Chicken pilaf

Ingredients

• 4 boneless chicken thighs (about 1 kg)
• 900 g onions (it shrinks considerably when cooked)
• 500 g carrots
• 500 g white long grained rice (I recommend basmati rice, but other types can work too)
• 1 whole garlic, not peeled
• 2 tbsp cumin seeds
• 2 tbsp dried barberries
• (optional) any other premade plov/pilaf seasoning of your choice
• salt, to taste
• sunflower oil, butter and water

A Dutch oven is highly recommended. I will be using it throughout the whole process.

Directions

Chop onions into small bits, salt to taste and fry on high heat in the Dutch oven until they caramelize. Then remove from heat and set aside.

Grab a cheese grater and grate your carrots on a side with large holes. Sprinkle some salt and fry until they become soft. Remove from heat and mix in with your onions.

Remove skin and excess fat from chicken thighs and cut them into small pieces, around 1.5 cm to 2 cm in size. Sprinkle some salt and fry them until they start getting slightly golden on their sides. Don't fry for too long or they will dry out.

Add everything back to the Dutch oven and mix together, then add your spices and add boiling hot water just enough so that everything is covered. Make sure to try out your broth and add more salt if needed. The amount of salt might be a bit tricky to get right the first time, but remember that the rice will soak up a lot of it, so you will want a broth that tastes just a little bit more salty that you'd usually like. Of course, it's better to have undersalted your dish than oversalted. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 15 minutes.

Rinse your rice in cold water to remove excess starch until the water runs clear. Add it on top of your broth and spread evenly. Add more boiling hot water until the rice is fully submerged, maybe half a centimeter more. This is also the part where you can insert the whole garlic in the center and cover it all and simmer on low to medium for about 20 minutes, without constantly peeking.

Note on garlic, it's mostly added to make the dish more aromatic and then it's removed afterward. You don't have to toss it away though; cooked through like that it's pretty tasty. Personally I just cut off the dirty brown root part and maybe a dirty outer layer of peel, but the rest of it I just rinse with water until I don't see any dirt left. Don't peel it or break it into chunks.

After 20 minutes, the pilaf should be ready. Sometimes the rice grains aren't cooked evenly and when that happens I stir everything and let it cook a bit more on low heat, sometimes adding just a drizzle of hot water so it doesn't burn. Afterward, remove the garlic (but don't throw it away! It's delicious!) and serve.

> Back to top 🔗