Zanzibari Pilau Rice (Lamb/Chicken/Prawn or Vegetables)

My absolute home comfort! I think I say that about so many of my recipes but this really is! It’s the equivalent to a Brit being excited about going to their families for a Sunday Roast. This is my Zanzibari Sunday Roast! Always taste 100 times better when my grandma makes it.

Traditionally this dish is made with chicken or lamb, however I am determined that everyone needs to be enjoying Omani & Zanzibari food so after testing myself, I managed to make sure a Fish & Veg option would work too.

It is almost a one pot dish. The key to this is making sure you have the stock water, it truly makes the meal. If you are not a fan of loose spices, you can place all the spices you need for this into a tea infuser once you have fried them off. I wouldn’t recommend powder as it creates a completely different taste, you would need to use a lot less quantities.

I recently did a live streaming of how to make this rice and the most important thing is making the Kachumba (basically a salsa or salad). As the dish is more on the dry side (lacks sauce) the lemony Kachumba makes up for this and is a perfect accompaniment.

Ingredients:

Pilau Rice

• 1 Whole Chicken (Skinless & Cut into 8 Pieces) / 500g Lamb / 400g Prawns or 1 Aubergine/Veg of your choice*.

• * 3 Cups of Veg stock (if not using meat).

• 2 TBSP Garlic & Ginger Paste

• 1 TBSP Black Pepper Corns

• 10-12 Cardamom Pods

• 2 Cinnamon Sticks

• 5 Cloves

• 2 TBSP Cumin Seeds

• 1 Onion (Chopped Finely)

• 2 Potatoes (Peeled & Cut into 4)

• Salt

• 2 Cups of Basmati Rice

Kachumba Salad

• 1 Onion

• 1/2 Cucumber

• 2 Tomatoes

• 1/2 Pomegranate (Optional)

• 1 Mango

• 1 Lemon

• Salt

• 1 Green Chilli

Method

1. If using Lamb or Chicken, begin by boiling the meat in 4 cups of water with 1 TBSP garlic & ginger past and salt.

2. Leave to boil for about 20 minutes for the Lamb and about 10-15 minutes for Chicken. Remember they will be boiling again when combined with the rice so we don’t want them too cooked through.

3. If you are working with prawns or vegetables. You can skip straight to step 4 as you don’t need to pre boil.

4. In a frying pan or sauce pan, heat some oil to coat the bottom of the pan and add the other TBSP of garlic & ginger paste, followed by the onions, potatoes and spices.

5. Fry off for about 5-10minutes to sweat the onions and to allow the spices to infuse with the oil. Then add in your meat/prawns/vegetables. (If using meat, DO NOT throw the stock water). You may need to fry slightly longer for your veg if you are using something like aubergines.

6. Fry for a further 5-10 minutes and then add in your rice, and mix thoroughly with all the ingredients.

7. Add in 3 cups of stock water, add some more salt, place on a low heat, put the lid on your saucepan and allow the rice to completely cook until all the water has been completely absorbed by the potatoes and rice - if you find that you rice is slightly dry, add a bit more stock water as sometimes the potatoes can absorb too much.

8. While the pilau is cooking, you can prepare your kachumba.

9. Simply chop up the onions, cucumber, tomatoes, mango & chilli super small.

10. Combine altogether in a bowl.

11. Squeeze in your lemon and sprinkle in some salt.

12. Serve the pilau with your kachumba and enjoy!