Some people also add cloves for aroma but I dont like very strong smell of cloves.
Many apologies if you have already cooked with the previous recipe because I completely forgot to mention above three very important ingredients.
So pasting the recipe for you here after editing:
Fry onion in oil until light brown/golden. Add garlic paste, cook few seconds. Then add chick peas, cook few seconds. Add green chillies, cook few seconds. Add zeera, cook few seconds. Add cinnamon sticks, black cardamom, black pepper, cook for a few seconds, Add coriander power, cook few seconds. Add little bit of water if/when needed enough so that chickpeas are cooked and little bit of masala is seen sticking to the chickpeas in the pot. Then add water, salt. Increase the flame for it to boil. Add rice in boiling water. Cook until little bit of water is left in the pot. Reduce the flame. Cover with lid for 7-10 minutes.
Also, you’ll need to add some salt to the water in which you’ll boil the chickpeas. And chickpeas take two hours exactly to boil. For faster results, you can use cooker.
I made mattar pulao using your recipe but I knew garam masala was missing..I added that and followed the rest of the recipe. Turned out good. Adding sabit garam masala is common sense… Lol
@Spiral, Im so glad you did not forget the saabit garam masala because that thought was on my mind… “What if someone else tried that recipe I wrote… They must be cursing me or think Im stupid for putting no garam masala in a palao dish”. So that’s a relief knowing. I hope no ‘new cook’ has tried that recipe because only seasoned cook would know that about palaos.
Im thinking of cooking chickpeas palao tomorrow. Will post pictures if it turned out nice.
Everyone says i’m a good cook, i think cos the things i’ve tried that are ‘new’ always end up good. I don’t have loads of experience in different desi dishes (I’ve never cooked South Indian food or desi fish dishes etc) and i need to work on presentation so yeah… one thing i do get asked to make a lot is chicken pilao, i make it kinda different and i think it adds a ton of flavor. Gives it like a “daig”-ey flavor.
Chicken pilao
1 lb chicken cut up
2 onions, no need to peel just cut in half
half a head of garlic, no need to peel
Small peice of ginger
1 Tbsp whole dhaniya seeds
1Tbsp zeera
1 tsp of whole black peppercorns
5-7 cloves
1 bay leaf
1 black elaichi
1 tsp saunf
Salt
Add it all to a pot with 2-3 glasses of water (based on how much rice u will use). U don’t need to use a cloth for the whole masalas cos u will strain the stock anyway. Let it come to a boil and cook the chicken but don’t overcook it. Strain the stock and pick out the chicken peices and keep the stock aside.
In the same pot, add oil and fry 1 medium onion thinly sliced… once it gets nice and dark brown add the chicken pieces into the pot. Fry everything for about 2 mins and then add 1 Tbsp of whipped yogurt, one peeled and chopped tomato and 1/4 tsp of powdered saunf. Fry everything together for like 2-3 mins. Add the stock to the pot and let everything come to a boil. Drop in one whole green serrano pepper or other green mirch. Add the rice to the boiling water, stir once and let the water boil off.. then do dum for like however long until the rice is cooked through. At the end liberally sprinkle garam masala powder on the top of the rice and mix it before serving.
No worries. I guess I have learned enough to not miss some basic ingredients even if not mentioned in recipes and sometimes just for experiment sake, I tinker with the recipes anyway
About two years ago, I made chicken palao with that recipe except I did tie all the spices in a small piece of cloth and did not use powdered saunf, tomatoes and yogurt. Also I did peel the onions before cutting. Everyone liked it but I have to work on the water quantity/flame strength because sometimes my rice turn out softer than good for palao and sometimes I have to put more water and give them more time to cook. Little bit of more time spoils the rice texture.
Anyway, thanks for this recipe. Im going to try this one next time.
Generally, when I make pilao I measure the rice by using a tall glass. 1 glass of rice, usually needs 2.5 glasses of water (on high flame)… on medium flame, 2 glasses is more than enough. Whatever measurement u use the ratio of rice to water is 1:2, usually. I leave the pot uncovered on high flame and I don’t touch the rice… as soon as I see the stock level has decreased enough where I can see the top layer of rice clearly and there’s little holes all over the top from the bubbling, I take the lid and cover it with a dishcloth and press it tightly on the pot so it seals. Then I lower the heat to very low and let it sit like that for 15-20 mins. I get perfect rice every time. It took me a couple of tries to get the time right when I started cooking, but I think once u have the water/rice ratio set, the rest falls into place.
Maybe the ratio changes based on how much time the rice were soaked in water before putting in boiling water. The ratio I always used is 1.5 glass of water for 1 glass of rice. Sometimes it turns out perfect and sometimes not. Sometimes I soak rice for a longer time than the other. That might be why it always different.
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