People, Plates and Things: Salmon Biryani

I've been craving a dish that my aunt made a few years ago as an experiment with rice, alot of spices, tomatoes and salmon. In attempt to figure out what it was I turned to my best friend Google and he presented me with Biryani. Now this was not what my aunt made but it was close and my husband loves Indian food so I went for it. I pulled up about 7 different recipes all a little different as far as spices and vegetables used. "Biryani" are heavily spiced rice dishes accompanied with vegetables and sometimes meat. Different regions make it different ways so I picked and pulled what I liked from each recipe to make one that fit my own tastes and it came out so good.

I use my mortar and pestle for everything

Salmon Marinade
2 6oz. salmon fillets cut in half (so far small pieces)
1tsp garlic
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tbs lemon juice
1 tsp red chile powder, any kind you like (I used 1/2 harissa mix 1/2 hot chimayo mix)
1/2 tsp tumeric

Chew on a cardamom pod, it's an old school breath freshener!

Biryani
1 med. onion thinly sliced
1/2 tsp cumin
2 cracked green cardamom pods
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds
1.5 tsp red chili powder
2 tsp salt
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp tumeric
1/2 cauliflower head
2 diced roma tomatoes
1 small red bell pepper
1tbs tomato paste
Bay leaves

Infused Rice
2 c. brown basmati rice
Tea/spice Ball
2 cracked green cardamom pods
Bay leaves
Peppercorns
1in. cinnamon stick

1. Marinade salmon with all spices, place in a ziploc bag or container and put it in the fridge for 1 hour
2. While salmon is marinating pre-chop onion, cilantro, tomatoes, cauliflower and whatever additional vegetables you will be using
3. Wash rice and place in a bowl of water to soak until you're ready for it
4. In a pan with some oil cook your onion until soft and brown then set aside for later
5. In a large pan put a few spoonfuls of oil, cracked coriander seeds and cracked green cardamom pods, fry for 2-3 minutes then add garlic, tumeric, bay leaves, salt, chile powder, garam masala and cumin along with your vegetables (except cilantro).
5. Sauté vegetables on high for 5 minutes, add tomato paste and 3 cups of water. Contunue cooking on high for 5 more minutes then turn down to medium low and cover for 10 minutes.
6. While your vegetables are cooking, shallow fry your salmon in a pan with some oil, when it's done set it aside
7. Boil 4 cups of water and place the cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom and peppercorns inside the spice ball and place the ball inside the pot. Once water is boiling add salt and oil and your soaked rice (do not add the water your rice was soaking in)

My awesome mulling spice ball

For the next steps you need to act quickly
8. Once your rice is soft on the outside but not quite cooked all the way through, pour the water off and place the rice in a separate bowl.
9. In the same pot you boiled the rice in you begin layering your dish like lasagna. First sauce, then 1/2 the rice, sprinkle some 1/2 of the onions and some cilantro then more sauce, more rice, more onions and more cilantro. After your final layer place the salmon on top, cover and cook on medium for 10 minutes, you want to see the pot steaming up. After that 10 minutes turn off the heat but leave the pot covered on the burner for another 10 minutes.