Servings : Serves 4-5
Quite possibly one of my absolute favourite pilau recipe! I have been experimenting and adjusting this recipe and finally I have found a balance that works beautifully for me, my family truly LOVES this meal and I am sure you will too!
This meal can also be made with mutton/lamb instead of chicken.
Ingredients for Spice Mix
- 1 tsp black pepper powder
- 1/4 tsp cardamom powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon powder
- 1/4 tsp garam masala powder
- 1 level tbsp freshly roasted cumin seeds, powdered
- 1 level tbsp freshly roasted coriander seeds, powdered
Main Ingredients
- 1 chicken, skin removed and cut into 8-10 pieces (1-1.5 kg)
- 3 cups rice
- 1/2 cup oil
- 5 onions, finely sliced
- 1 tbsp garlic paste
- 1 tbsp ginger paste
- 1 green chilli, halved
- 1 tbsp white vinegar
- salt to taste
- water as needed
Ingredients for Garnish
- 2 large carrots, grated or finely cut into thin strips
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1 tbsp butter
Instructions
Combine all the Spice Mix ingredients together and set aside.
Heat the oil in a pan, fry the onions until golden. Remove and drain the fried onions, reserve half of them and crush the other half. In the same pan, with the oil still hot, add the chicken, ginger and garlic pastes and half tsp. salt. Fry the chicken on high heat on both sides until the meat changes color, about 5 minutes. Add the crushed onions and 1 tbsp from the powdered spices. Give everything a stir and then add 1 cup of water. Lower the heat and let the chicken simmer gently, covered on low heat until the chicken is tender. This should take about 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the cuts of chicken. Take care to keep the heat on very low and not to over-cook the chicken as it will cook a little bit more during the steaming of the pilau.
In the meantime, prepare the rice. Soak the rice for at least 30 minutes. In a big pan of water, add some salt and the vinegar plus the green chilli. Once the water comes to a boil, drain the pre-soaked rice and cook it in the boiling water until it is about three-quarters done. Drain away the excess water from the rice.
When the chicken is done, turn off the heat. Now take a big pan, pour in half the cooked rice. Then layer the chicken with its masala over the rice, sprinkle the reserved half of the fried onions and the remaining powdered spices. Layer the remaining rice on top of the chicken. Cover the pan with a tight lid. Place on low heat and steam for about 15 minutes or bake in a preheated 180 C oven for the same amount of time.
Whilst the pilau is steaming, prepare the tomato chutney and the carrot/raisins garnish.
Here is my preferred tomato chutney recipe: Tomato Chutney
For the garnish, heat the butter then lightly fry the raisins and grated carrots for about a minute.
When the pilau is ready, serve it in a dish and pour the carrot/raisins garnish over it. You can even serve with raita on the side and the yummy tomato chutney of course.
Enjoy! 🙂
Wow Masha’Allah what a drooooling sight!! Looks Gorgeous dear, beautiful and colorful!!!
I’ve been searching for Afghani recipes lately…this looks perfect! Can’t wait to try!
xcepting for the vinegar this is xactly the recipe of hyderabadi biryani
Not really actually, hyderabadi uses yoghurt and a lot of other spices which this one does not. The results are completely different in appearance and flavour.
Absolutely yummy…u knw wat i love about fkf is dat de ingredients are local n so easy to work with
salaam, when u say of steaming do u mean to pressure cook it? also when we start the layering in another pan, shoudn’t we add some oil to it?
W/Salaam, no it does not mean to pressure cook. It means to put the layered rice in a pot, cover it tight and put the whole thing on very low heat to steam for some time. No oil needed. Keep the heat on LOW!
I made afghani chicken pulao today n we had it for dinner… Superb !!! so light for taste buds yet Tasty !! Thank You Fauzia … I am new to cooking n have been trying ur recipes n all of them give Very Good results Love xoxoxo
Wow!jst got to knw abt dis site by a frnd. Am so glad coz i luv cookin n experimentin new recipes,now i can learn a lot 4rm u. Will giv it a try,tnx so mch fauzia
Assalamu alayki fauzia. Pls i’l lyk 2 knw if there’re cook books available dat i can get other than via dis site?
W/Salaam, thank you! At the moment we have not published a book yet, but hoping to do that soon inshaAllah. 🙂
I tried this and pulaoo came out absolutely WONDERFUL. Thanks a bunch!
JazakAllah khair, could you please add the recipe for cooking plain rice so it’s fluffy and separate and not mushy? Do you use the rice cooker or do it the standard way? In the recipes you only say ‘to cook the rice’ but I always have problems with making delicious fluffy rice. Thank you!
Actually I always have a description on how to cook/prepare the rice. I never use a rice cooker. Please read through the instructions once more and see if you have any questions. 🙂
JazakAllah khair will have a look at more recipes inshaAllah!
salam sister, how many people would this recipe serve?
W/Salaam, serves 4-6.
I made this yesterday for iftar, and everyone loved it. I used lamb instead of chicken and i ended up roughly mixing the rice and meat because I needed to add more salt. But really glad i tried this! JazakAllah for the recipe!
thanks for the recipe.I made this last night and my hubby could not stop going for more.
A salami aleikum fauzia hope u doing k.i have u deleted ur rid Britain recipies?plz put them back coz I wana try em.thanku.
Sori for spelling mistakes .I meant eid biriyani recipies
The Eid Biryani’s can and other rice meals can be found here: http://www.fauziaskitchenfun.com/category/rice-meals/
salams dear aww shukran alot for this lovly yummy recpy i try today n it was wow it turn super yummy we are enjd alot thnkx dear <3
thank you for the website ,it,s help me a lot
thank u for sister fauzia the afghani pulao i tried yesterday was so yummy
Salaam Fauzia, is it OK if I use the regular roasted cummin powder and coriander powder instead of fresh.
Jzk
W/Salaam, yes that is fine.
afta we layered it….slow cooked it…do we mix ALL the ingredients in the pot?…then serve?
Yes you can mix it all up before serving.
which rice shud we use is it the ghee rice or the brown rice
Plain rice.