Chicken Pulao

On this Sunday after Thursday's independence, I am posting this Independence Chicken Pulao, which is also known as chicken pilaf, to celebrate our independence.

The rice cooked in a wok

How the rice dish is presented - rice in the bottom of the bowl, with cooked vegetables in the middle layer and chicken pieces on the top

I use sella rice to make this dish. One needs to soak the rice the night before and I normally soak sella rice in water with a little salt for at least 24 hours before cooking the rice.

If you were to buy a rice cooker, you get a plastic cup which is a little more than a quarter of a pint [150 ml]. And I use 5 cups of sella rice.

I also soak the saffron the night before and I soak it in room temperature water in a little cup.

For this amount of rice, I use two small chickens - each chicken is under two and half pounds in weight [1.2 kg chicken].

Cook each chicken separately in just over 100 fluid ounces [3 L] of water with half an onion, one teaspoon of Himalayan salt, a handful of black peppercorns, and a few slices of ginger. When the water is boiling, I slowly put the chicken in the pot and at high heat I wait for the liquid in the pot to come to a boil.  When it starts boiling, I lower the temperature and set the timer for 10 minutes. You need to make sure the liquid is constantly boiling during these ten minutes. The pot too needs to be covered and I use a pot with a glass lid so I can see that the liquid is boiling and adjust the heat accordingly. At the end of the ten minutes. I switch off the heat and put the pot aside without lifting the lid and allow the chicken to continue cooking in the hot liquid for an hour. At the end of the hour, I remove the chicken, and allow the chicken to cool so I am able to handle the chicken. When the chicken is cooled enough for me to handle, I remove and dispose of the skin, the parson's nose and any bits of the chicken which I do not like. I then remove the cooked flesh and put the bones back into the stock and let that boil for another hour. At the end of the hour, I fish out the bones, black peppercorns, sliced ginger, onion and dispose of these ingredients. I then season the liquid with enough Himalayan salt to taste and also add two Kallo organic chicken stock cubes into the liquid.

The five cups of rice and two small chickens should be able to feed 8 people.

I also prepare some spices. Which spice you use is very personal. The minimum should be one cinnamon stick and handful of cardamon pods. However, I also use three star anise and three pieces of dried mace. If these whole spices do not look clean, do not be afraid to wash these whole spices in cold running water. 

Get 100 fluid ounce [3 L] of seasoned stock boiling, drain the soaked rice onto a colander and when the stock is boiling, slowly and carefully pour the drained rice into the boiling stock.  You need to cook the rice in hot liquid for 8 minutes and you start counting the eight minutes from when the stock starts bubbling and you also need to keep stirring the rice grains gently without breaking them. By the end of the 8 minutes, the rice grains should have elongated to twice its original length at a minimum. On the 7th minute, that is with only one minute to go, add the whole spices to the stock and rice. At 8 minutes, drain the rice onto a colander. 

Meanwhile, on a large non stick pot, add about 2 ounces [50 grams] of butter and when it is hot and melted, add a little shallot fragrant oil, and add slices of a peeled potato. I normally do this at the same time as cooking the soaked rice for eight minutes. When the rice is 90 percent cooked, the large non stick pot is ready with the fried sliced potato.

I gently add the 90 percent cooked rice on top of the potato, and then pour the soaked saffron and liquid on top of the rice. I cover the pan and cook in low heat for at least one hour.  And if your guests are late by a few minutes it does not matter as this could be cooked for perhaps one hour and 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, I fry some sliced shallots, cashew nuts and sultanas for garnish.

When it comes to serving the rice, I fill a large serving bowl with the rice, add cooked vegetables on top of the rice, the chicken pieces and the guests can add the cashew nuts, sultanas and shallots on top of their rice. 

You can also serve green salad and cherry tomatoes with the rice dish and perhaps some yogurt as well, if you wish. 

I hope you will try this chicken pulao dish to celebrate our independence.

For those people who do not know how much is 100 fluid ounce, it is about 3 litres and a quarter of a pint is about 150 ml.  Two and a half pounds is about 1.2 kg.