This is a very popular Arab dish. There are white and brown versions, which depend on whether you let the onions go brown or not. Use skinned fillets of fish such as bream, turbot, haddock, cod, or halibut.
Recipe information
Yield
serves 8-10
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
In a large saucepan, fry the onions in 2 or 3 tablespoons oil over very low heat, with the lid on, until soft and transparent but still white, stirring occasionally. Let them get dark brown if you want a brown sayyadiah. Add about 5 cups water and simmer until the onions have nearly melted. You can leave the onions as they are, or blend them to a pulp with some of the liquid.
Step 2
Return them to the pan, and season with salt and cumin or allspice. Add the fish and simmer for about 4–8 minutes, until cooked but still firm. Skim off the scum as it rises to the surface.
Step 3
Remove the fish and keep hot. Retain about 4 cups of the onion stock to cook the rice in. Pour the remaining stock into another pan and add lemon juice to taste, to make a sauce.
Step 4
Throw the washed and drained rice into the first portion of boiling stock. Let it boil vigorously for a minute, then reduce the heat, cover the pan, and simmer gently, undisturbed, until the rice is tender, about 15–20 minutes. Just before serving, reheat the fish in the sauce. Serve the rice heaped in a mound on a large serving dish. Arrange the pieces of fish over or around it, and pour the hot, lemony sauce over the whole dish.
Variations
Step 5
For an elegant presentation, press the fish, then the rice over it, into an oiled mold. Heat through in the oven before turning out carefully. Garnish with 1/2–1 cup lightly fried pine nuts and/or split blanched almonds.
Step 6
Here is an Egyptian version. Color and soften the onions, then fry the fish briefly with the onions so that it is still uncooked inside. Make a stock with the bones, head, and trimmings of the fish, simmered with 1 stalk celery, 1 onion, and 1 carrot. Strain through a fine sieve. Cook the rice as above, in 1 1/2 times its own volume of stock. Mix the cooked rice with the fish and onions in a baking dish. Garnish with lightly fried pine nuts and moisten with a little of the stock, considerably reduced. Bake in a preheated 300°F oven for 15–20 minutes.
