Savory Saffron Chicken Polow Food

SAVORY SAFFRON CHICKEN POLOW

Steps:

• Bring water and 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil to a boil in a large pot; stir in saffron rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, 20 minutes.
• Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook and stir onions and garlic in hot oil until lightly browned and softened, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir chicken into skillet and cook until seared on all sides; add chicken broth. Bring broth to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until broth is reduced and chicken is tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Shred chicken using two forks to pull chicken cubes apart.
• Preheat oven to 385 degrees F (196 degrees C). Grease a 9x12-inch baking dish.
• Spread 1/2 the rice in a layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Spoon chicken and onion mixture over rice; spread chickpeas and raisins over chicken mixture. Top with remaining rice and sprinkle with paprika.
• Bake in the preheated oven until liquid is almost completely cooked off and rice is lightly browned at the edges, about 30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

SAFFRON CHICKEN

Steps:

• Toast the saffron strands in a dry pan over a medium heat for about 1 minute taking care not to burn them.
• Cool, and then crush them with the back of a spoon.
• Dissolve them in 1 tablespoon of very hot water.
• Heat the ghee (or whatever you use), and gently fry the onion, garlic, ginger and chillis until the onion is soft and golden.
• Add garlic.
• Add the dissolved saffron to the pan with the cardomon, then add the chicken.
• Turn the chicken pieces in the mix, coating well.
• Add the salt, cover and cook for 25 minutes until the chicken is tender.
• Uncover the pan and continue cooking, turning often until the liquid is almost gone.

CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES IN SAFFRON BROTH

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, over medium high heat, bring to a boil the broth, water, 1 of the minced garlic cloves, carrots, turnips and half of the saffron. Cover and simmer until the vegetables are tender but still crisp, about 5 minutes. Meanwhile cut the chicken breasts into 3/4-inch dice. Finely chop the roasted red peppers and combine them with remaining minced garlic clove, remaining saffron and mayonnaise. Season to taste with salt and 1/8th teaspoon cayenne.
• When the vegetables are tender, add the chicken, bring the broth back to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for 2 minutes or until the chicken is just cooked through. Season to taste with salt and cayenne.
• Spread each toast with saffron mayonnaise and set each one in a soup bowl. Ladle the steaming broth, vegetables and chicken over the bread and serve immediately. Leftover ideas: If you have half of the soup and the mayonnaise leftover the next day, then this is what you do. Bring the soup to a boil. Whisk one egg into remaining mayonnaise and ladle some hot soup into the mayonnaise to temper it. Whisk the egg mayonnaise back into the hot soup and stir, over low heat until broth has thickened. Do not boil the broth or the egg will curdle Remove from heat, adjust seasoning and serve right away.

PERSIAN POLO CHICKEN

Steps:

• Fry the onion in 3 tbsp of margarine or oil until golden, add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper, add raisins and apricots, and continue to cook for a minute or two longer, turning the fruit in the fat.
• Sprinkle with cinnamon, cover with water and simmer gently, covered, until the chicken is very tender and the sauce reduced.
• Bone the chicken if you like.
• Wash and cook the rice, but do not steam it.
• It should be just partially cooked.
• Put 2 tbsp melted margarine or oil at the bottom of a large heavy saucepan.
• Spread half of the partly cooked rice over this, cover with the chicken pieces, pour the rich fruity sauce over them and cover with the remaining rice.
• Cover the pan with a cloth, put the lid on tightly, and steam over a very low heat for 20 to 30 minutes.
• The cloth will capture the steam rising from the rice and help to make it fluffy.
• Serve all mixed together.

SHIRINI POLOW

Steps:

• Wash the rice in warm water and rinse in a colander under the cold tap.
• Sauté the chicken in 3 tablespoons of the butter or oil with salt and pepper and 1/4 teaspoon of the saffron for about 15 minutes, until the chicken is tender but still pink and juicy, turning the pieces to color them lightly all over. Then cut into small pieces.
• Sauté the carrots in the same butter or oil for 10 minutes, or until tender, stirring and adding salt and a few tablespoons water.
• Boil the rice in a large (9-10-inch) heavy-bottomed preferably nonstick pan for about 10 minutes, until still a little underdone, and drain quickly. Add the remaining 1/4 teaspoon saffron to 2 tablespoons of the butter or oil and mix into the rice in the colander. Pour the 2 remaining tablespoons butter or oil in the bottom of the pan and sprinkle alternate layers of rice and chicken with carrot, candied peel, and nuts in the pan, starting and ending with a layer of rice. (You should have 3 layers of rice.)
• Stretch a clean cloth over the top of the pan, put the lid on, and steam over very low heat for 20-30 minutes. The cloth will absorb the steam and help the rice to retain its fluffiness.
• For serving, see box on page 351.
• To make candied peel, use the peel of 3 oranges with as much of the white pith removed as possible. Slice peel into thin strips and make a note of the weight. Simmer without sugar in about 1/2 cup water until soft. Then add sugar equal to the measured weight, and cook until the water is reduced and the strips of peel are sweet. The peel of bitter oranges is particularly good to use for this dish.

SAVORY SAFFRON CHICKEN POLOW

Steps:

• Bring water and 3 1/2 tablespoons olive oil to a boil in a large pot; stir in saffron rice. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until rice is tender and liquid is absorbed, 20 minutes.
• Heat 3 tablespoons olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat; cook and stir onions and garlic in hot oil until lightly browned and softened, 5 to 10 minutes.
• Stir chicken into skillet and cook until seared on all sides; add chicken broth. Bring broth to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer until broth is reduced and chicken is tender, 30 to 45 minutes. Remove from heat. Shred chicken using two forks to pull chicken cubes apart.
• Preheat oven to 385 degrees F (196 degrees C). Grease a 9x12-inch baking dish.
• Spread 1/2 the rice in a layer on the bottom of the baking dish. Spoon chicken and onion mixture over rice; spread chickpeas and raisins over chicken mixture. Top with remaining rice and sprinkle with paprika.
• Bake in the preheated oven until liquid is almost completely cooked off and rice is lightly browned at the edges, about 30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.