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Zarebrian Mahee Noormahalee

A fish curry served with saffron rice, prepared with gingelly oil, spices, and ghee.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 16 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 Noormahalee

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the fish

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

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

  3. Wash the fish again.

  4. Rub the fish with ground anise seed.

  5. Wash the fish again.

  6. Rub the fish with basun flour.

  7. Mix the fish with curry powder and let the fish stand for 30 minutes.

  8. Wash the fish again.

Make the curry

  1. Bruise the onion and green ginger.

  2. Mix the bruised onion and ginger with curry powder and salt, then rub this mixture onto the fish.

  3. Fry the fish in ghee until cooked.

  4. Add a little curry powder and boil until the liquid reduces.

  5. Remove the fish from the pan.

  6. Rub the fish with fresh curry powder and saffron.

Layer and cook with rice

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

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

  3. Parboil the rice in plain water.

  4. Place the parboiled rice over the fish with a little rice water.

  5. Color a portion of rice with saffron and place the saffron-colored rice on top of the rice.

  6. Pour ghee over the rice.

  7. Make a biscuit and place the biscuit in the center.

  8. Cover the saucepan tightly and place some charcoal fire on top to cook.

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. Rice + saffrontop 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
Forms the main body of the dish, cooked through by frying and then slow steaming.
Gingelly oil
Coats the fish, carrying spices and helping keep the flesh moist.
Curry powder
Provides the main spiced flavor and aroma of the curry and gravy.
Rice
Absorbs the cooking liquid and steam, becoming tender and fluffy as the base layer.
Ghee
Adds richness and fat for frying, promoting browning and a nutty aroma.
Saffron
Gives the rice its golden colour and a distinctive floral aroma.

The step that matters

Fry the fish in ghee until cooked. Fish is delicate and overcooks quickly, becoming dry and falling apart. Frying over steady heat sets the outside and keeps the flesh moist inside.

Flavor stand-ins for the onion

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

  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, ginger, ghee, rice, saffron, flour. 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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