Ruz al mudhroub

As tradition built it

Serves 4. About 45 minutes.

Ingredients

• 4 firm white fish fillets (kingfish, snapper or grouper/hamour, see Sourcing)
• to taste salt, ground turmeric and ground cumin, for the fish
• enough to shallow-fry, about 1cm deep oil, for shallow-frying
• 1 onion, sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 300g basmati rice
• 600ml water or fish stock
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dried lime, pierced twice with a knife point
• a pinch each a pinch each of ground cinnamon and cardamom

Method

The fish

1. Season the fish fillets with salt, turmeric and cumin, and shallow-fry in a little oil until golden and crisp, about 3 minutes a side. Set aside.

The rice

2. In the same pan, soften the onion and garlic in oil.
3. Add the rice and stir to coat, then add the water or fish stock, salt, dried lime and a pinch each of cinnamon and cardamom.
4. Bring to the boil, cover, and cook on the lowest heat for 15 minutes, then rest off the heat, still covered, for 10 minutes.
5. Fluff the rice and serve the fried fish on top.

Notes

Dhofar's own festivity-opening dish, rice and fried fish rather than the meat-forward kabsa tradition further north on the peninsula.

What a modern chef changes

The fish precision-cooked sous vide, and the lime liquid turned into a sauce

Rung 1

Method

1. Sous vide the fish fillets at 48°C for 20 minutes with the spice rub.
2. Finish with a very short, very hot sear in clarified butter for 30 seconds a side, a crisp shell over a fish cooked to a precise, translucent-edged doneness no pan alone reliably gives.
3. Cook the rice as in the tradition method, but strain and reserve the dried-lime-and-spice cooking liquid.
4. Reduce the reserved liquid by half, and finish with a spoon of ghee to make a light sauce spooned over the plate rather than absorbed entirely into the rice.