Pilaf. Basically rice cooked with stock or other flavours. I have to thank my friend Marky for introducing me to the world of pilaf. Bloody delicious and well worth a go if you’ve never tried it before.
This one is going to be flavoured simply with chicken and curry powder aka. Garam masala. So we best use some top quality free-range chicken and maybe make our own garam masala because let’s face it, pre-made spice mixes can be pretty bad if you don’t know when the spices were ground or how old it is…

Curried Chicken Pilaf (with enough left over for the next day)

1kg boneless free-range chicken thighs, cut into 4-5 piece each

a smoked sausage if you have one lying around, sliced

1 brown onion, diced

2 clove garlic, crushed

2 cups mixed vegetables, peas, beans and spinach are good but whatever you have in the fridge or freezer will do.

2 cups basmati rice

2 heaped Tbls garam masala (recipe below) or curry powder

seasoning

enough hot stock to cover

oil to cook

fresh lemon or lime, a handful of chopped coriander and green chilli, and natural yoghurt to serve

In a large pot that has a lid, cook chicken, sausage and onion over a medium heat until starting to colour. Add garlic and curry powder and cook out for a further minute. Add rice and enough stock to cover by 2cm.

Cover and cook on medium heat for 8-9 minutes. Check that rice and chicken are cooked. If not, add a splash of hot stock and cook for another minute or two.

Add vegetables, mix thoroughly and rest, covered for 5 minutes.

Basic Garam Masala

1/4 tspn nutmeg

1/2 tspn cloves

1 Tbls black peppercorn

1 tspn cardamon

1 Tbls mustard seed

2 Tbls tumeric

Grind all to a fine powder in a spice grinder or good old mortar and pestle, sieve.

Go beaver, go.