Advice please re pilaf

On Saturday night we got out one of our under-used cook books and tried a recipe for Persian Chicken Pilaf. The flavour needs some adjusting, and we plan to add more spices and fewer apricots next time round. It will also need either more rice, or less liquid, or both. Views and suggestions about getting a drier texture would be appreciated. Recipe follows:

PERSIAN CHICKEN PILAF
2 - 3 tbsp vegetable oil
700 g boneless skinless chicken pieces, cut into 2.5 cm pieces
2 medium onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
200g long grain white rice
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp saffron strands (We didn't have any so we used turmeric instead)
salt, freshly ground black pepper
100 ml pomegranate juice (again, none on hand so we squeezed an orange)
900 ml chicken stock
125 g dried apricots, halved
2 tbsp raisins
2 tbsp frehly chopped mint or parsley
pomegranate seeds to garnish (optional)
(Source: Atkinson et al, Practical Cooking Chicken, Hinkler Books, 2004.)

The resulting dish was ok flavour-wise, although unexciting. A little too sweet, lacking a spicy zing. But the worst thing was the texture: it can only be described as glop. The verdict was, it has potential but needs work. Any thoughts?

What kind of rice are you using?

It sounds like you have too much liquid here. Between the stock and the pomegranate juice you have a full liter of liquid, plus whatever juices are released by the chicken as it cooks. I'm used to measuring uncooked rice by volume rather than by weight, so I don't know how much rice 200 grams is. I have to go back to my Indian cookbooks to see how much liquid they use in the pilaf recipes, but I would think at most a 2-to-1 ratio of liquid to rice. So a liter of liquid would be appropriate for half a liter (or maybe more) of rice. That's a lot of rice!

Also, what was the cooking time? And was the chicken cooked before the rice, or was it put in raw and cooked along with the rice?

-Paul W.

This recipe seems like it should be some sort of qabuli pulao (sp? sp? sp?). I have not made this one but, by eye, it looks like it should work:
http://www.indiacurry.com/chicken/chick ... ipulao.htm


Jeff

[Jenise]

What kind of rice are you using?

It sounds like you have too much liquid here. Between the stock and the pomegranate juice you have a full liter of liquid, plus whatever juices are released by the chicken as it cooks. I'm used to measuring uncooked rice by volume rather than by weight, so I don't know how much rice 200 grams is. I have to go back to my Indian cookbooks to see how much liquid they use in the pilaf recipes, but I would think at most a 2-to-1 ratio of liquid to rice. So a liter of liquid would be appropriate for half a liter (or maybe more) of rice. That's a lot of rice!

Also, what was the cooking time? And was the chicken cooked before the rice, or was it put in raw and cooked along with the rice?

-Paul W.

Paul and Matilda, 200g rice is slightly less than one cup. So yes, way too much liquid by a mile. Also, way too much onion--vegetables not only release more liquid into dishes, they thicken the liquids to a consistency that rice can't quite absorb--it turns to, as Matilda put it, glop! Basically, the recipe's all out of proportion. I'd scrap it and start over.

I'd suggest one cup of rice (sorry, don't know the metric volume), only one onion, and cut back the chicken stock to two cups.

-Paul W.

I checked out my Indian pullao (pilaf) recipes and also my cup measure.

One cup is about 250ml.

The pullao recipes all call for 1-3/4 cups (450ml) liquid to 1 cup (250ml) basmati rice. When using basmati rice, especially aged basmati rice, you should wash it in a few changes of water, then soak it in the 450ml liquid for about 1/2 hour. In this case, 350ml chicken stock (100ml more liquid gets added in the form of pomegranate juice). It seemed to me that the soaking would actually make the rice mushier when cooked, but the opposite is true--it promotes keeping the grains separate.

Once you put everything together for the final slow 15 minute or so simmer, it's important not to stir the rice.

You didn't describe the cooking procedure, but I would cook the onions in the oil until transparent, then add the chicken and cook until the outside goes white, then add the rice in its liquid and all the other ingredients, stir to mix everything together, bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes or so, until the liquid is absorbed. Then remove from the heat and let it rest 5 minutes before serving. Fluff up the rice with a fork before serving.

-Paul W.

In addition to the great recommendations from Paul and Janice, I would adjust the spices to make more of a curry. You can reduce the turmeric and cumin to 1/2 tsp, and add a 1/2 tsp each of ground coriander, caraway seed, ginger, and cloves. That will give you a tablespoon of spices, which is fine for a cup raw rice.