Colours, Friends And Awesome Fish Biryani For The Spoiled Holiday Soul

Holi heeyyy!!! It’s a public holiday and Friday – seriously, weekend can’t get any better than this. The thought that I could start my Saturday routine from Friday has kept me in high spirits since yesterday. I had my day planned, more or less, – how late will I sleep, what would I do, cook, or watch on TV for the day, a bit of shopping for the week and so on. Well, to be frank, playing Holi was nowhere in the list, mainly because, hailing from God’s Own Country this is not a festival we celebrate. We also had a wonderful late night get-together with our lane neighbours, which again set the mood for the long holiday right. So far so good!

However, the day did not start off as expected. It was raining heavily from midnight yesterday; after the party when we got back home it was raining and so was when we hit the sack. Around early in the morning, I woke up sensing that there was no power. How could I sense that when we do not have a ceiling fan in the room? I do not know, but I still sensed it somehow. I could barely get back to sleep after that and saw myself fully awake before 6 AM? Well 6 AM? No, that was not the plan. I wanted to sleep till 8 at least! Now that I was up I was hoping that power would be back before I started off my day, but no, it wasn't back until some 10 AM. I had bookmarked a simple amazing recipe for lime cookies and wanted to try that in the morning; so even that plan went for a toss. Moreover, the gloomy weather with occasional showers was helping only to make things more depressing. Looking at the way the day was unfolding, I finally realized that nothing I planned would happen, so I might as well make new plans. Since the only thing I could do without power was stove-top cooking, I went ahead with that. I had some nice fleshy variety fish in the freezer (last batch), which I had reserved for something special and today seemed just right to use that up. Fish biryani, may be! Just as I decided and got on with it, the power was back. Well, like that helps; the damage is done!

Indulging in cooking did make me feel better though. And to my surprise, I had all the ingredients that the recipe called for. Yeah that never happens and I can’t remember the last time that happened. So, I started with the fish masala (details given below), followed by flavoured rice for the biryani. I had water boiling in one pan and in another I was stir frying the rice in butter along with whole spices and sliced onions, and that's when I heard the call bell ring. Clearly, it was not in a fashion that any of my friends would. Since he was in the study room, I didn't bother to check but continued with my cooking. After a couple of seconds, I heard it ring again. I walked towards the door and heard someone screaming out his surname and say, “Raman bahar ajao (come out)”. I was sure it was his friends waiting to bathe us in colours. I then thought how bad it could be; not as bad as how a wonderful holiday morning has turned out. So I slowly opened the door and to my surprise saw a whole battalion there! No, I wasn’t expecting that many! One by one everyone walked up to me and in no time there was not even an inch in my body that had my original skin tone or colour. It was colours and more colours everywhere – on me, on him and on everyone and everything. Now that meant something; I switched off the stove, we clicked a few multi-colour pictures with the gang who brought holi to our door step and joined them visiting every house in the locality spreading the same spirit and happiness.

That's one with the "happening" gang in the locality!

Here's with mostly everyone!

We then halted at one of our friends place, drenched in more colours there, treated our empty tummies with sandwiches, somasas and drinks. The word awesome would be an understatement and all of us enjoyed it to bits. Around 12 we reached back home and locked us inside till two; yes, after a painful bath, rubbing the colours away, last thing we wanted was to have of it on us. By then I also finished cooking the rice and layering. We enjoyed the awesome fish biryani and I headed for a looong noon time snap. The best part of the day thus came to an end.  

So mark my words – when your day does not turn out to be as expected count on colours, friends and fish biryani to liven up your soul. :-)

Fish Biryani Recipe

Since the recipe has two main parts, I will cover everything related to one part together and then move onto the other

For the Fish Masala:

YOU NEED

Fish Marinade

• Fish, ½-3/4 kg, any fleshy variety like sear fish etc, cleaned cut into 1 inch cubes
• Kashmiri chilli powder, 1 teaspoon
• Coriander powder, 1 ½ teaspoon
• Turmeric powder, ¼ teaspoon
• Ginger garlic paste, 1 teaspoon
• Lime juice, juice of half a lime
• Salt to taste
• Oil for shallow frying

Fish Masala

• Onion, 3 small, thinly sliced
• Ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, 2 tablespoon, ½ in ginger, 5-6 cloves garlic and about 4 green chillies crushed into a coarse paste
• Tomato, 3 small, chopped
• Turmeric powder, ½ teaspoon
• Kashmiri chilli powder, 1 teaspoon
• Coriander powder, 1 ½ teaspoon
• Biryani masala or Garam masala, 1 teaspoon
• Coriander leaves, a bunch, chopped
• Mint leaves, a bunch, chopped
• Thick curd, 4 tablespoon

HOW TO

Marinate the fish for about ½ hour. Shallow fry the pieces and keep aside.

In the leftover oil, sauté onions until translucent along with ginger-garlic-green chillies paste. To this add tomatoes, cook until almost mushy. Add turmeric powder -½ teaspoon, kashmiri chilli powder - 1 teaspoon, coriander powder - 1 ½ teaspoon, biryani masala or garam masala - 1 teaspoon and give it a nice stir. 

Add chopped coriander and mint leaves, followed by fish pieces and curd. Mix well to combine and when heated through remove from stove-top.

Your fish masala for layering is now ready.

For Rice & Garnish:

YOU NEED

For Rice

• Long grain rice, 2 cups, soaked in water for 30 min and drained
• Butter, 1 tablespoon
• Whole spices, mix of bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon
• Onion, 1 small, thinly slices
• Water, 4 cups, boiled
• Lime juice, juice of 1 1/2 lime

For Garnish (normally skip this stage unless, I am cooking for guests)

• Ghee or oil for frying
• Onion, ½ medium, thinly sliced
• Cashews
• Coriander and mint leaves, chopped
• Biryani masala, 1 teaspoon
• Saffron, a few strands
• Warm milk, about a couple of teaspoons

HOW TO

Heat butter in a deep and wide wok. Side by side, keep about 4 cups of water for boiling. Add the spices along with sliced onions into the wok. When onions are almost crispy and translucent, add the drained rice along.  Stir fry rice for a couple of minutes and then pour the boiled water. Add salt to taste. Cook uncovered for 8-15 minutes until rice is cooked and water is almost absorbed. Switch off. Pour the lime juice over and mix well.

Now take another wok with tight lid; alternately, you could also prepare dough out of wheat flour to seal the edges to not let the flavour escape, I skipped this though. Grease the bottom of the pan with butter and starting with a layer of fish masala, layer rice and masala, remembering to sprinkle the ingredients for garnish after every layer. Finish off with the saffron milk in the final layer.

Bring this to stove-top again and in low heat, let it heat through for about 5-10 minutes. Do not open until you are ready to serve.

I could hardly manage this one, after we plated out the biryani!

Serve with raita and pappadam. Bon appetit and liven up your soul! :P