Sumee's Culinary Bites: Afghani Chicken Pulao

Here we have some nice restaurant’s closer to the downtown area. Since it’s pretty far, we would hardly go try any. One day after a zoo visit, we thought we will visit one of the Thai restaurant’s that some of our friends rave about. But we couldn’t figure out where it was (later found out it was just two blocks down), and being very hungry we entered this very traditionally decorated restaurant, which looked like a middle-eastern. It was Sameem, an Afghani restaurant. The food over there was amazing. Very flavorful and but not too heavy. We still thoroughly enjoy our rare visits there, though they have very limited menu.

So why am I talking about this restaurant? Well, today is blog hopping day and I have been assigned Shireen's Ruchik Randhap. When I saw the schedule itself I was nervous, coz of my dilemma. Out of so many beautiful dishes on her blog, I started listing the dishes I would love to try. It became quite big, and was sitting and wondering when my DH came to my rescue. I showed him the list and asked him what he would like to eat. After he narrowing down to biryani/ pulao, I chose her Qubuli Uzbaki - Afghan style Pulao. The outcome was just delicious. It was very light and almost authentic as what we ate at Afghan restaurant. I say almost, coz I did make variation to add more spices. J. So go on, try this one and you won’t regret your choice of meal for the day.

Serves: 5 | Prep Time: 30 min | Cooking Time: 40 min

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice – 1 ½ cups

Chicken - 1 KG. (little over 2 LBs)

Onion - One large - sliced lengthwise

Chili powder - 2 tsp.

Turmeric powder - 2 pinch

Ginger garlic paste - 2 tsp.

Garam masala - 1 tsp.

Peppercorns - 10

Saffron - 1 pinch

Milk - 1/4 cup

Baby carrots - 15 - Cut julienne (size of a matchstick)

Raisins - handful

Pistachio - handful

Almonds - handful

Salt to taste

Olive Oil - 4 tbsp

Water – About 3 cups

Method of Preparation:

Prepping -
~ Cut and clean the chicken. Wash thoroughly; set it aside to drain the excess water.
~ Soak saffron strands in milk and set aside.
~ Wash rice thoroughly once. Soak it for 10 min. Drain and set aside.
~ Cut Onions and Carrots and keep aside.

Getting to serious business -
~ In a heavy bottomed pan, heat 2 tbsp. of oil.
~ Add onion and fry them till translucent.
~ Add ginger, garlic and fry until the raw smell goes away.
~ Add Turmeric, Chili and Garam masala powders. Mix them thoroughly and add peppercorns.
~ Add chicken, salt to taste and fry on high for 5 minutes.
~ Reduce the heat to medium, add 1 cup of water, cover the pan and cook till chicken is done. It took me about 10 min.
~ Switch off the heat, take out the chicken and set aside. Reserve the stock.
~ In the same pan, heat remaining oil and fry raisins until plump. Take it out and set aside. Same way fry Pistachios and almonds for few minutes and set aside.
~ Add julienne carrots and fry for 2 minutes and spread them at the bottom of the pot. (Idea is to avoid burning the rice!)
~ Now start layering on top. Put half of the rice, pistachio & almonds, chicken, remaining rice and finally raisins.

Ain't this layer BEAUTIFUL!!!

~ Top with saffron milk, chicken stock. You will have to add another 2 cups of water. The level of the water should be just 1/2 inch above the rice layering.
~ Bring water to boil. Reduce the heat to simmer/ low (about 2 or 3 on electric stove), Cover with a foil and close the lid tightly on top, so the steam doesn't escape.
~ Leave it on the heat for about 15 min.
~ Switch off the heat and leave it for another 5 minutes.
~ Once open check if all the water has soaked in, if not, keep it for another 5 minutes. Mine was done properly by this time.
~ Enjoy this delightful dish with a cool raita on the side.