Indian food is something I really enjoy. It’s so flavorful, and there’s a lot of variety in each dish.
It’s hard to get right, but a good recipe can make things much easier. Making it right is what I’m here to help with!
I’ll share a recipe for Delhi chicken pulao that you can use to make the dish so good, everyone will think you ordered it from a restaurant!
Savoury Delhi Chicken Pulao Recipe
Delhi Pulao is one of my personal favorite recipes that leave a mouth watering taste wanting to crave more. Perfect for those who want to try something new!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Chop, Cook and Serve
- Cuisine: Indian
Ingredients
Pulao is amazing for many reasons. One of them is that it doesn’t need many ingredients to turn out as amazing as it does. For example, my recipe only needs the following ingredients:
- 1 Chopped Onion
- 1 Chopped Tomato
- 1/2 tablespoons Black Cumin
- 1/2 tablespoons Ginger Paste
- 1/2 tablespoons Garlic Paste
- 3 tablespoons Chicken Pulao Masala
- 1/2 tablespoons Red Chilli Powder
- 2 tablespoons Turmeric Powder
- 1 dash Black Pepper Powder (or as per your preferences)
- 1 dash Salt (or as per your preferences)
- 750 grams of Chicken
- 500 grams of Rice
- 1/2 cup Cooking Oil
- 2 cups of Water (or as needed)
Most of these are ingredients that people should have lying around at home. But, if you don’t have some ingredients or can’t find them, here’s what you can substitute or add to the recipe:
Vegetables: I only use onions and tomatoes in my Delhi pulao, but carrots and green peas are also a good addition. You can consider giving these a try if you want. As for the onions and tomatoes, there aren’t any substitutes for those. When it comes to vegetables, you can only add more beyond the two I’m using, and not substitute them.
Flavouring: It’s frustratingly difficult to find all the spices and flavorings you need sometimes, but that shouldn’t be a problem with this recipe. Most of the ones I’ve mentioned are super easy to come by. However, some people might struggle with chicken tikka pulao especially, so…
Chicken Tikka Pulao Substitute: This is literally what gives your pulao its taste, so you can’t avoid this ingredient. However, it’s pretty easy to make a substitute that’s just as good! For that, you’ll need 1 tablespoon each of black peppercorn, ground cinnamon, ground cardamom, and ground cloves, along with 2 tablespoons of cumin seeds.
Just grind every spice together and you’ll have the substitute ready! I recommend only doing this if you really can’t find pulao masala anywhere nearby or online, as it’s tough to beat the real deal.
Nothing else in the recipe is difficult to find or substitutable. So, if you have everything mentioned above, let’s get started immediately!
Instructions
It’s no secret that chicken pulao is something that takes time and care to make right. The same goes for my recipe. But, that doesn’t mean it’s too hard to follow. Just do everything detailed in the steps below, and you’re all set.
(Before You Start): Before doing anything, take 500 grams of rice and put them under water. You’ll need them soaked for the recipe, and it’s best to do that now instead of waiting when the time comes.
- Cook Some Onions: Pour cooking oil across the surface of a deep pan until it forms a puddle. Then, dump one finely chopped onion all over it. Start moving it around so the oil gets everywhere, and cook the onions until they develop a nice golden colour.
- Add Necessary Spices and Pastes: After you notice the colour change, add ½ tablespoons of black cumin to the pan and start mixing it around. Then, dump ½ tablespoons each of ginger and garlic paste onto the mixture and stir well. Once it’s all set together, pour just two tablespoons of water and let everything cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Add the Chicken: At the point it’s sizzling a little, you can finally throw in the chicken. Now, it’s very important to mix everything well during this step, as you will want to make sure that saucy mixture gets all over the chicken. You can just let the pan sit for a bit as everything inside cooks for 7-8 minutes at least.
- Add Chicken Pulao Masala and Other Spices: Add the rest of the ingredients now, starting with one chopped tomato. Then add three tablespoons of the chicken pulao masala, two tablespoons of turmeric powder, and ½ tablespoons of red chilli powder. Add salt and black pepper powder depending on your taste. Everything must smell amazing by now, and soon it’ll start looking that way too!
- Stir and Add Water: Cook the mixture for 2-3 minutes and stir it nicely in-between. After the time passes, you need to add 1.5 cups of water into it. Stir it well and cover the deep pan afterwards, so you can cook it for another 8-10 minutes. After that, throw in yet another 3.5 cups of water and start stirring.
- Add the Rice and Mix: Once the liquid mixture reaches a boiling point point, you can take the lid off and add the rice you soaked earlier. (If you followed step 0, you can do this immediately.) Mix them well and put the cover on again so they can cook properly for 7-8 minutes more. You’re almost there after that!
- Cover and Cook More: Take the lid off and stir the rice well. You’ll notice that everything’s mixed together much better now. But, one last step before you can start munching down is to cover it yet again, and cook the mixture on low heat for another 10 minutes.
Notes
- The water will have mostly dried up into the rice, and the dish will be ready for serving.
- Eat away and enjoy this recipe that you can easily make time and time again with ingredients that are easy to find!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3
- Calories: 2376 kcal
- Sugar: 36.67
- Sodium: 935 mg
- Fat: 157.59 g
- Saturated Fat: 15.142 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 92.68 g
- Trans Fat: 0.527 g
- Carbohydrates: 78.75 g
- Fiber: 9.9 g
- Protein: 158.93 g
- Cholesterol: 488 mg
Keywords: delhi chicken pulao recipe