Sayadieh (Spiced Rice with Fish and Caramelized Onions)
Sayadieh is a rice dish cooked with aromatic rice with commonly used Mediterranean spices and topped with crispy, golden caramelized onions, toasted pine nuts and almonds and seared or fried fish, however, you can also bake or grill the fish
Ingredients
- 6-7 tbsp. oil for frying fish, toasting nuts and caramelizing onions
- 4-6 pieces of white fish fillet (Tilapia or any other white fish fillet)
- ½ cup of flour to coat fish( mix with any seasoning you want) I used Tsp of sea salt, paprika, black pepper, red chili pepper)
- ½ -cup of pine nuts
- ½ cup peeled almonds
- 1 -medium onion, finely chopped + 2 medium onions thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp. vegetable ghee
- 2-cups of your Basmati rice
- 1 tsp turmeric powder
- 2 tsp all spice powder
- 1 ½ tsp of Salt (as desired)
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cloves
- 4 cardamom pods
- 1 tsp ground coriander
- 1 tsp. ground black pepper
- 2 cups of vegetable stock (use any stock, or just water)
- 1 ¼ -cups of water
Instructions
- Rinse rice until water runs clear, then soak in warm water for 20-30 minutes, drain and set aside.
- Heat the 1 tbsp. of oil in a deep pan and fry the pine nuts till light golden brown. Remove pine nuts from the oil and set aside. In the same pan and oil if need, toast almonds until golden brown and set aside for garnish later.
- Again, in the same pan, heat 3 tablespoon of oil and sauté thinly sliced onions until golden brown and caramelized (be careful not to burn). Remove from oil and place on paper towel.
- In the same pan, on medium to high heat, add 1 tbsp. of oil. Coat the fish with seasoned flour and fry for 3-4 minutes on each side until cooked and light golden color. Remove from pan and set aside.
- In a large pot, on medium heat add the diced onions with 2 tbsp. of oil and ghee and fry till medium brown.
- Add the rice, turmeric, all spices, cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods, ground coriander, salt and pepper and mix till the rice is well-coated with spices and oil.
- Add stock and water and bring to a gentle boil and then lower the heat. Cover the pan half way and simmer for 15-20 minutes or until rice is cooked and no more water in pan. ( MAKE SURE TO NEVER STIR RICE WHILE COOKING)
- When the rice is finished, empty on a flat dish and arrange the fish fillets on top and garnish with toasted pine nuts and almonds. Enjoy!
