A little voice inside of me sniggered ‘Oh great. Those are like SO LONG. OMG. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Fatima.’ I had to pep-talk myself into not breaking it off. I exaggerate. Kind of. I probably would have regretted breaking up over of all this.
How do you make Chicken Pilau?
This method uses the traditional yakhni method of making Pilau. Yakhni literally means broth or soup in Urdu. In this method, we cook up a beautiful broth using the chicken, all the whole spices, garlic and onions. We will reserve this broth for later. We go on to frying some more onions (not the ones from the broth) in glorious ghee until they’re golden, before adding in the chicken from the broth until the chicken becomes golden in the ghee too. Then we’ll add the broth, and then the basmati rice and cook everything together until the rice is cooked through - dreamily soft, aromatic and oozing with flavour. I’ll walk you through the basic method of how to cook yakhni Pilau - as always, the full recipe with all the ingredients will be at the bottom of the post. Once you get to the stage pictures in Image 8 above, you want to bring the heat down to as low as you can get it, cover the rice with a tight-fitting lid lined with either a clean dish cloth or foil, and allow the rice to steam like this for 15-20 minutes. Once the onions are gold, add in the chicken we reserved from our broth earlier. You want to fry this alongside the onions and ghee, until it is also takes on a golden hue. Some people like placing a flat pan (tawa) under the pot to prevent the bottom layer of rice from burning, but I don’t think this is necessary if your heat is super low (controversial opinion alert). If you have a recurring issue with rice burning, or a stove with uneven heat, definitely do place a flat pan under your pot as it steams. Once the rice has steamed, open it up, bask in the beautiful aroma of your creation, and then fluff the rice grains up gently using a slotted spoon, fork, or a very small side plate. Please do not stir the rice, handle it with a hard hand or use a clunky spoon to deal with it - it breaks the rice grains!
How to double or triple this recipe
If you need to double the recipe, I advise doubling all the quantities listed in the recipe card below. For the broth liquid, you will need to use 7 cups, instead of the stated 4 cups in the recipe, as per the ratio I’ve shared above. And also, I use standard American measuring cups, which are 250mls, for my recipes. This is very important, as using the wrong measurements can ruin the recipe. Please no ‘chota cup’, ‘bara cup’ measurements! To triple, again, I advise you to triple all the quantities listed in the recipe. For the broth, I would advise using 10 cups. With larger quantities of rice, you may need to test the salt before adding it all in so I’d advise holding off on using the full quantity from x2 or x3ing the recipe. Around step 6 in the recipe (image 7 from above), once you’ve added the right amount of broth into the chicken and onion mixture, give everything a taste-test. It should taste too salty - not painfully so, but just enough to think ‘Yup, SALTY’. If it doesn’t feel salty, you can add a bit more salt, until you get to that ‘Yup, SALTY’ stage.
How to elevate your Pilau game
I’ve experimented with different spices in this recipe and I’ve finally found the one. This is now officially my go-to Chicken Pilau recipe that I will now make with my eyes closed. The game changer in this is the ghee. Legitimately, using ghee will transform your Chicken Pilau. Every grain of rice was moist and buttery… just what I like in my rice. If you don’t have ghee, you can use oil but I can’t vouch for the same delicious results the ghee-version will produce. The ghee gives it a rich, melt-in-your-mouth taste and the most enticing aroma. Butter is also another option, but I personally have never used it so I can’t guarantee how it will turn out. Oil is completely fine too - I use it often when I don’t have ghee to hand. In fact, when I was pregnant with my little girl, I developed an aversion to ghee so oil was my go-to during this time for Pilau.
Picking the best kind of chicken for your Pilau
Ideally, you want to pick bone-in chicken for optimal flavour. Ask your butcher for standard, curry-cut chicken. Additionally, if you have access to organic chicken, I would whole-heartedly recommend that. The flavour is absolutely incomparable to regular chicken! If you use organic chicken, you will need to increase the time you’re cooking the broth by about half an hour extra.
The best way to serve Chicken Pilau, you ask?
Chicken Pilau is best served with raita (yogurt lightly salted and spiced), salad and shami kebabs - you can find my recipe for shami kebabs here! The best kind of raita in my opinion is one that also contains cut up salad vegetables such as cucumbers, tomatoes or onions OR boiled, chopped potatoes (aloo ka raita). To make this, take about a cup of full-fat yogurt, thin it out with some milk and add a few pinches of salt and cumin powder. Add in your chopped vegetables of choice and thin out some more if needed. If you’d like to serve this alongside a curry, my number one recommendation would be Aloo Gosht or Matar Gosht - it’s a classic combination. Enjoy, with love x
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