Fish pulav(Iswan pulav)
I am not sure why this recipe was not on the blog yet. My brother and I absolutely love this fish pulav. My pachi (aayi’s sister) makes a delicious pulav and a fish gravy that goes with it. It was a regular whenever we visited her in Belgaum. A perfectly cooked rice is layered with cooked fish to make a delicious pulav (I think it can even be called biryani). I will post the gravy some other time.
After a very long time, we found some Spanish mackerel (which looks and tastes like our Indian King fish/Seer fish/Surmai/Iswan, I thought both of these are same, but not very sure) in Whole foods. They never used to carry this fish before, but from 2 weeks, they are carrying it. Well, I can’t say how happy I am to see one of our favorite fishes here. We used to get them from Chinese store before, but 80% of the time, it was spoiled. So after a while we stopped going to that store. Now, I am happy that Whole foods is carrying it, so far, I have found that all the fishes that we buy from here are very fresh and good. Though it is bit expensive, I am okay to spend some extra bucks for good food items.
Last week when I bought this Spanish meckeral, two things came to my mind. First was my brother’s masala fry and another was this pulav. It came out very well.
Fish preparation:
1/2 lb (0.22 kgs) fish fillets
A pinch turmeric
1 tea spn chilli powder
2-3 cloves
1″ cinnamon
1 tea spn ginger
1 tea spn garlic
Salt
Method:
Grind ginger-garlic, cloves, cinnamon and apply to fish pieces. Add about 2 cups water and salt. Cook till fish is done.
Take out the fish pieces (preserve the water, this is used for cooking rice as it has all spices in it).
Remove the skin and bones. Keep aside.
Rice preparation:
1 cup basmati rice
1 tea spn ginger(finaly chopped or paste)
1 tea spn garlic (finaly chopped or paste)
1/2 cup chopped onion
Oil
Salt
Method:
Heat oil and fry onion, ginger, garlic. When they turn brownish. Add rice and fry it for few minutes.
Now add the water which was used earlier to cook fish – it is important to use the same water as it has all the spice and flavors. Add salt and if needed add more water and cook it till done.
In a thick bottomed pan, Take 1/3rd of rice, add 1/2 the amount of fish. Then add another 1/3rd of rice, followed by remaining fish and then remaining rice. Close the lid and let it cook for few minutes on medium-low flame. (I keep the pan on a tava, which gives a thick base).
Serve hot.
Serves : 2-3
Preparation time : 45mins
PS: I added some chopped tomatoes after I fried onions. Also, included some coriander-cumin powder while frying onions. I also garnished with coriander leaves.