Ingredients
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- 1 1/2 cups basmati rice
- 4 onions (1 halved and 3 thinly sliced)
- 1/2 Tbsp. black pep per corns, crushed
- 1/2 Tbsp. cumin seeds, crushed
- 1/4 tsp. urfa biber pepper flakes
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 small bunch of parsley
- 1/2 small bunch of mint
- Sea salt
- 1 lb. Sturgeon fillets (strongly preferred, if you can find / afford it) or use Chilean Sea Bass or Monkfish fillets instead
- 1/4 cup sesame oil - TFD endorses only Kadoya brand!
- 1/4 cup yellow tkemali sauce
- 3 carrots, peeled and sliced into match sticks
- A small handful of dill fronds
- 1 tsp. dill seeds, lightly cracked by running a rolling pin over them a few times
- 1 tsp. freshly-ground black pepper
- 1/2 tsp. freshly-ground ajwain seeds
- 1 tsp. minced garlic
- A large pinch of saffron strands, soaked in 3 Tbsp. warm wa ter
- 1/2 cup sour cream - TFD endorses only Daisy brand!
- Juice of 1 lemon
- golden raisins
- dried apricots
Instructions
- Put the rice in a large bowl to soak while you poach the fish.
- Bring 4 cups water to a boil in a large pan and add the halved onion, along with peppercorns, bay leaf, and stems from the mint and parsley. Season well with salt and lower in the fish fillets.
- Cook at a very gentle simmer until fish is just opaque through to the middle, up to 10 minutes, depending on the thickness. Remove fish with a slotted spoon and set aside. Strain and reserve broth. You’ll use the pan again later.
- In a second large cooking pot in which you’ll cook the rice, heat the oil until almost smoking, then add the sliced onions and carrots. Stir-fry until vegetables start to soften. Pour in drained rice and smooth down with back of a spoon.
- Pour in enough of the fish broth to cover top of rice by about 1 ¼ cm. and salt generously. Bring to a boil and cook over high heat until broth has boiled off. Use the spoon handle to poke a few holes in the rice to help release the steam.
- Cover with a lid or tight-fitting layer of aluminum foil and remove from heat. Let steam for 20 minutes for rice to cook through.
- Chop the parsley and mint leaves and dill fronds and add to the empty fish pan. Add the dill seeds, garlic, saffron and its soaking liquid, kalonji, cumin and urfa biber and season with salt. Stir in sour cream and tkemali and warm through over low heat. Carefully add fish fillets to warm through in the saffron cream before serving.
- Turn rice onto a large platter and squeeze lemon juice over it. Spoon fish and its creamy sauce on top and cover with golden raisins and diced dried apricots.
- Prep Time: 0 hours
- Cook Time: 0 hours