Skip to main content
Main

Zarebrian Mahee Noormahlee

A fish curry served with rice, flavored with anise, cinnamon, saffron, and curry paste, cooked over bamboo sticks.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 11 ingredients
Jump to recipe ↓

Why it works: Cinnamon and ginger match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and 6,380 recipes mention both. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

The recipe

Ingredients

Contains: milk, wheat, fish (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Also mentioned in the method: biscuits

Directions

Prepare the fish

  1. Cut the fish into large pieces and wash the fish thoroughly.

  2. Rub the fish with oil and set the fish aside for 30 minutes.

  3. Grind the anise and cinnamon.

  4. Mix the ground spices with the fish and salt, then let the mixture stand for 30 minutes.

  5. Bruise the onions and ginger.

  6. Mix the bruised onions and ginger with curry paste and a little salt.

  7. Rub the mixture over the fish.

Cook the fish

  1. Fry the fish in ghee until cooked.

  2. Remove the fish from heat.

  3. Rub the fish with more curry paste and saffron.

  4. Place bamboo sticks in a saucepan and lay the fish on top of the bamboo sticks.

  5. Pour the gravy and remaining curry paste over the fish.

Add the rice and finish

  1. Parboil the rice in plain water.

  2. Place the parboiled rice over the fish, adding a little rice water.

  3. Color some rice with saffron and place it on top of the other rice.

  4. Pour some ghee over the rice.

  5. Make a biscuit and place it in the center of the rice.

  6. Cover the saucepan tightly and boil until done.

  7. Remove the dish from heat and let it simmer for a few minutes.

  8. Serve.

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. Cinnamon + gingertop 1% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together6,380 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Rice + saffrontop 2% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together628 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  3. Anise + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together117 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-methoxybenzaldehyde (sweet, anise).

  4. Cinnamon + ricetop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together2,121 recipes

    Shared aroma: guaiacol (smoky, sweet).

  5. Anise + saffrontop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together29 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

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

What each ingredient does

Fish
Provides the main protein, which firms and turns opaque as it cooks.
Ghee
Fat that carries flavour and browns the fish surface during frying.
Onions
Bruised onions add sweetness and body to the curry paste mixture.
Rice
Absorbs the gravy and steam, becoming tender and fluffy as it cooks.
Curry paste
Supplies the main spice flavour and colour for the fish and gravy.
Saffron
Adds aroma and a yellow colour to the fish and rice.

The step that matters

Cover the saucepan tightly and boil until done. A tight lid traps steam so the rice cooks evenly in its own moisture; a loose lid lets steam escape and can leave the rice dry or undercooked on top.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  1. Tomatobetter flavor fit
  2. Carrotbetter flavor fit
  3. Capsicumbetter flavor fit
  4. Onionthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against fish, ghee, anise, cinnamon, ginger, rice, saffron. 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.

You might also like

Illustration of Fried FishIllustrationFried Fish120 recipesIllustration of Rice FrittersIllustrationRice Fritters84 recipesIllustration of Fish CroquettesIllustrationFish Croquettes81 recipesIllustration of Scalloped CodIllustrationScalloped Cod69 recipes