🐟 Sayadieh
Sayadieh is a Lebanese fisherman's dish of white fish served over rice cooked in a dark broth of deeply caramelised onions, cumin and cinnamon. The rice turns brown and fragrant from the onions, and the plate is finished with toasted pine nuts and a tangy tahini sauce. It is usually served as a generous main course with more tahini sauce on the side.
Diets
Allergens
Contains (in a typical recipe):
What it is made of
Recipe
Ingredients
- 600 g white fish fillets (sea bass or cod)
- 300 g long-grain rice, rinsed
- 3 large onions, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp ground cumin, ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil, salt
- 30 g pine nuts
- 100 g tahini sauce (tahini, lemon juice, water, garlic)
Method
- Fry the onions in 3 tbsp oil over medium heat for 25–30 minutes until very dark brown but not burnt.
- Add 800 ml water, the cumin, cinnamon and salt and simmer for 10 minutes, then strain, keeping the onion broth and some onions for garnish.
- Cook the rice in 600 ml of the onion broth, covered, on low heat for 18–20 minutes.
- Season the fish with salt and cumin and pan-fry or bake it until it flakes easily.
- Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan until golden.
- Serve the fish over the rice, topped with the reserved onions, pine nuts and a drizzle of tahini sauce.
How to make it lighter
- Bake the fish instead of frying it to save the frying oil — 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal.
- Use a teaspoon of pine nuts per plate as a garnish rather than a handful.
- Thin the tahini sauce with extra lemon juice and water so a smaller amount covers the plate.
History
Sayadieh (also spelled sayadiyah) takes its name from sayyad, Arabic for “fisherman”. It is a dish of the Levantine coast, especially Lebanon and the coastal cities of Syria and Palestine, and today it is a fixture of Lebanese seafood restaurants.
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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →