Indian Yellow Rice w/Chicken and Potatoes
Aromatic Yellow Rice with Chicken and Potatoes flavored with Indian Spices, the perfect tasty Weeknight Dinner the entire Family will love! All Indian families I know have a simplified version of the Chicken Biriyani dish for their weeknight dinners. Every region and every family have their own unique recipe. I have tasted many varieties, and I thought they were all very tasty. I have come up with my own tasty version using Turmeric, both to make it yellow and I like turmeric flavor a lot with rice. In addition to turmeric I use cumin, cloves, cardamom, ginger, garlic, cinnamon and a couple of Indian masalas. Ever since my daughter was too little to say Yellow (she called it lellow rice), this has been her favorite dish. She always wants to bring leftovers to school for lunch the next day. This recipe is mild, but if you like spicy food you can add one chopped green chili to the recipe at the same time you add ginger and garlic, or 1/2 tsp. chili powder or cayenne pepper at the time of adding the turmeric.
Garam Masala and Kitchen King Masalas are both very aromatic spice blends used to temper the Indian food with after it is done cooking. I highly recommend purchasing those if you have an Indian market or other import store near you as they are used in almost every single Indian dish. For those who does not have such a store near you, I have added a link to a couple of Masala Recipes so you can make your own.
Here is how you make Indian Yellow Rice:
1. Chop the onion finely.
2. Remove skin and fat from the chicken. Cut the potatoes and chicken into bite size pieces.
2. Crush the garlic and ginger into a paste using a mortar. If you don't have a mortar you can use a garlic press for the garlic and just chop the ginger very finely, or you can use a blender.
3. Get the rest of the spices ready - keep cumin seeds in a spoon as you are using it alone and first.
5. Wash the rice using a mesh colander - this helps get rid of some of the starch
6. Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent and soft.
7. Add the cumin seeds and cook for a minute or two to release the flavors.
8. Add the ginger garlic paste and cook for a minute until aromatic.
9. Add the cloves, cardamom, cinnamon stick, mace (or nutmeg), black pepper and turmeric and stir. From now on you need to really stir and watch so that it does not stick to the bottom, reduce the heat a little and scrape it loose if it does.
10. Add the chicken pieces and stir well to combine with the spices. Increase the heat to medium high and fry until all the sides have changed color. Make sure to really scrape the bottom of the pan to scrape loose anything that sticks. Once the chicken has changed color, reduce the heat back down to medium.
11. Add the potatoes and stir until coated with spices.
12. Add the rice and water and give it one gentle stir.
13. Add the salt, garam masala and kitchen king masala and stir it gently into the liquid (don't stir the rice).
14. Raise the temperature to high, cover and bring to a boil. Boil heavily for about three minutes then reduce the temperature to low. Let simmer until the rice is fully cooked, 30-45 minutes. Check one of the chicken pieces to see if it is fully cooked before serving.
Serve with a dollop of sour cream and North Indian Mango Pickles (Achar) if you are into those. If you like your food a little spicy you can also add a chopped chilly pepper at the same time you add the ginger garlic paste.
Here is what you need:
1 lb. chicken (any part of the chicken you like), cut into bite size pieces (1/2-1 inch)
1 non sweet yellow, red or white onion, finely chopped
2 large baking potatoes, cut into bite size pieces
3-4 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1 inch piece of ginger, crushed or finely chopped
3 tbsp. oil or ghee (avocado oil or canola oil)
1 tsp. cumin seeds
3 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp. turmeric
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1 piece of mace or 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
1 1/2 cup rice
3 cups water
1/2 tbsp. salt
1 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. kitchen king masala (optional)
Instructions:
Heat the oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add the onion and fry until translucent. Add the cumin and fry for one minute. Add the ginger and garlic paste and fry for one minute. Add the cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, mace, black pepper and stir to combine. Add the chicken pieces and stir well to coat with spices. Increase the heat to medium high while constantly stirring until all the sides of the chicken has changed color. Reduce the heat back to medium and add the potatoes. Stir to combine. Add the rice, water, salt, garam masala and kitchen king masala. Cover and increase the heat to high. Bring to a boil and let it boil on high for three minutes. Reduce the heat to low and let it cook until done. It should take between 30 to 45 minutes. Serve with sour cream.
