Easy Chicken Pulao

Chicken pulao is a simple one pot chicken and rice dish made with mild Indian flavours. This recipe is made with basmati rice, boneless chicken thighs, tomatoes, fresh herbs and spices.

About This Recipe

• This Indian chicken rice is mildly spiced and not as strong and heavy as a chicken biryani and it’s quicker to prepare.
• This chicken pulao is an easy one pot dish and complete meal on its own.
• It reheats very well, making it an ideal leftovers dish for a quick and easy next day lunch.
• This recipe uses ground spices rather than whole spices so there is no unexpected unpleasantness of biting into hard and strong flavoured spices.

Ingredient Notes

Rice – Use basmati rice if you can because, it is the best for this type of cooking. However, if you can’t get basmati rice you can use another rice.

Chicken – I prefer to use boneless and skinless chicken thighs. However, you can use chicken breast or cut the meat away from the bones of chicken drumsticks.

Vegetable oil or ghee can be used.

Liquid – Chicken stock (bought, homemade or made with stock powder) or water can be used.

Onions – Use brown/yellow onions and not red onions because, red onions will make the dish sweet and you don’t want that.

Garlic and ginger – If you can use fresh garlic and ginger for the best flavour. However, you can use frozen garlic and ginger, or you can use a bottled ginger garlic paste.

Tomatoes – Fresh tomatoes are best for this recipe.

Coriander and chilli powder – These add flavour to the dish.

Coriander (cilantro) and curry leaves – Try and use fresh for the best flavours but if you can’t get fresh you can use frozen.

Recipe Steps

Initial Preparation

• Wash the basmati rice under running water, until it the water runs clear. Drain well and put aside.
• Remove as much of the fat from the chicken thigh fillets as you can. Cut into tiny cubes, lightly season with salt.
• Remove the seeds from the tomatoes and dice and chop the onions.
• Roughly chop the coriander (cilantro).

Step 1 – Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan, then on medium low heat fry the onion until lightly golden brown.

Step 2 & 3 – Then add the curry leaves, grated ginger, garlic, coriander powder, and chilli powder, fry on low heat for 1 -2 minutes. The mixture is quite dry and can burn easily so keep an eye on it. If you like you can add a splash of water to stop it sticking to the pan.

Step 4 & 5 – Add the chicken, turn up the heat, frying for 2-3 minutes, while stirring the chicken into the spices until well coated and the chicken has turned white in color.

Step 6 – Continue to cook on high heat. Add the diced tomato, peas and mix well, scraping the bottom of the pan to loosen anything that may be stuck to the bottom.

Step 7 – Add the rice, gently stir to mix everything.

Step 8 – Add the coriander leaves, chicken stock and gently stir.  Taste the liquid and adjust the seasoning if necessary with stock powder or salt.

Bring to the boil, lower the heat, cover with a tight-fitting lid, cook on low heat for 25 minutes.

Step 9 – Turn off the heat, remove the lid, use a fork to rake and fluff the rice, replace the lid and let the rice stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Recipe Tips

1. Always wash the rice well. Washing the grains removes most of the starch from the grains and this will stop the rice from becoming sticky and mushy.
2. If you can get fresh curry leaves use them but, if you cannot get fresh the next best thing would be to use frozen.
   
   If you are having a really hard time finding curry leaves the recipe can be made without them and will still taste nice.
3. Make sure to remove the seeds from the tomatoes. The seeds and their pulp are full of moisture and if you don’t remove them you will be adding extra liquid to the recipe which can make the rice gluggy.
4. You want to taste and season the liquid before putting the lid on the pot and cooking the rice. This is because, the rice will be absorbed and take on the favours of the liquid.
   
   I like to slightly over season the rice because, I find that the cooked rice can be lacking in flavour if you don’t.

Recipe Variations

1. Now, you might be wondering why this chicken pulao is not yellow like some other chicken pulao recipes. This is because, we aren’t using turmeric powder in the recipe.
   
   If you wanted a yellow colour to the rice, add ½ – 1 teaspoon of turmeric powder when you add the coriander and chili powder.
2. For a richer dish you could replace ½ – 1 cup of stock/water with coconut milk.

How to Serve Chicken Pulao

We like to serve this chicken pulao with either a fried egg with a runny yolk, or slices of hard boiled eggs, toasted slivered almonds and some peas.

You can even make a simple raita and serve it with that. A raita is a cold Indian side dish made with yogurt and a few fresh ingredients.

To make a simple raita; mix 1 cup natural (plain unflavoured) yogurt with ½ – 1 diced onion, ½ cup or more of seeded and diced cucumber, 1 -2 chopped chillies, 1 tablespoon fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves, then season to taste with salt.

Frequently Asked Questions

Other Rice Recipes

• Steamed glutinous rice with chicken
• Slow cooker chicken rice soup
• How to cook basmati rice
• Indian tomato rice

I do hope that you try this chicken pulao recipe! If you do, please come back and leave a comment below to tell me how you went.

Recipe