I was always reluctant to have fish biryani until one day I tasted it in my husband’s aunt’s place for our virunnu after wedding. It just shattered my belief that fish biryani cannot compete with the taste of other biryanis. So here I am sharing a fish biriyani recipe.The recipe is somewhat similar to that of the chicken biriyani recipe that I posted here. Although fish biriyani tastes best with king fish, I tried this biriyani with wild salmon which is our favorite fish. This recipe serves around 5 – 6 people.
Kerala Fish Biriyani Recipe
Ingredients (Serves 5 – 6)
1. Fish (King fish, salmon etc) – Around 3/4 – 1 kg, cleaned and cut into medium-sized pieces
2. Basmati Rice – 3 cups
Marinade
3. Kashmiri chilly powder – 1 tbsp
4. Turmeric powder – 3/4 tsp
5. Coarse ground pepper powder – 1 tbsp
6. Coriander powder – 2 tsp
7. Ginger – garlic paste – 2 tsp
8. Fennel powder / garam masala powder – 2 tsp
9. Yoghurt – 1.5 tbsp (You can use 2 tsp lemon juice instead)
10. Salt – To taste
For masala
11. Coconut oil / vegetable oil – 3 – 4 tbsp or as required
12. Onion – 2 large, thinly sliced (Use pearl onions(20 – 25 no.) to make the gravy more tasty. Crush them along with ginger, garlic, green chilies and the whole spices)
13. Curry leaves – 1 sprig
14. Ginger - 1 inch piece, roughly chopped
Garlic – 5 – 6 cloves
Green chilies – 5 – 6
15. Whole Spices – Cloves – 6 – 7, Whole pepper corns – 6 – 7, Cardamom – 3, fennel seeds – 1/2 tsp, Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch)
16. Tomato – 2 medium-small, chopped
17. Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Chilly powder – 1/2 tsp
Pepper powder – 1/2 tsp
Coriander powder – 1 tsp
Garam masala powder – 1 – 1.5 tsp or as required
18 . Salt – To taste
To garnish
19. Fried onion – 3/4 cup (Slice 1 medium-small onion very thinly and shallow fry or deep-fry in oil)
Cilantro leaves – 1/2 cup, chopped
Mint leaves – 1/2 cup, chopped
Fried cashews and raisins – 2 – 3 tbsp each
Cooking Rice
To cook rice I usually follow the draining method. Soak the basmati rice for around 20 mts. Boil water in a deep vessel. To the boiling water, add ghee – 2 tsp, whole spices (peppercorns – 8 – 10, cloves – 6, cardamom – 2, bay leaves – 2, cinnamon stick – 2 small pieces, fennel seeds – 1/4 tsp, star anise- 2 and mace – 3). Add enough salt. The water should be slightly salty. Now add the soaked rice and cook it to the perfect consistency, takes about 15 – 20 minutes. Switch off. Drain the water and allow the rice to cool.
Method
1. Marinate the fish pieces with the ingredients under marinade for at least 1 – 2 hrs. Keep it in the refrigerator if you are marinating for more than 30 mts.
2. Heat 2 – 3 tbsp oil in a wide pan and shallow fry the fish pieces in 2 – 3 batches until done. Drain well and keep aside.
3. Crush together ginger, garlic, green chilies and the whole spices( ingredients numbered 14 and15).
4. In a wide pan at medium heat (you can use the same pan that you used for frying the fish pieces for an extra taste), heat 3 tbsp oil and add sliced onion and salt. When the onion turns soft, add the crushed ginger-garlic-green chili-whole spices mixture and saute until onion turns golden brown.
5. Now add the chopped tomatoes, curry leaves and cook until the tomatoes are all mashed up. Lower the flame and add the masala powders (numbered 17). Saute for a minute or until their raw smell and taste is gone. Now add 1/2 cup hot water. Boil the gravy. Now add the fried fish pieces to this masala and coat them well. Cook for 1 – 2 minutes at low heat. Switch off. Keep aside.
Layering
For layering you need a cookware which can be put on stove or which is oven-safe. I usually use a stainless steel stock pot to layer the rice and chicken since it can be used for both purposes. The biriyani can also be served in it. OR you can use a shallow pyrex glassware which is oven-safe.
Smear the base of the cookware with ghee. Sprinkle the fried onions, chopped cilantro, mint, cashews, raisins, and the fish pieces with some gravy. Now add the rice and repeat the process. The topmost layer should be that of rice with the items under garnish. Now seal the cookware with an aluminium foil (so that moisture won’t escape), cover with its lid and bake it at 350 F for around 20 – 25 mts (depending on the cookware you use). If you are planning to keep it for long, cook the rice only till it is 98% done or so. If you are using stovetop keep it at very low flame for around 7 – 8
mts. Serve hot with boiled eggs, raita, pappad, biriyani chammanthi and any pickle of your choice. This recipe serves around 5– 6 people.
wow! It looks delicious. I have never prepared fish biriyani. I will give it a try sometime. Great Recipe!!
My fav Biriyani. I always prefer fish biriyani.Looks tempting
Wow its awesome … I never knew onion should be browned like this wherever I have read fry till brown.Simply superb step by step pics. Great job dear
enttamooooo yivida munushyan officyil vishannu yirippa..appozha biriyani kannichu kothippikkunna…………
Slurppp!!such a tempting briyani…makes me hungry..
wow looks mouthwatering, i have never tried doing fish biryani but this one is surely tempting me to try soon…
wow such a mouth-watering dish….looks gorgeous!!
wow…adipoli dears..ethu biriyanyum njganlude fav anu..Happy Easter…
Love
Kairali sisters
Looks so so so yummy… he he before reading the title just was seeing the picture , I thought the fish marinade as paneer. The biriyani looks too good with stepwise instruction.
In bengal we too make fish biriyani…but I never prepared….urs look so yammy and tempting…thanks for sharing the dish dear…
delicious biriyani…love this…nice blog..have added u to my list
Looks really delicious.. thxs for visiting my site & ur lovely commen.. added u in my blog list..
Wow…..iam a first timer here…..my fave biriyani is fish biriyani and my storyis also like urs…never imagined fish boroyani would be s tasty…..i regularly prepare that with king fish..never tried with salmon though…
Wow!!!!!!!!!!!!! it is first time for me to come across something like this dish.. but i must say u have done a gr8 work.. it is looks just awesome..
Keep the good work going…
Awesome..am drooling now
The fish biryani is looking great! I am drooling just looking at it!
Myyy all time fav biriyani…
Mouth watering pics, Biryani looks very tempting, nice clicks Ladies !!
Thanks a looot
Wow what a decadent biryani.Can you pls pass it on? Looks so yum.
So….when are you going to invite us to your place for a virunnu just to shatter my belief that fish biryani cannot compete with the taste of other biryanis???
Well illustrated recipe Yummy team!
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The fish biriyani was mind blowing!!!Guys out there,the recipe is 100% worth trying.This is the best fish biriyani I ever tasted!!!Thanks a ton Maya:)
Thanks a lot for your great feedback, Chithra…Am really glad that you loved it and a big thanks for trying it out from this space
This is truly a wonderful dish..came out yummy..i added some coconut milk instead of water.it was nice.anyways thanks yummy team.keep posting
Meera,
Thanks a lot for trying this dish. Adding coconut milk instead of water is a great idea..Will try that next time
You are right. Until you try fish biriyani, you don’t realize that it’s so yummy
I have somewhat similar recipe; only chages are:
-Usually, I use lemon juice instead of yogurt in the marinade.
– add curry leaves in the marinade and cilandro in the masala
– Never used corriander powder in the marinade
Next time, will follow yours
hi,
today is our FIRST ANNIVERSARY and I thought of making fish biriyani!! while searching for the recepies I got stuck here.Yes your pic is soo tempting.I am going to start preparing this for my sweet hubby.
Thank You Sooooooooo Much !!!!!!!!!
Happy Anniversary to you both!! May you have many more happy years to come! Please do let us know how the biriyani turned out. Happy cooking!!
Thank you.yeah the biriyani was pretty good.I got good compliments from my husband for the recepie but actually all the compliments goes to you,because indirectly you added colours to our celebration.Thank you once again.
You’re welcome dear The whole credit goes to you, as you’re the one who prepared it. Thanks a lot for your feedback..Really great to know that you both enjoyed it. Please keep visiting..
Yaaahooo. My wife followed your recipe and made a yummy biriyaani. thanks a lot!!!!
Whole Spices – Cloves- 8-10, Whole pepper corns – 8 – 10, Cinnamon Sticks – 2, Cardamom – 2-3, Bay leaves – 2, Mace – 3-4, star anise – 1, fennel seeds – 1/2 tsp)
so much of whole spice, i doubt if the biryani would taste bitter. i would like try this recipe so asked you chechi.
Anonymous,
Dont worry, the biriyani wont taste bitter if you add all those spices. Do let me know if you try this out..Hope you like it!
I’ve been surfing online more than 4 hours today, yet I never found any interesting recipe like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. In my opinion, if all recipe bloggers made good recipes as you did, the food community will be much more useful than ever before. I love Andhra Recipes. I have seen your Andhra Style Tomato Pappu as well it was nice.
Can’t wait to try
I just made this Biriyani today…..& its the best one…out there with wonderful pictures…
Thanks for sharing.
Hi,
Your recipes are so well explained and the pictures – step by step – makes it even more easier to follow. Thank you for sharing such yummy recipes!
Adding coconut milk or curd instead of water will give Fish Biriyani a rich and better taste.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. Made for friends today and it was a super hit.. I was trying Salmon in biryani for first time…so was skeptical…. But it came out so well…
I made this and was very good. Thank you for sharing the recipe. Can I bake the fish next time?
Sure, you can..
I tried this recipe recently. It came out very well. Tasted just like restaurant bought. My first successful biriyani. Thanks a lot for the recipe Maya
Which fish is this? Thirandi? In all fish biryani recipes u take this fish
That’s salmon..
thank you so much, I just made it and its really awesome!!! best biryani in the world, and my family loved it!