Chicken Kabse
Recipe (makes about 8 servings):
2 cups Sella Basmati Rice
3 Chicken Breast in bone or 1 whole Chicken
1 yellow onion, petite dice
1 red pepper, petite dice
1 carrot, shredded
3 large garlic clove, crushed
3 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
2 1/2 tbsp kabse spice
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground turmeric
Chicken broth: 6 cups boiling water, 1 dried lime, 8 cardamom, 8 clove, 10 black peppers, 1 cinnamon stick, 3 bay leaves
Directions:
To a bowl, add rice and soak in cold water for 2 hrs.
Wash raw chicken in water, vinegar, and lemon slices, drain.
To a pot, add boiling water and all of the spices for the chicken broth plus a whole yellow onion that’s peeled on medium heat. Add the raw chicken and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and boil for 30 min.
In another pot on medium heat, add cooking oil, diced onion, and diced red pepper. Saute until soften then add the crushed garlic and shredded carrot. Cook for 5 min. until softened.
Add the tomato paste, kabse spice, turmeric, and salt to the vegetables and mix well. Then drain the rice and add to the pot. Mix all well.
Remove the boiled chicken from the pot with water and place on a tray. That water is now chicken broth.
Add 4 cups of the chicken broth on top of the rice while removing the spices with a sieve
Bring the rice in the pot to a boil until the water on top evaporates. Once you start seeing the rice on top, lower the heat to a simmer and cover the pot with a lid covered with a dish cloth. Simmer for 20-25 min.
Optional: brush the chicken with a mixture of 1 tbsp of tomato paste, 2 tbsp cooking oil, 1 tbsp kabse spice to give it color. Otherwise just brush with oil and broil it in the oven until the chicken is golden.
Place the rice on a platter. Remove roasted chicken from the oven and place on top of rice. Alternatively, remove bone from chicken, cut the chicken into slices, and mix with the rice.
Top with fried pine nuts, cashews, and raisins. In a pan with a few tablespoons of cooking oil, pan fry the nuts until golden, then add on top of the rice. Serve with a side of garlic yogurt or fattoush.
