Chicken Kabuli Pulao (afghanistan)

Total Time: 2 hrs Preparation Time: 20 mins Cook Time: 1 hr 40 mins

Ingredients

• 2 lbs chicken, cut up
• 1 large onion, sliced
• sea salt, to taste
• 1 1/2 pints hot water
• 1/4 lb basmati rice
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• healthy pinch saffron, soaked in 1 tbs broth
• 1 large carrot, cut into match sticks
• 1/4 cup dark raisin
• 1/8 cup chopped pistachios (optional, toasted in a dry frying pan)
• 1/4 cup blanched slivered almond (optional, toasted in a dry frying pan)

Recipe

• 1 place chicken pieces, onions and hot water in a large pot.
• 2 cover and simmer for about 1 hour.
• 3 add salt to taste.
• 4 remove chicken, reserving stock & discard cooked onions.
• 5 preheat oven to 325°f.
• 6 heat 2 tbs of the butter over medium high heat and fry chicken pieces containing bones, salting as needed.
• 7 boil a large amount of water with sea salt and cook the rice in it for exactly 8 minutes. set aside in a pot until ready to assemble.
• 8 make stock sauce:
• 9 brown onions in butter and remove from heat.
• 10 add cardamom cumin, freshly ground black pepper & saffron liquid and mash with onion to form a paste.
• 11 add about 1/2 pt of the chicken stock; simmer for 5 minutes and taste for seasoning.
• 12 combine cooked rice, stock sauce as needed (i don't find it became a sauce so i added the onion paste with some broth as needed to finish cooking the rice) and chicken; place in a buttered casserole. cover.
• 13 fry carrot matchsticks in 1/2 tbs butter and add dark raisins to them at the very end.
• 14 sprinkle partially cooked carrot matchsticks and raisins on top of chicken and rice and cover tightly with aluminum foil or cover.
• 15 place in oven for 35 minutes.
• 16 chopped toasted pistachios or slivered almonds may be added over the dish just before serving if so wished.
• 17 there most probably will be left over stock that is very good even as a soup on it's own and probably served that way in an afghani household.
• 18 enjoy!