Sayadiah comes from the word
Sayyad or fisherman. This type of rice is a favorite to serve next to fried, grilled, or baked fish. There are many variations of this recipe and the choice of spices to use, so it’s a dish that can be personalized to suit the tastes of the cook. Any firm-fleshed white meat fish should work well with this dish for Red Sea varieties you can get good results with shaoor, hamoor or nagil however I feel it’s a shame to serve nagil in any method but grilled, baked or fried and as near to it’s whole form as possible. To boil it for a rice dish is not to make the most of this tasty, and increasingly rare fish. This recipe is for a side dish to accompany seafood therefore the amount of fish in the rice is an accent.
If you are serving fish filets and are buying whole fish at the market, reserve the heads and bones to make the stock otherwise you may have to use two fish from the batch to flavor the stock so adjust the amount of fish you buy accordingly. This recipe serves 6 modestly or 4 if they are bigger eaters.
Ingredients
2 medium shaoor (about one pound) and any fish heads and bones from the filets
3-4 onions diced
3 cups long-grain rice (preferably Basmati)
5 cups water
Oil for frying
2 tablespoons combined whole spices (cardamom, cinnamon stick, cloves, black pepper corns, mastika)
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2-3 tablespoons lightly browned pine nuts and or slivered almonds
Chopped parsley and lemon slices and radish for garnish
Fish Prep
Make a past of crushed garlic, coriander seed, cumin, salt and black pepper. Put two slits into the sides of the fish diagonally across the width of the fish. Rub the paste inside the body cavity of whole fish and into the slits and let rest for half an hour before dipping in flour seasoned with salt and pepper and deep frying. If using fish chunks, coat all sides with the mixture. Reserve two fish for the stock.
Rice Prep
Go through the rice to remove any small stones or debris before washing. The first wash will bring chaff to the surface. Gently agitate the water to release any chaff that might be below the rice and pour off the water. The second two rinses should have the water turning clear. Drain the rice and set aside. Some cooks prefer to soak the rice in water prior to cooking but the use of onions in the fish broth changes the dynamics of the cooking liquid and you might be left with a sticky mess if the rice is soaked too long.
Fry the pinenuts, about 3 tablespoons, until they are golden and reserve on kitchen paper. You may also use fried, slivered almonds instead or in combination with them.
Fry the two reserved pieces of fish halfway and let cool before remove the heads and bones to use for the stock. Keep the fish pieces covered to prevent them drying out.
Start by frying the 3 cups of onions in oil, the color of the rice depends on how dark the onions are fried. Some cooks prefer only a golden color and some prefer the onions to be nearly black. If the onions aren’t quite producing the right color you can use a tablespoon of sugar to help boost the carmelization but try not to get caught.
When the onions are the desired color, add the fish heads and bones. I do not use the tails. Fry lightly in the onions add the five cups of water and the whole spices with salt to taste. Cover and once the mixture boils reduce and let cook gently for 20 minutes to half an hour. Strain the stock removing all the solids and push the onion paste down through the sieve. You should have between 3 and 4 cups of stock remaining otherwise top it up with more boiling water.
Put two tablespoons corn oil into a heavy pot suitable for rice. Pour in the rice and move around in the oil until it goes from opaque to translucent. This step will help keep the grains separate. Next pour in the fish stock and add boiling water if insufficient until the amount of liquid over the rice is equal to the first finger joint of your ring finger. Stir cumin into the rice, check for salt and bring the pot to a boil. Cover the pot tightly and reduce the heat so the mixture will simmer. Do not peek for 20 minutes.
While the rice is cooking you can make tahina for the fried fish and relish tray or green salad. Start frying the fish a few pieces at a time making sure to shake off any extra flour before frying as the flour might burn in the bottom of the oil and spoil the taste of the fish. Keep the fried fish in a single layer in a warm oven. Do not stack them as they will go soggy.
After 20 minutes have passed raise the lid of the rice and check the top layer for doneness. If the top kernels are still partially uncooked and there seems to be little steam you can add up to ¼ cup boiling salted water (less is better than more) and fluff the rice with a fork bringing the cooked rice from the bottom up and the less cooked rice down you can do this only once in the cooking cycle. This rice is still edible as long as you don’t raise the heat and burn it. Add the reserved flaked fish and cover the pot for another 5 minutes.
Note: If the rice on top is mostly uncooked the cooking temperature was set too low because long grain rice cooks normally within 20 minutes. Carefully remove any uncooked kernels on top rather than mix them through because they will not cook in time. Then add the reserved fish chunks, fluff through and add any additional stock if needed and cover tightly for no more than 10 minutes.
Serve the rice by heaping it on a platter suitably sized not to spread it out too much and cool it down. Sprinkle the top of the rice with the pine nuts and/or almonds and chopped parsley. Garnish with lemon wedges and radishes.
Relish for Fish
Fried fish in my family is served with tahina sauce and a relish tray of spring onions, jarjir, radishes and cucumber and carrot sticks.
Tahina Prep
4 tablespoons tahina
2 tablespoons lemon juice (white vinegar if you are out of lemons by now)
4 tablespoons warm water
Salt to taste
1 crushed clove of garlic (two if you really love garlic)
Note: usually the tahina in the first half of the jar is lighter than the last half. You can try mixing the tahina in the jar prior to measuring out the amount for the sauce. Using warm water to thin the tahina for the sauce makes a smoother blend than cold water but be careful not to use hot water. Add the lemon juice half at a time and check for desired acidity. Flavor with salt and garlic. Adjust all ingredients until you get the flavor and consistency you enjoy.
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