Name: Herbed Rice with Fried Fish (Sabzi Pulao Ba Mahi)
Cuisine: Iran
Ingredients: butter, flour, oil, salt and pepper; 1 side smoked fish (mackerel is fine); 1 clove garlic, finely chopped; 1 bunch each parsley, coriander and dill; 1 cup rice; 2–3 lemons (at least one of them unwaxed); 1–2 teaspoonsful turmeric; 300 g firm prawns; 1½ tablespoonsful capers, chopped; 1 baby tin anchovy fillets, chopped; ½ teaspoon ground saffron; 1 side filleted whitefish (cod, plaice, haddock or similar); 2 bunches chives, or 2 leeks (or substitute the herbs and chives for 1 bag of dried sabzi pulao mix)

Preparation info

Difficulty
Complex

Appears in

Persia in Peckham

By Sally Butcher

Published 2007

About

Ingredients

You will need per person

1 side filleted whitefish (cod, plaice, haddock or similar)
1 side smoked fish (mackerel is fine)

Method

Wash the fresh fish and pat it dry, and then put it in the fridge to chill. An Iranian housewives’ trick is to wrap the fish tightly in a clean tea towel – this minimizes fishy smells in the fridge and also absorbs any surplus water from the fish. When my mother-in-law told me that if fish is too wet when you cook it, it tastes of water, I was nothing if not sceptical, but of course most housew