Chicken and Yellow Rice Dish

A friend of mine introduced me to Manaal al Alem's cooking.  I try to follow her recipes, sometimes it gets a bit difficult as I don't understand much Arabic but can still figure out a few things like the ingrediants and do guesswork about what she probably is saying.  So for this Eid, I have a special Rice dish I prepared adapting one of her recipe
 She used saffron but I left it out as not everyone can get their hands on saffron.  Its an almost one-pot dish so will have less washing up, Nobody wants to spend Eid day slaving away in the kitchen.

Recipe : Chicken and Rice dish recipe  adapted from the show Manal Al alem show .

Serves 4

1 ( 1200g - 1400g ) chicken, skinned, but kept whole
pinch turmeric
pinch ground pepper
big pinch salt
1 medium onion, quartered
4 cloves garlic, halved
1" piece ginger, sliced
1 big pandan leaf ( or use 2-3 bay leaf instead)
10- 12 peppercorns
1 stick cinnamon
8 cardamom pods
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cups rice
1/2 tsp  dried chilli flakes
1 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp ground  pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground chilli powder
butter/ghee or vegetable oil
1 medium onion, sliced
big handful raisins
big handful  kanamadhu , sliced or use almonds
handful fresh coriander leaves only, roughly chopped
4 cups water

Bring a large deep pan filled with 4 cups water, add onion, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, cardamon, peppercorns, 1  tsp salt .

 Shred the  pandan into strips and tie into a knot like this add into the pan and bring the water to a boil.

While the water heats up,  prepare the chicken, and rub a pinch tumeric and salt and bit of pepper on the chicken.

Once the water boils, bring to a simmer and add the chicken and simmer for 20-  30 minutes covered.
Wash the rice and let it soak in water for 30 minutes, drain.

Check if the chicken is cooked through, and remove the chicken onto a plate.

Strain the  stock, Remove 2 1/2 cups and pour this back into the pan , use the rest for another recipe or use to make a soup etc..

Bring the pan back to a gentle boil, taste the stock add a little more salt if needed and 1/2 tsp tumeric and 1 tsp ground cumin.  Add the rice and cook, once the water is absorbed bring the heat to the lowest cover and cook for 5 minutes. Switch off, wait another 5 minutes and then fluff it up.

Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, make a mixture of  1/2 tsp ground pepper, 1 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp chilli powder.

Heat a large frying pan, add 2 -3 tbsp oil or butter or ghee, fry the onions till golden, then add the nuts and raisins stir fry for 2 minutes, then remove to kitchen paper.

Into the same pan, add the whole spice-rubbed chicken and brown the sides and back. Remove and cut into large pieces or joint them.

To serve, ladle rice onto a nice large serving platter, arrange the fried onion mixture, then the chicken and finally sprinkle with fresh coriander.

Serve with raita and tomato salad .