Chicken Pulav – a great Sunday one pot dish.

Chicken – 500 grams with bone
Basmati rice – 400 grams

To marinate the chicken
Turmeric – 1.4 teaspoon
Salt – 1 tea spoon
Lemon juice – 1 tea spoon

For the green masala and to be ground very coarse.
Green chillies – 5
Ginger – 1 inch piece without skin
Garlic – 5 cloves
Corriander leaves – ½ cup (no stems)

For the dish itself
Oil – three table spoons
Shahjeera – 1/2 tea spoon
Bay leaves – 2
Onions – 2 medium, sliced very finely
Tomatoes – 1 large
Salt – to taste
Coriander powder – 1 tea spoon
Garam masala powder – 1 1/4 tea spoon
Mint leaves -20
700 ml of chicken stock/ water

Browned and crisped onions for the garnish

Method
Clean and wash chicken and remove the skin. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes; this is very important. To the chicken add the marinated items as mentioned above; turmeric, salt and lemon juice, mix well and set aside for 30 minutes.

Grind together the ingredients mentioned above for the green masala, namely the green chillies, ginger, garlic and coriander leaves. Grind this coarsely. If you overgrind coriander you will end up making the dish bitter.

In a pot heat the oil and allow the shahjeera to crackle. Now add the bay leaves and sliced onions. Allow the onions to brown. Stir constantly for even browning. This may take about ten minutes on a low flame. Add a sliced tomato and a pinch of salt. Fry this for four minutes or till the tomatoes have been rendered down. Now add the marinated chicken and fry on a HIGH FLAME for four minutes. Drop the heat and add the green masala and mix well. Add the coriander powder and the garam masala powder and fry for 5 three minutes on a medium flame. You may need to add a bit of water. Do this whenever you add dry masalas to a dish as this will prevent the masala from burning. Now add the mint leaves. Drain the soaked rice and add only the rice to the pot. Stir the mixture well but do this lightly as you don’t want to break the rice grains. Add the chicken stock. If you don’t have stock add a chicken cube to hot water. Add this to the dish and now taste for salt. Remember that if you are using ready-made chicken stock or a cube it already has a high salt content. Bring this to a boil and drop the heat to a simmer and cook for ten minutes with a firm lid on. The steam should not escape. Now open the lid and give the rice and chicken a quick stir and cover the lid again. Cook on a very low flame for the next ten minutes. Turn off the gas and allow the rice to continue to cook in its own steam. Garnish with brown onions and serve.