Every visit to Pakistan begins this way. Chicken Pulao. It’s the only dish I request my mom to make every time I board an Emirates flight back home. I seldom give mom due credit for her cooking, but for chicken Pulao, it would be atrocious to not award her some laurels. In my attempts to learn to make mom’s Pulao, I would carefully follow her steps but just never had the patience to replicate the exhaustive and involved cooking process. The rice is cooked low and slow in a seasoned broth. Mom makes Pulao with fresh chicken broth. And that my friends takes a bit more patience.
This recipe has no patience so I present to you a version that is almost as delicious as my mom’s if you’re pressed for time. Almost because we’re cheating our way to victory a bit, okay?
Let’s get started!
Chicken Matar Pulao
Ingredients
- 1/4-1/2 cup oil
- 3 black cardamom
- 5 cloves whole
- 2 inch cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 5 black peppercorns whole
- 2 red onion sliced
- 2 green chilis slit lengthwise
- 2 lbs chicken thighs boneless, skinless and cut into medium chunks
- 1 tbsp ginger and garlic paste
- 2 tsp coriander powder
- 3 cups chicken stock You may need 3/4 cup more stock
- 2 cups Basmati rice pre-soaked
- Salt to taste
- 1 cup green peas
Instructions
- In a pot over medium heat, add oil and whole spices and let sizzle for 30 seconds.
- Next, add onions and fry for 25-30 minutes until brown on low to medium heat.
- After 30 mins, add green chilis, slit lengthwise and stir for 30 seconds,
- Add chicken along with ginger garlic paste and coriander powder and stir well until chicken pieces are coated in spices and onion, and is no longer pink.
- Next, add 1 cup of the chicken stock. Let it come to a boil, then cover the pot for 10 minutes to allow chicken to cook halfway through.
- After 10 mins, add rice along with the remaining stock (2 cups), green peas and plenty of salt. (More salt than normal because the rice will absorb the liquid.)
- After liquid comes to a boil, cover the pot and allow to simmer for 15-20 mins or until rice has absorbed most of the liquid.
- Next, drape the pot with a kitchen cloth and cover with the lid for 10-15 minutes on very low heat. This will seal the aroma and flavor and also finish cooking the rice.
- Serve hot with raita or chutney and some pickled onions.
Notes
- I find that for stock, the best ratio is double the amount of rice. So use 4 cups instead of 3 cups as listed above.
- This recipe calls for store-bought stock, but I have now been making it fresh and using the same chicken in the pulao. For fresh stock, add your chicken to 8 cups of boiling water along with a couple cloves, 1 black cardamom, an inch cinnamon, a bulb of garlic, 1/2 an onion. Let simmer for 20 minutes, remove the chicken and continue cooking the stock for another 10 minutes. The stock should have reduced to about 4-5 cups.
AMAZING!! My husband and I were both in shock at how simple and absolutely delicious this recipe was. We woke up next morning wanting it for breakfast! Haha. Can not wait to make it again!!
it really is so simple especially when you’re in a time crunch and can’t make your own stock. I will do an updated version and show how I make the stock at home too. Thank you for the review on this Pulao:)
As an absolute rookie i always get stuck on the “salt to taste” part. Can never understand what to do here. Please help!!
Also, how can we manage the stock at home?
That’s totally understandable. The only reason I leave salt to taste is because people’s salt preference varies widely. For the rice, the salt needs to have the taste of sea water if that makes sense. i would say starting with 1 1/2 tsp salt is good. I’ll try updating the salt quantity next time I make this.
I made pilau fro the first time in my life. Amazing! I’m a busy working woman and always look for quick recipes. This is the best recipe. Do you have more quick recipes?
Thankyou????
Hi Fadiah! I’m so happy you tried and love it. A pro tip, if you want to make fresh yakhni, you can use the same recipe but add half of the whole spices to 5 cups of water and boil the chicken for 15-20 minutes. Then add the boiled chicken into the browned onion and proceed as normal (cutting down the extra time I added to cook the chicken because we pre-boiled it.) You will love this 10x more.
If you like a quick stir-fry, try the 10-min pad thai or beef chili.
I made the pilau for the first time. It turned out amazing. Thankyou for this recipe. I’m a working woman and needs a quick food recipe. I love the pilau I made. ????
So happy to hear that Fadiah. You can take this recipe and modify to make your own fresh stock as well. I plan to share this soon:)
Hello! In line 3 of the recipe, it’s supposed to be 30 seconds rather than 30 mins right?
Love your videos btw!
Hi Farheen, 30 mins is right. The brown color of the pulao comes from the onion so it’s critical to let the onions get nice and brown in color. Hope this helps!:)
How is your rice cooked so quickly in 15-20 mins? I have to cook at at-least 30-40 mins and that too at high heat?
Thanks!
Hey Raja, 40 mins seems a bit too much for Basmati rice. The rice I use cooks in about 20 mins but I would recommend that you follow liquid to rice ratio that you have tried and tested. Hope this helps!