Ramadan 2023: Kerala Mapilla-Style Fish Biryani Recipe For Eid

Mapillah cuisine, or Moplah cuisine as it is more commonly known, is food that originates from the Malabar region of Kerala. With heavy influences from Middle Eastern regions like Kuwait and Yemen, as well as European influences from Portugal and France, the food is savoured a lot especially during the holy month of Ramzan. According to folklore, when Arab traders came searching for spices along the Eastern coasts, along with other colonizers like the Dutch and Portuguese, from which the cuisine heavily borrows techniques and concepts.

This fish biryani recipe, an amalgamation of the seafood bounty that is found along the Malabar coast and a Keralite staple of rice, combines together for a delicious and robustly spiced biryani and delicate fish. An ideal recipe to make for pescatarians or if you want to steer clear of red meat in biryani, this recipe, although elaborate in preparation, is the ultimate treat for people who enjoy spending leisure time cooking meals in the kitchen. Best eaten with a simple pachadi or raita on the side, this dish is perfect to bring in Eid or made for a nap-inducing Sunday lunch.

Recipe:

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Ingredients [For Garam Masala]

• 2-inch stick cinnamon
• 1 mace
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 4 spicy dry red chillies
• 3-4 cloves
• 10-12 whole black peppercorns
• 1 star anise
• ¼ teaspoon grated nutmeg
• 3 cardamom pods
• 2 teaspoons cumin seeds

Ingredients [For Biryani]

• 2 steaks kingfish
• 1.5 cups shortgrain rice
• 5 onions, sliced
• 3 sprigs curry leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 whole sticks cinnamon
• 2 cloves
• 2 whole cardamom pods
• 1 pinch saffron
• 2 tablespoons cashews
• 2 tablespoons raisins
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 2 tablespoons coriander powder
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• Juice of 2 lemons
• 3 tablespoons yoghurt
• 1 tablespoon warm milk
• 1 handful garlic cloves
• 2 tablespoons minced ginger
• 3 green chillies, slit
• 4 tablespoons coconut oil
• 2 tablespoons ghee
• 3-4 tablespoons chopped coriander
• Salt to taste

Method

• Heat the ghee and coconut oil in a large pan and fry the cashews until golden brown. Repeat the process with the raisins and set aside. Soak the saffron strands in warem
• Toast all the spices for the garam masala in a dry pan and grind into a fine powder. Sprinkle salt and turmeric powder over washed and dried kingfish slices and set aside. Make a paste with the garlic, ginger and chillies.
• Fry the kingfish slices in the ghee-coconut oil mixture and allow them to sit on an absorbent kitchen towel. Add more fat to the pan if necessary and start off by sauteing the sliced onions until soft and lightly browned.
• Add the ginger-garlic-chilli paste and mix well; cook until aromatic before adding the turmeric and coriander powder. Mix the spices to combine and add the sliced tomatoes. Season lightly with salt to encourage the tomatoes cooking in their own juices.
• Cover and cook the mixture until the tomatoes turn mushy and the fat begins to separate on the sides. This might take 12-15 minutes, so stir in intervals and allow it to cook without any additional liquid being added at this stage.
• In a separate pan, heat some more ghee and add the whole spices reserved for the biryani. Wash and soak the rice beforehand for 20 minutes and add the drained grains to the pan. Sauté the rice so that it is coated with the aromatic fat and toast for 3-4 minutes.
• Add three cups of water and bring it to a roaring boil before turning the heat to a low and simmering until the rice is cooked through. Meanwhile, add curry leaves to the tomato masala and stir it in. Whisk the yoghurt until smooth and pour it into the masala mixture.
• Combine everything and season generously with salt. Add a bit of water if the mixture is too thick. As you wait for the rice to cook, fry a small sliced onion in some coconut oil and set aside the frizzles.
• Once the rice is cooked divide it into two portions and repeat the same process for the masala. Layer the rice on top of the masala that is leftover in the pan and add the kingfish steaks. Repeat the layers with more masala and the remaining rice.
• Top it off with the saffron milk, fried cashews, raisins and onions and allow it to steam on a low flame for 10-12 minutes, until the rice takes on the flavours from the fish and spices. Gently use a spatula to transfer the biryani on to a large serving platter before placing the kingfish on top and garnishing with lots of chopped coriander.