The Fish Sayadieh Recipe

Sayadieh Samak

Ingredients
2 1/2 kg whole white fish fillets (or whole fish which you can later debone)
3 onions, thinly sliced
250 ml oil
1/2 lemon (juice extracted)
1 lemon, sliced
3 teaspoons baharat mixed spice
1 1/2 tsps ground cumin
60 g roasted pine nuts
crispy caramelized onion
salt and white pepper (to season)
water

1. Fish stock preparation

Preheat the oven to gas mark 180 deg C.
Gut, scale and cut off the fish head (keep it aside)
then wash, clean and dry the fish.
To caramelize the onions, heat half of the oil in a
pot and add the sliced onions. Let them cook on
a gentle heat until darkish-brown in color but not
burned. Remove the onions from heat.
To make the fish stock, add the fish head to the oil
in the pan in which the onions were cooked. Add
1 tsp baharat spice, 1/2 tsp ground cumin, salt &
pepper and fry till browned. When brown, add 8 cups
water and let it boil for 45 minutes. Strain and use
the stock to cook the rice.

2. Rice preparation

Wash the rice 3 times, and soak it for an hour. Add
half of the remaining oil to a large pot and when hot,
add the rice, 1 tsp baharat spice mix and 1/2 tsp
ground cumin. Stir-fry to seal the rice for 2-3 minutes.
Keeping 1 cup of stock reserved aside, pour in the
rest of the stock (6 cups) over the rice. Bring the stock
to boil, and reduce the heat once boiled. Cook gently
for aboout 20 minutes or until all the stock has been
absorbed and the rice is cooked.

3. Preparation for baking the fish

Using the remaining oil, grease a roasting tin and fish.
Season the fish inside and outside with salt & peper.
Rub the spice mixture all over and inside the fish.
Place the lemon slices inside the fish and put the fish
in the roasting tin, pouring in half cup of water.
Bake in the preaheated oven for 1 hour.
To serve, pile the cooked rice on a platter and top it
with fish pieces that have been deboned. Garnish with crispy
caramelized fried onions and pine nuts, and serve
with sauce on the side.