fake chicken pulao
(omnivore)

recipe by m-c

just the recipe

what I was looking for

A quick supper to throw together in a few minutes.

what I made

As I looked at A+D's recipe for chicken pulao with pumpkin (Beyond the Great Wall, pp. 174‑176), I realized that I had almost all the ingredients on hand, but also that they were almost all already cooked. So I blended them together and married their flavors with a good rich broth. Fake, but successful.

chit-chat

Pulao (or pilaf, or pilaff, or pilau, or pilaw) starts by toasting or pan-frying rice, then cooking it fully with flavorings and broth.

Nothing can replace the depth of flavor of that initial cooking of the rice, but as long as you don't call it a pulao -- or acknowledge cheerfully that it's fake -- you can make a satisfying grain dish using a true pulao as an inspiration.

I had broth and poached chicken available because I was performing an experiment in broth-making. How long could I leave the chicken in the crockpot without cooking it to rags? In the case of boneless skinless chicken thighs, the answer seems to be three hours on low. The chicken has contributed a lot of flavor to the broth by that time, yet still has much flavor of its own -- much flavor and a good texture.

And the broth was one of my most successful, a combination of chicken and lamb.

grades for my version

healthy	A	Whole grains, veggies, a little chicken, all good.
fast	A	Lickety-split.
easy	A	A breeze.
cheap	A	Very.
delicious	A	Hearty, unsubtle, but deeply satisfying.

yield

Serves two for supper with a pint of leftovers for lunch the next day.

equipment

   a wok with a lid    or       a pot with a lid
   a long-handled pancake turner

the pot vegetables

ingredients	A+D scaled	m-c	why?
peanut oil	4 Tablespoons	2 Tablespoons	weight
onion family	1 medium onion, chopped coarse	2 large shallots, chopped coarse	faster [1]
radish family	¼ pound daikon radish, grated	¼ pound red radishes, sliced	faster [1]
tomatoes	1 medium tomato, chopped coarse	1 dozen cherry tomatoes, halved	faster [1]
Notes
[1]	The object was to avoid a trip to the grocery store, especially at 5:15pm, when it's overflowing with customers.

   or          Put the peanut oil and shallots in your wok or pot, put the lid on the vessel, and put the vessel over a high flame. When you can hear the shallots sizzling and smell a little browning, remove the lid and stir in the radishes. Cook the radishes till they're slightly transparent, then stir in the cherry tomatoes.

the already-cooked ingredients

ingredients	A+D scaled	m-c	why?
rice	1¼ cup raw rice (to yield 2½ cups cooked)	2½ cups cooked rice	faster
chicken	2 pounds chicken on the bone, raw	1 pound boneless skinless chicken thighs, poached	faster
yellow vegetable	½ pound pumpkin, raw	½ pound yellow beet, roasted	faster [1]
liquid	water cooked to broth with the chicken and vegetables	crockpot broth	as needed (start with 1 cup) [2]
Notes
[1]	Using yellow beet in place of yellow squash was a visual pun.
[2]	What you do in A+D's version is bite the rice to be sure it's well cooked, no little pebble of hardness in the center. In my version, you taste the rice to be sure it's soaked up enough brothy goodness to taste chickeny.

Add the cooked ingredients and the broth to the wok or pot, put the lid back on, and cook everything together for 15 minutes. Taste for salt before you serve the dish, and serve soy sauce on the side.

Elegant? No. Stick-to-your-ribs solid? Oh, yeah.

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