Chicken pulao is a rice based entree in which chicken is cooked together with rice and aromatic Indian spices or you can say chicken pulao is lighter, easy and quick alternative to chicken biryani. The major difference between chicken pulao and biryani is, in pulao chicken and rice are cooked together and in biryani chicken and rice are cooked separately and then layered together and cooked again. I like chicken pulao better as it less oily and the rice absorbs the flavor of chicken and all the spices better.
Chicken Pulao Recipe
Course: MainCuisine: IndianDifficulty: Medium8
servings15
minutes1
hour1
hourChicken pulao is a dish made from chicken and rice cooked together with onion, yogurt, tomatoes, chilies and some aromatic spices.
Ingredients
- Marination for Chicken :-
800 gms of bone in and skinless chicken, cut into medium size pieces
1 cup of yogurt
1/4 cup of chopped mint leaves
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of black pepper powder
1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
1.5 tsp of garam masala
- Ingredients for Chicken Pulao :-
1. 5 cups of basmati rice, washed and soaked for 30 min
8-10 cloves
8-10 black pepper corns
4 green cardamom
1 black cardamom
2 inch of cinnamon stick
1 star anise
1.5 Tbsp of garlic paste
1.5 Tbsp of ginger paste
4 medium onions, sliced finely
2 tomatoes, chopped
2-4 green chilies(according to taste)
2 Tbsp of chopped mint
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
2 Tbsp of oil/ghee
2 Tbsp of roasted cashews
1 Tbsp of raisins
Salt to taste
Directions
- In a bowl, mix well yogurt with mint, garam masala, black pepper powder, turmeric powder and salt. Marinate chicken into the yogurt mixture for at least 1 hour.
- In the mean time, heat oil in a pan and add cinnamon, black pepper, cloves, both the cardamom and star anise. Stir fry until the whole spices starts to release aroma, about 60 seconds .
- Now add the onions, green chillies and saute for 8-10 minutes over medium heat. Then add ginger and garlic until the onion mixture is golden brown .
- Now add tomatoes and let it cook for another 5-8 minutes.
- Then add the chicken along with its marination and mix well. Put on the lid and let the chicken cook over low heat for 35 minutes.
- When the chicken is 90 percent done, mix in the soaked rice along with salt, cashews, raisins and 2.5 cups of water. Put on the lid and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and rice is completely done.
- Switch off the heat and add mint and cilantro and put on the lid again. Let the mint and cilantro steeps for 5-8 minutes. Chicken pulao is done.
- Serve Chicken pulao with raita or tomato and cilantro chutney and salad.
Notes
- The major risk in cooking chicken pulao is water. Make sure that the chicken mixture should not be watery before adding the rice. If there is water left then cook chicken further until there is only little water left(about 1/2 cup).
- It is better to strain the yogurt so the marination should not be very watery.
