A recipe for Maas Biran by Nadiya Hussain

6 March 2025 Ray Bonsall

Nadiya Hussain’s new cookbook celebrates the cuisines of Islamic cultures across the world and includes a delicious recipe for the Bengali fried fish dish, Maas Biran.

Hussain says, ‘This is the kind of thing that I make often. During Ramadhan as I experiment with other cuisines, this fried fish is a go-to for whenever we want a little taste of home.

Simply fried, the sweet onions are what make this dish! Served with rice and charred tomato chutney, it is everything and more.’

Ingredients

For the fish  100ml oil

1 teaspoon ground turmeric

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons chilli powder

6 large tilapia fillets For the onion 100ml oil

4 cloves of garlic, minced

2 teaspoons mustard seeds

4 onions, thinly sliced

1 teaspoon salt small handful of fresh coriander, thinly sliced For the sathni 6 tomatoes, pierced

4 cloves of garlic, unpeeled

1 red onion, finely diced ⅛ teaspoon salt small handful of fresh coriander

¼ lemon, juice and rind thinly sliced

For the rice

600g basmati rice

1 black cardamom pod

900ml cold water 

Method

Start by marinating the fish. Put the oil in a jug along with the turmeric, salt and chilli powder and give it all a good mix. Put the fish on a tray and then pour the spiced oil all over the fish.

Get your hands in and make sure it is all completely covered.

Take a large frying pan and fry the fish off a few fillets at a time over a high heat. This should take about 4 minutes on each side.

Once you have fried them all, pop on to a plate and set aside.

Pour the oil for the onion into the same pan. As soon as the oil is hot, add the garlic and mustard seeds and cook until golden and the mustard seeds start popping. Now add all the onions with the salt and cook on a medium to high heat till the onions are caramelized. Add the fish and all the juices back in on top of the onions and leave to warm through with the lid off.

For the sathni, take a blowtorch and blacken the tomatoes and the garlic completely. You can also do this under a grill, and remove as soon as they are completely black. Set aside to cool for a moment.

Put the red onion in a bowl with the salt, coriander, lemon juice and rind. Use your hands to macerate it all together. Chop the tomatoes and garlic, making sure to keep the skin of the tomatoes and the garlic. Add them in and mix altogether, using your hands.

For the rice, wash the basmati till the water runs completely clear.

As soon as the water is clear, put in a pan with the black cardamom pod and cold water. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally and making sure the rice doesn’t stick to the base. As soon as the rice grains are visible and the water evaporated, reduce the heat, put the lid on and leave to steam for 15 minutes.

As soon as the rice is ready, serve with the fish and sweet onions with the sathni on the side.

If you like this read ‘A love letter to the country of my birth’: Dina Begum’s new cookbook celebrates Bangladeshi cooking.’

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