Pilau la sikukuu

Traditionally, we start to sauté onions, then garlic, and ginger, then pilau masala then Rise, but, it uses a lot of oil; to help use less oil, I have started with rice first and onions.

Ingredients

• 1 cup Basmati rice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ cup Onions (finely chopped)
• 1 tbsp Crushed garlic
• 1 tbsp crushed ginger
• 2 tbsp Pilau masala
• 1 cup Cashew nuts
• 1 cup Sultanas/raisins.
• ½ tsp Saffron (can be replaced with ¼ tsp turmeric)
• 2 to 3 cups Boiling plain chicken broth or (chicken flavor cube mix in 2 cups of water)
• ¼ – ½ cup Coconut milk (canned or the first(heavy) discharge of fresh prepared coconut milk
• ½ tsp Salt
• 1 tbsp Crushed Cilantro/Coriander leaves/dhania
• Vegetable oil

Preparations

1. Heat oil on medium heat. Then, add rice and onions. Stir until the translucent color of rice starts to turn white.
2. Add garlic, ginger and pilau masala. Continue to stir until the garlic is cooked. Then add saffron. Stir for a minute.
3. In a separate bowl, mix boiling coconut milk with ½ cup of hot chicken broth.
4. Add the coconut mixture to the rice.
5. Cover the pot and turn heat to medium-low settings. Cook until the liquid is absorbed. Taste to see if you need to add salt.
6. (Now you can tranfer to a baking dish if you are going to bake the rice).
7. Then Add the rest of chicken broth, add cashew nuts, raisins/sultanas and cilantro/coriander leaves, mix well, cover or put in 350F oven to dry or until cooked.
8. Serve hot with Kachumbari

I first post this in December 2011 at tasteoftanzania.com