Fish biryani

Biryani is usually rice cooked along with spices, ghee and other veg or non- veg ingredients. This is one pot meal. For rice lovers this is heavenly. Usually its served along with raitha, dalchi, brinjal masala etc... Some people prefer to have it with side dish like egg masala, chicken kebab, fish fry etc. But I would say, Biryani can just be eaten without any side dish and it tastes simply superb. I can't imagine any feast or celebrations without this rich and heavy meal of biryani. There are many varieties of it like fish, chicken, mutton, egg, veg, turkey, beef etc. I made this fish biryani at home, and it was a huge hit. Here goes the recipe...

Ingredients:
Fish fillets - 1 kilo
Basmati rice - 5 cups
Onions - 3 nos
Tomatoes - 2 nos
Ginger - garlic paste - 2 tbsp
Chilly powder - 3 tbsp
Coriander powder - 1 tbsp
Garam masala powder - 1 tbsp
Black pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/4 tsp
Cloves - 6 nos
Cardamom - 4 nos
Cinnamon - 1 stick
Bay leaves - 2 nos
Mace - 2 nos
Aniseed - 1/2 tsp
Dried plums with pits - 2 nos
Screw pines or Kewra/ketaki flower( optional ) - just for flavour
Prawn stock cube - 1 nos
Food colors (optional) or saffron strands - 1 pinch
Salt for taste
Ghee - 1 cup

Method:
Soak basmati rice for 30 min then cook it in hot boiling water along with salt until its almost done( not fully cooked), strain water using a colander and keep the rice aside. In a wok, Add 1/2 cup ghee, when hot add all the whole spices like cloves, cardamom, Cinnamon, bay leaves, mace, aniseed, kewra and stir till the aroma is released. Now add finely sliced onions and fry till golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste and fry for a min. Add turmeric powder, and chilly powder and stir for 1/2 min. Now add tomatoes along with coriander powder, pepper powder, garam masala powder, dried plums with pits and prawn stock cube and cook till oil separates. Now add fish pieces or chunks, enough salt and cook till it done (can add little water if required). Just see that the masala is dry and the ghee is floating on top. Now this is done. Take a baking try, grease it with ghee and spread a layer of rice, top it with a layer of masala, then again a layer of rice, then masala, then finally cover with rice and pour the remaining ghee all over it. Pour some colored water if you wish your biryani to be colorful. Cover with aluminium foil and bake at 200 degrees Celsius/400 degree Fahrenheit for 15 min and its done. Garnish with fried onions, cashews, saffron etc. Serve hot along with raitha.

Note:
I usually use yogurt for biryani, since this is fish biryani I have excluded it. Biryani can also be microwaved.
Looking for Veg biryani recipe
or Mutton biryani recipe