The aroma of cumin, coriander and cinnamon tickles my nose as I write this post. This pulao transports me to my chachi’s house. She makes the best pulao ever. She learn’t it from my dadi and I learn’t it from her. This is the pulao made in our family and this recipe has been requested by my sister. The bold flavors of rice laced with whole cumin, peppercorns and coriander seeds and leaves are delightful, even more so, however, are the memories this aroma evokes.

This recipe was hard for me, so if your pulao doesn’t turn out quite right, please let me know. I cook by andaza and while I tried to keep track of the teaspoons/tablespoons and cup measures, it may still need some tweaking.

Ingredients:

750 grams chicken – I prefer chicken thighs and breast with bone, cut into 5 – 8 inch peices

Two Potatoes – peeled and cubed into four pieces each

1/2 an onion – chopped finely

Two bunches fresh corriander

Three cloves peeled garlic

One inch of peeled ginger

Three small green chillies

Two tablespoons whole garam masala

One teaspoon ground cumin

Three cups long grain basmati rice

salt to taste

1/8 cup oil/ghee

Method:

Heat oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Saute the chopped onion till its translucent. Add the garam masala and fry till fragrant. Add the ground cumin, potato and fry for another minute. Now add the chicken and incorporate together. Place the lid on the pan and turn the heat to low, and stir intermittently so that the masala doesn’t burn.

In the food processor pulse the corriander, ginger and garlic together till it forms a smooth paste. You may need 1/4 of a cup of water to help with that. Pour this in the saucepan with the masala, meat and potato’s. Add 6 cups water and bring to a boil. Once it has come to a boil, add three cups of basmati rice and salt. Distribute the rice evenly by stirring once. Place the lid back on the saucepan and cook on a medium low heat for 30 minutes or until rice is cooked.

Serve with kachumber and or achar.