Fisherman's Plate · Rice & Fish
Sayadieh
Photo: young shanahan / Wikimedia Commons · CC BY 2.0
Its name literally means 'the fisherman's dish,' and an 1890 Lebanese cookbook by Khalil al-Khuri already recorded three separate recipes for it — proof it was a coastal kitchen staple well over a century ago.
Whole fish is simmered into a stock that colors and flavors rice cooked with deeply caramelized onions and a warm baharat spice blend, then the fish is set on top and finished with toasted pine nuts and almonds. It's the everyday plate of Lebanon's old Phoenician fishing ports, Sidon and Tyre.
Why it's made this way: The dish grew directly out of the daily catch in Lebanon's ancient coastal ports, using the whole fish — bones, head, and all — to build the stock that flavors the rice.
More from Lebanon
Part of World of Street Food — 3248 dishes from 118 countries.
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