Andhra Chicken Pulao

This recipe comes from the kitchen of Master Chef of Indian cuisine Sanjeev Kapoor. Typing this recipe here brought up many beautiful memories of watching cooking shows with my sister and jotting down recipes hurriedly, each of us had a specific role in this enterprise, one of us would take down notes while the other watched the screen without batting an eye-lid and listened to instructions with all the concentration that could be mustered, in case they had to be repeated for the benefit of the note taker. :-) Those were some good times! My sister has note books filled with recipes written from over fifteen years ago, recipes written from watching T.V. shows, magazines and newspapers, and from friends and aunts and from my mum. Of course all the jotted notes didn't make it to the fair copy of the recipe book, only the ones that passed a thorough check based on her internal evaluation made the cut. And every time I visit her I go through the myriad notes to see if I have missed something or if there is some recipe I'd like to try that I didn't find interesting earlier. It's an extremely therapeutic exercise, even if I just wade through the pages without making my own notes.

The recipe I share today, is one such gem from a cookery show that I watched maybe eight years ago on Food Food, it was presented by Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor. I don't think it needs any further prodding to rouse your interest. If the Master Chef says its good, then it is good. It is a one pot meal, that can be served with a side of a vegetable raita or cuchumber (cucumber, onion, toamto salad). It looks appetizingly red, is wet enough so you don't need an addition curry or gravy and tastes coconuty yummy! I did make a few minor changes to suit my palette and enhance a few flavours. It's one of the best pulao recipes I have tried and has been loved by all who've eaten it. So here goes!

Ingredients:

1. Chicken - 750 gms
2. Basmati rice - 2 cups 
3. Coconut milk - 2 cups coconut milk*
4. Water - 2 cups
5. Chicken stock cube - 2 nos 
6. 3 chicken maggie cubes 
7. Cinnamon - 3 inch stick
8. Cloves - 8 nos
9. Cardamom - 6 nos
10. Star anise - 2 nos
11. Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
12. Curry leaves - a few
13. Onion - 3 medium, sliced
14. Tomatoes - 3 medium, sliced
15. Green chillies - 3 nos, chopped
16. Juice of half a lemon
17. Oil - 3 tbsp
18. Salt as needed

Make a paste of the below ingredients in a blender:

1. Kashmiri red chillies - 6 nos
2. Garlic cloves - 20 nos
3. Ginger - 1 inch piece
4. Turmeric - 1/2 tsp

Method:

1. Heat a pan, add oil and then add all the whole dry spices, followed by sliced onions. Add some salt for the onions to fry faster. 
2. Once the onions have browned, add the chicken pieces, turn up the heat and stir fry the chicken for two to three minutes. 
3. Now add the the ground paste, and mix well and let it simmer for two mins after which you add the  tomatoes and chillies. 
4. Add the soaked rice, coconut milk, chicken stock cube and water. Let it come to a boil, add the lemon juice at this point and mix all the contents of the pan, lower the flame and cover the pot and cook for ten minutes.
5. Switch off the flame after ten minutes, and let the pulao rest with the cover on for another ten miutes. Do not open the lid till you are ready to serve as the steam trapped in the pot, continues to cook the chicken and rice.

Notes:

1. The ratio of water used to cook Basmati rice is 2:1. So for one cup of uncooked rice you will need two cups of water. In the recipe above you can tinker with the quantity of the coconut milk. If you'd like you can use one cup of coconut milk instead of two to make it less rich, however increase the water from two cups to three cups. 
2. In case you'd like to use liquid chicken stock, use two cups of stock and eliminate the two cups of water and the stock cube.
3. Use fewer red and green chillies if you can't tolerate too much spice.