Sayadeya

Sayadeya is an Egyptian rice dish cooked with fish, onions and spices, with the rice coloured and flavoured by a sauce made from the fish and browned onion. The name comes from sayad, the Arabic word for fisherman.

What it really is

Sayadeya is built on rice cooked slowly in a stock made from fish, with caramelised onion, cumin and a little garlic and tomato giving the grains their brown colour and flavour. The fish, usually a firm white fish such as grouper or mullet, is fried or grilled separately and laid over the rice before serving, or it is cooked with the rice in the same pot. Fried onion is often scattered on top, and a little toasted nut or fried almond may be added as a garnish.

What separates it from other Egyptian rice dishes is the fish and the brown onion-spiced rice. Plain rice dishes such as ruz bi-laban are cooked in milk, and kushari is a mix of lentils, pasta and rice with a tomato sauce and no fish. Sayadeya is a regional coastal dish, most closely associated with Alexandria and the Mediterranean and Red Sea coasts.

How it's served

• Served hot on a large platter, with the fish set on top of or beside the rice.
• Eaten with the hands or a spoon, often with a salad of tomato and cucumber or a sharp side of lemon wedges.
• Commonly served as a family lunch or at a seafood restaurant rather than as a starter.
• Some cooks add a tahini or garlic-lemon sauce on the side, but the dish is not usually served with bread.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the main ingredients as fish, rice and caramelised onion, and state the type of fish (for example grouper or mullet) when known.
• Flag FISH as an allergen. If almonds or other nuts are used as a garnish, flag the nut.
• State whether the fish is cooked in the rice or served fried or grilled on top, as the two versions differ.
• Say whether the rice is coloured with onion and tomato or is plain, since the colour varies between kitchens.