Sayadieh

The rice is cooked in the fish's own stock, darkened almost to coffee-brown with deeply fried onions.

Fish. Not vegetarian — contains fish.

Ingredients

the fish and stock

• 1.2 kg firm white fish, in thick steaks, bones kept
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1.2 litres water
• 1 bay leaf

the onions

• 4 large onions, sliced thinly
• 150 ml olive oil

the rice

• 400 g long-grain rice, rinsed and soaked
• 2 teaspoons baharat
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

to serve

• 60 g pine nuts, fried
• 60 g flaked almonds, fried
• lemon wedges
• tahini sauce

Method

1. THE RICE IS COOKED IN THE FISH'S OWN STOCK, DARKENED ALMOST TO COFFEE-BROWN WITH DEEPLY FRIED ONIONS. Both halves matter. The fish bones make a quick stock; four onions are fried in a great deal of oil for thirty-five minutes until genuinely dark; a good handful of those onions is then blended into the stock, which turns it from pale to a deep brown; and the rice cooks in that. What comes out is brown rice -- not from spice or from soy but from caramelised onion and fish stock -- tasting savoury and faintly sweet all the way through. Rice boiled in water beside a piece of fish is a different and much plainer dinner.
2. THE ONIONS ARE FRIED TO DARK MAHOGANY, STOPPING SHORT OF BLACK. Thirty to thirty-five minutes over a steady heat, watched hard from twenty-five. The colour of the finished dish comes directly from how far they went; too pale and the rice is beige and bland, burnt and the whole pot is bitter.
3. SOME ONIONS ARE BLENDED IN AND SOME ARE KEPT CRISP. Roughly two-thirds blended into the stock, one-third drained on paper for the top. One gives the colour and the body, the other the texture.
4. THE FISH IS POACHED BRIEFLY AND LIFTED OUT BEFORE THE RICE GOES NEAR IT. Six or seven minutes in the stock, then out and kept warm, and only then the rice cooks for its twenty minutes. Left in, it disintegrates into the grains and both are spoiled.
5. THE BONES AND HEADS MAKE THE STOCK AND ARE SIMMERED BRIEFLY. Twenty minutes at a bare simmer, no more -- fish bones give up everything quickly and then turn bitter. Strained without pressing.
6. IT IS SERVED WITH THE FISH LAID ON TOP, NOT STIRRED THROUGH. The rice mounded on a platter, the steaks arranged over it, crisp onions and fried nuts scattered. Folded in, the fish breaks up.
7. The fish steaks rubbed with the cumin, turmeric and salt and left 30 MINUTES.
8. The bones and heads simmered in the water with the bay 20 MINUTES at a bare simmer. STRAINED without pressing.
9. The onions fried in the olive oil 30 to 35 MINUTES to a DEEP MAHOGANY. WATCHED from 25 MINUTES.
10. A THIRD lifted onto paper to go crisp. The rest left in the pan.
11. The fish poached in the strained stock 6 to 7 MINUTES, then LIFTED OUT and kept warm.
12. Two-thirds of the onions BLENDED into the stock, which turns DEEP BROWN.
13. The soaked rice added to the onion pan with the baharat and cumin, then the brown stock poured over to just cover.
14. Simmered, lid on, 20 MINUTES, then rested off the heat 10 MINUTES.
15. Forked onto a platter, the fish laid ON TOP, and the crisp onions, pine nuts and almonds scattered over.
16. TESTED: the rice should be genuinely brown and taste of fish and onion throughout. Pale rice means the onions did not go far enough.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Lebanon · All recipes