Pilau rice, variation on a theme

Pilau rice is bad for you. FACT. I cooked this in Malaysia for the first time in forever and was suprised I still remembered the basics.

You’ll notice that the colour of my pilau rice is brown. Not white, with funny food colourings, or even yellow. Brown. That’s the colour of Pakistani pilau rice.

The other thing you should know is that everyone’s pilau rice tastes different - even if they’re Pakistani. Sadly, I have yet to be able to recreate the taste of Mother’s pilau.

You’ll need a large heavy-based pan with a lid. Non-stick pans are banned.

1. Brown one large onion or three small onions, two cloves of garlic and a sliver of ginger in a little vegetable oil, on your lowest heat setting. Key is for them to be fried and dark brown but not burnt. The fried onions give colour to rice.

2. Meanwhile, boil the kettle. Wash and then soak two cups of basmati rice in cold water, leave until required.

3. Once onions are brown, add in two tablespoons of garam masala whole spices (do not blend). Turn up the heat gradually. Stir for a couple of minutes, don’t allow mixture to burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.

OPTIONAL: if you want to add chicken, do so now. Either chicken breast chunks or a baby chicken. Brown chicken on a high heat for about 7-10 minutes, you’ll need to keep stirring and not walk away from pan. Add a tiny bit of boiling water to prevent chicken sticking, if required.

4. Add water from kettle to pan. Formula is 1.5 cups of boiling water for every cup of rice. So in this case: 3 cups of boiling water. Add one teaspoon of salt. Turn the heat to high. (You can substitute chicken / vegetable stock for water, if you prefer - must be hot. You can also add peas or chick peas at this point.)

5. As liquid comes to a boil, transfer drained basmati rice to pan using metal sieve. Keep heat high and lid off. Stir the pan once to ensure spices and onions (and chicken) are spread evenly.

6. Keep watching the rice. This is where it could all go wrong. Do not stir. Get a tea towel which is larger than your pan lid. Wet it under the tap and squeeze out the water. Tie it around the top of the pan, careful to ensure none of the corners hang over the lid - could set alight.

7. You should start to see small air holes appear in the rice and considerable water still present. Once you see the water has reduced, but not completely dried out, stick lid covered with teatowel on top and seal firmly. Turn heat down to the lowest setting.

8. Leave to cook for at least 15 minutes. Take lid off and test rice is cooked. If not, give it another five or 10 minutes. Should be ready within 25 minutes, tops. Turn off heat. Stir pan gently, and only once, to move around flavours / chicken / anything stuck to the bottom.

Serving options: raita, daal, curry of any variety and … pickle!