Sayadeya rice – Egyptian seafood rice
This Sayadeya rice is a typical side for all seafood dishes in Egyptian cuisine. Slowly browned onions form its base- imparting deep flavor and color.
While in its purest form this dish is about the onions and rice, its also endlessly customizable with the spices of your choice.
If you’re interested in Egyptian rice dishes, check out my recipe for the most common and beloved Egyptian rice- roz bil shareya – rice with vermicelli!
What is sayadeya rice?
Sayadeya rice translates to “fisherman’s rice” in Arabic, and is also sometimes called roz samak or “fish rice”.
It is a staple side dish that accompanies fish and other seafood dishes.
This brown rice rice gets its deep color and flavor from browned onions and cumin that form its base.
Sometimes other spices and aromatics are used, but at its purest, this rice is all about the onions.
What’s in Sayadeya rice?
Rice
In Egypt, short or medium grain rice is used in almost all dishes, including this one. So much so, that short grain rice is known as roz masry, or Egyptian rice, throughout the region.
Calrose rice makes a great substitute and may be more readily available. Calrose can often be sold as sushi rice.
I prefer to buy Egyptian rice from a local Middle Eastern grocer, but you can purchase great quality Egyptian rice online here as well (affiliate link).
I cook A LOT of rice dishes and use Egyptian rice in almost all of them, whether they are Egyptian dishes, like these meat and rice stuffed grape leaves or these saucy Egyptian stuffed vegetables, or dishes from other cultures, like this Puerto Rican arroz con pollo (rice with chicken).
Make sure to wash your rice thoroughly before starting.
Onions
Onions are the base of this rich dish.
Here we will use one medium onion for every cup of rice to get this dish oniony awy.
I prefer to use white or yellow onions for my sayadeya rice.
Take your time browning the onions. But remember, you do not want to do a super long carmelization over low heat where you end up with very sweet onions.
Here you want to brown the onions at a higher heat and bring them to a place where they are slightly burnt to achieve the correct flavor for this dish.
Spices
In this recipe I have given you a base recipe for sayadeya rice, which generally includes cumin.
However there are so many other spice options you can add that work great- such as coriander and paprika.
I often love to use sazon as well- a staple Latin spice blend that contains cumin, coriander, garlic and achiote, which also lends a great reddish color to the rice.
Tomato paste (optional)
Tomato paste is an optional ingredient here. It adds a little richness and a beautiful reddish hue.
Seafood
Some versions of sayadeya rice also include seafood in them as well.
You can add seafood to this version by replacing the water with fish or seafood stock.
Or, you can sear up some pieces of fish, shrimp, or other seafood and add those to the pot after browning your onions.
Making sayadeya rice
Making sayadeya rice is a simple endeavor.
The only active cooking you will be doing is browning the onions.
It’s important that you don’t rush this step- you want to get your onions nicely browned and a little bit burnt.
Cooking too quickly will leave you will pale onions and undeveloped flavor- and cooking to long and low will render your onions and final dish too sweet.
You will want to cook your onions over medium-high heat in a medium sized pot, stirring often.
At first the onions will sweat and release lots of moisture, then will begin to brown.
Make sure to watch closely and stir often. to ensure you end up with the desired results.
They should look like so before you add your spices and rice:
Once the onions are browned and a little crispy and burnt, you will add your spices and rice and toast all together.
If you are using tomato paste, that will go in before the rice as well. The rice in my photos does not have tomato paste.
Once you’ve toasted the rice, you will add water to just cover the mixture.
Give it a quick stir, bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
Lift the lid to reveal your beautifully brown and moist sayadeya rice!
Fluff gently with a fork, return the lid to cover partially, and allow the rice to rest for ten minutes.
Serving sayadeya rice
Your sayadeya rice is now ready to serve with any of your favorite seafood dishes!
Try this sayadeya rice with your favorite fish or seafood dish, and my other favorite accompaniments for seafood, Egyptian salad/ salata baladi and green chili sauce- shatta!
Bel hana w’el shifa! Enjoy!
Sayadeya rice – Egyptian seafood rice
Ingredients
- 3 TBS neutral oil vegetable, avocado, etc
- 2 medium yellow onions diced
- 2 cups short or medium grain rice, washed eg. Egyptian, calrose, sushi
- 1 TBS tomato paste optional
- 1 tsp cumin ground
- 2 tsp diamond kosher salt or 1 tsp table salt
- 2-3 cups water or seafood stock
Instructions
- Heat oil in a medium size pot over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Add onions. Cook, stirring occasionally. The onions will take some time to 'sweat', or lose their moisture- about 8 minutes. Then begin stirring and watching more carefully. Cook until the onions are mostly brown, and have some burnt bits on the edges- about 15 minutes more. If some pieces are burning while others are still white, turn the heat down to medium to allow them all more time to turn brown.
- Add cumin, salt, and tomato paste, if using. Sauté about 3 minutes.
- Add washed rice and stir to combine. Sauté another five minutes to toast the rice. Stir often to ensure all the rice is coating in the mixture.
- Add enough water or seafood stock to just cover the mixture, approximately 2.5 cups. It may seem like less water than needed, but the onions will also release moisture into the rice as it cooks. .
- Bring to a boil, then cover and turn down to simmer on low heat. Cook for 20 minutes.
- Once done, remove the lid, gently fluff rice with a fork, then place the lid ajar on the bottom and allow the rice to rest for ten minutes before serving.
