 3″-4″ water cold water and soak for 10 min.

7. Fill a large saucepan 3/4 full with water. Add 2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil over high heat. Drain rice and add to sauce pan. Return to boil and cook until rice is cooked on the outside but uncooked in the center, 2 to 3 minutes. Do not overcook. Drain immediately and spread in a shallow pan to cool. (Shortcut: spread 1/2 the rice in an 8″x12″ pyrex baking dish to cool, leave the other half to cool in the seive).

8. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Once the layer of rice in the baking dish has cooled enough to be warm to the touch, rather than hot, spread the fish and potato mixture over the rice. Spread the remaining rice on top of mixture. Sprinkle fried onions on top of rice (1/2 cup seems like a lot, but you won’t regret it).

9. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a small pan. Add cinnamon, cloves and cardamom and saute until fragrant, 30 sec. Pour mixture over top of rice. Cover mixture tightly with foil, and bake in a pre-heated oven for 30 min. Let cook 5 min. before serving.

10 (optional) Carefully spoon rice into a mound on a large platter, taking care not to break up fish, place some fish and potatoes on top of rice. (We never get this far, we always just scoop it out of the baking dish–and out fish and potatoes usually disintegrate into tiny chunks anyways, but it still tastes *amazing*.