Rice is an integral part of Asian and South Asian Cuisine. This modified grass has a special significance to all of us who have been weaned on a soft gruel of rice, Gradually as the palate developed along with the gut, salt, aromatic spices and other ingredients were added to make the simple rice dish into something wholesome and more nutritious than pure starch.
Thus rice with vegetarian or non vegetarian additions became the staple of all Asians. We Indians were introduced to the non-vegetarian rice by the Muslims who invaded our country.
A one pot meal was the most convenient way to eat food for an army that was mostly on the hoof either as invaders or on the run.
Copper Chimney was an upgrade on Khyber and Kwality, the two restaurants that made up the Indian dining scene in Mumbai of the 1960’s. Among its signature dishes was the creamy chicken pulao called “Chello Kebab”.
The long fragrant grains of basmaati mixed with a lightly spiced aromatic boneless chicken that melted in your mouth was rounded off with a thick creamy sauce of : well , pure cream.
It was no wonder then that almost anytime we visited this restaurant, one of us would order this dish.
During the Pandemic, the restaurant would deliver this dish as a Takeaway but sadly two of our attempts resulted in disaster with the delivery boys going to the wrong place. Naturally I decided to make this myself….. especially since the restaurant charged an enormous amount only to face disappointment.
After several attempts, I finally chanced upon the perfect recipe which can easily be made at home with the simplest of equipment and ingredients.
So what I did was defrost 500 g of boneless chicken overnight.
In the morning, I marinated it in a paste of 2 tspns garlic ginger paste, I tbspn of garam masala, 1 tspn of salt and 1/2 cup of whipped curd.
An hour or so later, I browned One large onion thinly sliced in some oil which was tempered with 1 bay leaf, 1 ” piece of cinamon, 4 cloves.
In the meawhile I had kept aside 200 g of rice, nicely rinsed for around 10 minutes.
Once the onion wasbrowned, I added the rice and let it fry for 2-3 mins. I then added some strands of saffron and the chicken.
I quickly added some hot water, gave the pot a good stir, covered it with a well fitting lid and lowered the heat.
I allowed the rice to cook on simmer for at least 20 minutes or till the water dried up.
Before serving, I added 200 ml of cream and mixed the entire aromatic pulao thoroughly so that all the grains and meat were evenly blanketed with cream.
The meat was tender and luscious retaining its moisture and flavour…….
