Fish/chicken Majboos

Majboos is  considered to be the national dish of Arab states which is made from a mixture of spices, meat & basmati rice. In UAE, where I lives, this rice is known as Majboos/Machboos whereas in some other places like Saudi Arabia or Yemen it is known as Kabsa. Eventhough this dish is found in almost all Arab states, it varies slightly in the use of spices according to their native tastes.

Now this recipe is of my Mom, so I guess there will be an Indian touch to the recipe along with the basic spices maintaining the authenticity of the dish. You can prepare this with meat, fish or chicken. The chicken is usually used in whole in the original recipe but we used to make it pieces.These meats are partly fried or grilled first after marination & then added to the rice & allow it to cook completely along with the rice.   This dish closely resembles Biriyani, but the rice, in this recipe, is cooked along with the meat & masala unlike in Biriyanis.

Ingredients:

Fish/Chicken 1/2 kg
Turmeric powder 1/2 tsp
Basmati Rice- 1 cup
Water 2 cups (if fish) & 1 1/2 cups (if chicken)...
Onion 1, sliced
Tomato 1 large
Ginger Garlic paste 1 tsp
Green Chilli 2
Coriander leaves 3 tbsp
Coriander powder 1/2 tsp
Fennel seeds (saunf)/Cumin seed(Jeera) 1/2 tsp
Garam masala-1/2 tsp
Dried Black Lemon-1
Coconut 1 tbsp

Method:

1.Soak dried black lemon in 1/4 cup water for sometime. The lemons should be slit before soaking.Dried lemons give a nice aroma & flavor to the dish. It's easily available n the middle-east; but not sure about the rest of the world. I think it's made by steaming the lemon first & then drying it in the hot sun. Heard somewhere so...though not tried before.

2.Marinate fish with 1/2 tsp of garam masala, 1/4 tsp of turmeric powder ,salt & pepper powder. shallow fry if fish & deep fry if chicken. Fry fish in high heat. don't worry if it didn't cook well inside. It ll be cooked again with the rice.

3.Take a deep bottomed vessel, preferably non-stick, heat 1 tbsp of ghee +2tbsp oil in it.  Saute onions till it turns traslucent.Add ginger-garlic paste, green chilli paste & saute for a minute more.

4.Add tomato & cook till it turns tender.

5.Add garam masala & saute again till masala leaves the sides of the pan...preferably 1 minute.

6.Grind the coconut along with Fennel seeds/Cumin***,coriander powder & green chillies (3) & enough water to cook the rice. Add this to the masala.

7. Add rice & fish once it boils. Let it boil for some more time till the water reaches the level of rice.

8.Add coriander leaves, dried lemon with the soaked water & close the lid. Add salt if required (if it needs more salt other than which we added to the onions)

7.Cover and cook till rice is done.

** You can use either Fennel seeds or Cumin seeds. Cumin seeds are used by Arabs whereas ma mom always prefers Fennel seeds..