Chicken Pulao Recipes

CHICKEN PULAO RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pot. To this, add bay leaves, cloves, cardamom pods and cinnamon. Sauté until fragrant.
• Add cashews and sauté until light golden brown.
• Next, add onion slices, green chilies, curry leaves, salt and turmeric and fry on medium heat until onions turn golden brown.
• Add minced garlic and minced ginger. Fry until the raw smell goes off.
• Add chicken and mix well. Cover and cook on medium-low flame until chicken is almost cooked through.
• Then add cumin powder, coriander powder, red chili powder, garam masala powder, mint and cilantro. Mix well.
• Add water and mix well. Adjust the seasoning as needed. Once water is boiling, add soaked rice and gently stir to combine.
• Cook on high flame for 6 to 8 min. Then, cover and cook on low flame until all the water evaporates and the rice is cooked through, stirring gently.
• Serve hot with cucumber or onion raita.

CHICKEN YAKHNI PULAO

Steps:

• Wash the rice in several changes of cold running water until the water runs clear, then place in a bowl and soak for 30 minutes in more fresh cold water with 1⁄2 teaspoon salt.
• In a frying pan (skillet), heat the oil over a medium-high heat. Add the sliced onions to the pan and fry gently, stirring occasionally, until golden brown and caramelized. Using a slotted spoon, remove the onions from the oil, leaving as much of the oil in the pan as possible to cook the chicken, and place on a plate to drain. Spread the onions across the plate so they crisp as they cool.
• Keeping the heat on medium-high, add the chicken to the pan and sear it on all sides. Return half the caramelized onions to the pan.
• To make the spice bag, place the spices in a piece of cheesecloth or muslin and knot the corners securely together so the bag does not open during cooking process.
• Add the spice bag to the pan. Pour over enough cold water to cover the chicken and add 2 1⁄4 tsp salt. Bring the water to the boil, then lower the heat, cover with a lid and leave to cook for 20 minutes. After 10 minutes, check the chicken to make sure it is not falling apart.
• Once the chicken is cooked, using a slotted spoon, carefully remove the chicken from the pan and place on a plate, trying to keep the meat on the bone.
• For the yakhni, you will need approximately twice the volume of stock to rice (so 4 cups of stock to 2 cups of rice). If you have more than 4 cups, reduce the stock. If you have less than 4 cups, add some water.
• Return the 4 cups of stock to the pan. Drain the rice and add to the pan, together with the chicken and green chiles, if using. Place the pan over a medium-high heat. Leaving the spice bag in the pan, bring the stock to the boil. Once boiling, lower the heat, cover with a lid, and leave to simmer. Check the pan often to see if the stock has been absorbed, but that the rice still retains some bite.
• At this point, remove the rice pan from the direct heat and reduce the heat to low. Place the rice pan on a tawa (flat iron griddle pan), or the closest thing you have to a tawa-an iron plate or a flat pan-to diffuse the heat. Leave the rice pan on the tawa over a low heat for 10 minutes. Alternatively, place the rice pan in a preheated low oven for 10 minutes.
• Once the pan has been removed from the heat source, cover the top of the pan with a dish towel and leave it undisturbed for 10 minutes.
• Check the rice-there should be no liquid at the edges of the pan-and gently run a fork through to lift and separate the grains. To serve, garnish with the remaining caramelized onions and sprigs of mint.

CHICKEN KABULI PULAO (AFGHANISTAN)

Steps:

• Place chicken pieces, onions and hot water in a large pot.
• Cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
• Add salt to taste.
• Remove chicken, reserving stock & discard cooked onions.
• Preheat oven to 325°F.
• Heat 2 tbs of the butter over medium high heat and fry chicken pieces containing bones, salting as needed.
• Boil a large amount of water with sea salt and cook the rice in it for exactly 8 minutes. Set aside in a pot until ready to assemble.
• Make stock sauce:
• Brown onions in butter and remove from heat.
• Add cardamom cumin, freshly ground black pepper & saffron liquid and mash with onion to form a paste.
• Add about 1/2 pt of the chicken stock; simmer for 5 minutes and taste for seasoning.
• Combine cooked rice, stock sauce as needed (I don't find it became a sauce so I added the onion paste with some broth as needed to finish cooking the rice) and chicken; place in a buttered casserole. Cover.
• Fry carrot matchsticks in 1/2 tbs butter and add dark raisins to them at the very end.
• Sprinkle partially cooked carrot matchsticks and raisins on top of chicken and rice and cover tightly with aluminum foil or cover.
• Place in oven for 35 minutes.
• Chopped toasted pistachios or slivered almonds may be added over the dish just before serving if so wished.
• There most probably will be left over stock that is very good even as a soup on it's own and probably served that way in an Afghani household.
• Enjoy!