Fish Saiyadieh

RECENTLY, I TRAVELED TO UNITED ARAB EMIRATES TO VISIT SOMEONE CLOSE TO MY HEART. UPON MY STAY THERE, I WAS INTRODUCED TO THIS DISH AND FELL IN LOVE WITH THE FLAVOR. I WAS CURIOUS AS TO HOW I SHOULD MAKE THIS SINCE MANY HOUSEHOLDS IN THE MIDDLE EAST HAVE THEIR OWN VARIATION. I DID SOME RESEARCH AND THIS IS THE DISH I CREATED. KEEP IN MIND THIS IS A HEAVY DISH. I WOULD RECOMMEND IT FOR COLDER MONTHS, BUT ONE COULD CERTAINLY EAT IT DURING THE HOT MONTHS AS WELL.

Servings: 2-4 (Depends on how much you can eat)
Ingredients:

• 9 Spice Mixture (Put spices below in a container and shake to combine)

1 tablespoon ground black pepper,

1 tablespoon ground allspice,

2 teaspoons smoked paprika,

1-1/2 teaspoons ground coriander,

1-1/2 teaspoons ground cumin,

1 teaspoon ground cloves,

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg,

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

(9 Spice Mixture recipe I found was made by MAROCMAMMA. Follow the link here if you wish to make her version of Fish Saiyadieh)

• 3 tilapia filets (Frozen or fresh is fine here. I used frozen since it was what I had on hand.)
• 1/2 cup of lemon juice
• 2 tsp. of minced garlic
• 2 tbls. of cumin
• salt and black pepper to taste
• 1-2 large white, sweet or vidalia onions
• All-purpose flour for dusting
• 2-4 tbls. of olive oil (As needed)
• 1 cup of long grain rice (most Middle Eastern households use basmati rice)
• 1/4 cup of pine nuts (optional since these can be hard to find and can be expensive)
• 2.5 cups of water
• 2 tsp of 9 Spice Mixture

Directions:

1. Mix lemon juice, garlic and cumin together.
2. Place tilapia in a dish, container, ziploc bag and pour lemon juice mixture on top and let marinade for 2 hours. Flip filets in marinade as needed so they evenly coat the fish.
3. Salt and pepper filets to taste.
4. Cut tilapia filets in half.
5. Put a pan over heat. Make sure the pan is not too hot or olive oil will burn.
6. Add olive oil to pan to heat.
7. Dredge filets through the flour and place in pan to fry until fully cooked and set aside.
8. Slice onions.
9. Then, take a clean pan, add onions and some salt. Stir until onions are browned. For the technique I used please refer to this video I found on youtube on how to brown onions without oil.
10. Take water and add to a pot.
11. Salt water to taste.
12. Add 9 Spice Mixture to the water.
13. Add onions.
14. Flake 1 tilapia filet into the water.
15. Bring water to a boil.
16. Add rice and mix.
17. Then take the tilapia filets and put on top of the rice.
18. Cover and cook rice on low heat for 20 minutes.
19. Take pine nuts in a clean pan and gently toast them until fragrant.
20. Plate the desired amount that you want and top with pine nuts.