Place your cooking pot on top of your cooking appliance – set this on a high heat setting and allow the pot to warm up and to start the cooking process. At this point you will need to preheat your oven and set it to gas mark 4 / 180°C - we will require the use of the oven to cook the biryani shortly. During this stage of the cooking process, we are heating up the pot and allowing the moisture from the fish and the spice mix to be released. This will generate steam and start cooking the rice and the fish. This will take around 10 minutes. A good indicator will be the sizzling sound and the pot heating up to a high temperature.
Important Note: Avoid opening the pot as this will release the pressure built up inside the pot and will prolong the cooking process – you must trust in the process and use your cooking sense to see it through.
The next stage is to transfer the pot inside the oven and let this cook for a further 35 - 40 minutes before you even contemplate on checking the biryani.
If you don’t have an oven – after the initial 10 minutes, set your cooking appliance to lowest setting and allow the biryani pot to cook for a further 40 minutes before you open and check the biryani.
Whatever method was used to cook the biryani during the final stage you will still need to check and ensure the fish has fully cooked and the rice is piping hot. Using oven gloves carefully remove the lid, when removing the foil be very careful, the pressurised steam inside the pot will be extremely hot.
Using a suitable spoon, you need to take out a section of the plain rice until you get to the fish layer – take a piece of fish out onto a plate and check if it has cooked. Please be very careful as the biryani dish will be very hot and the fish will break up, if not handled with care.
Enjoy your fish biryani, with a choice of accompaniments: chaas, raita, salad, mango pickle and poppodoms.