Fish Biriani Potjie

Potjie No: 3
Serves: 10
Cooking Time: 1 hour

Ingredients
1 kg firm fish fillets (use any firm fish such as kingklip or snoek)
Cooking oil for frying
10 ml salt
4 large onions, thinly sliced 8 cloves garlic, crushed
1 stick cinnamon
2 whole cloves
4 green chillies (or less for
a more delicate flavour)
5 cardamom pods
5 ml turmeric
5 ml cumin seeds
2 ml fennel seeds (optional)
1 small knob root ginger, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 kg uncooked rice
2 threads saffron dissolved in 250 ml boiling water

Method
Heat oil in potjie.
Season fish with a little salt and fry lightly until golden brown.
Remove fish from oil and set aside.
Add onion and garlic to potjie and sauté until transparent.
Place all the spices and the ginger in a pestle and mortar and grind to form a fine masala.
Add tomatoes and masala to sautéed onion and garlic and place fish fillets on top. Sprinkle rice and remaining salt over fish.
Pour in saffron water.
Cover with lid and simmer slowly for 1 hour or until the fish is cooked and most of the liquid has been absorbed.
Add more boiling water if necessary.
This dish should not be too dry.