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Zarebrian Mahee Noormahlee

A fish dish steamed on bamboo sticks with anise, curry, and saffron.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 13 ingredients
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Why it works: Anise and saffron share more aroma than cooks usually use. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 29 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Zarebrian Mahee Noormahlee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut the fish into large pieces and wash it well.

  2. Rub the fish with ginger oil.

  3. Set the fish aside for 30 minutes.

  4. Wash the fish again.

  5. Rub the fish with ground anise seed.

  6. Wash the fish again.

  7. Rub the fish with basun flour.

  8. Let the fish stand for 30 minutes.

  9. Wash the fish again.

Season and cook the fish

  1. Bruise the onion and green ginger.

  2. Mix the bruised onion and ginger with curry powder and salt.

  3. Rub the mixture over the fish.

  4. Fry the fish in ghee until cooked.

  5. Add a little tyre.

  6. Boil until the liquid reduces.

  7. Remove the fish from the pan.

Steam and serve

  1. Rub the fish with tyre and saffron.

  2. Place bamboo sticks in a saucepan.

  3. Lay the fish on top of the bamboo sticks.

  4. Pour the gravy and remaining curry mixture over the fish.

  5. Parboil the rice separately.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Anise + saffrontop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Saffron + ricetop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together629 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Ginger + saffrontop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together418 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  4. Anise + gingertop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together97 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  5. Anise + flourtop 9% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together270 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Fish
Main protein that firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Ghee
Fat for frying that adds richness and helps the fish surface brown.
Curry powder
Spice blend that gives the fish its main aroma and warmth.
Onion
Bruised aromatic base that adds savoury sweetness to the spice mixture.
Saffron
Adds aroma and a golden colour to the fish.
Rice
Starchy base that accompanies the fish and soaks up the gravy.

The step that matters

Fry the fish in ghee until cooked. Fish proteins set quickly at high heat and dry out if overcooked, so the fish should be removed as soon as it is cooked through, before it toughens and loses moisture.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (fish, anise, flour, ginger, ghee, saffron, rice):

  1. Welsh onionbetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Spinachbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, anise, flour, ginger, ghee, saffron, rice. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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