MOROG POLAO (CHICKEN POLAO)

Who doesn't love morog polao? Those of us who have tasted it once, know that the sweetness of aromatic rice, paired with succulent chicken and flavourful potatoes is an experience beyond explanation. A classic Bangladeshi dawat dish, morog polao is prepared using aromatic rice and several hearty spices. The sweetness of the aromatic rice with tender and juicy chicken is a show stopper of any occasion.

Ingredients

1 large chicken, clean and cut into 4 pieces                  

500g aromatic rice

5 fried potatoes, cut into halves

3 onion sliced

2 onion paste

1 tbsp ginger paste

1 tbsp garlic paste

10 green chillies

10 aloo bukhara/dried plum

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp poppy seeds

10 cashew nuts

100ml oil

1 tbsp ghee

2 tbsp mawa

½ cup plain curd

½ cup sweet curd

½ cup saffron-milk mixture

1 tsp garam masala

1 tsp biriyani masala

½ tsp red chilli powder

Salt to taste

Tempering —

4 dry red chilli

2 bay leaves

1 stick cinnamon

4 green cardamom

2 black cardamom

Method

Wash and clean the meat and marinate with salt. Wash and soak rice in water for 30 minutes. Heat oil in a pan and add 1 tablespoon of ghee. Fry the sliced onion until brown and crisp. Remove from pan and keep aside.

Add 1 tablespoon of ghee to the remaining oil. Add dry red chilli, bay leaves, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom and black cardamom. Add onion paste to the pan cook till the onion turns brown in colour. Now add ginger-garlic paste and green chillies. Cook for 1 minute. Add plain curd and sweet curd. Cook till the mixture leaves oil from the edges. Add red chilli powder, salt and biriyani masala. Mix well and add lemon juice. Now add chicken pieces and cook on low heat with the lid on. The chicken by then will release moisture. Cook till the chicken is 2/3 cooked. Once the chicken is cooked, remove the cooked chicken from the pan and keep the gravy in the pan as it is.

Now add the soaked rice to the pan and mix well. Add boiling water. Adjust spices and salt as needed. Cover the pan and cook till the rice is 2/3 cooked. Take out half of the rice from the pan and place the cooked chicken pieces over the rice. Top it with aloo bukhara, fried onion, mawa, saffron milk mixture, fried potatoes and lemon juice. Now top it with remaining rice. Add 1 tablespoon of ghee and rest of the fried onion. Cover the pan and cook on low heat for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, switch off the flame. Keep aside for 10 minutes and serve.

VERMICELLI RABRI KATORI

Ingredients

1½ litre milk

2 cups vermicelli

4 tbsp sugar

1 container condensed milk

1 tbsp ghee

2 tbsp mixed dry fruit

2 tbsp pomegranate

2 small steel bowl

Method

In a large pan, add milk and boil. Add sugar and boil until reduced to 1/3 part of the milk. Rabri is ready. Remove from pan and keep aside.

Take another pan and add ghee. Now roast the vermicelli for few minutes. Add condensed milk and mix well, at the same time, take 2 small steel bowls and grease with ghee. Now, fill with the vermicelli mixture immediately and give them katori shape. Kept in the refrigerator for 2 hours to set. Remove the vermicelli katori from the steel bowl. Pour the rabri into the vermicelli katori. Garnish with dry fruits and pomegranate seeds. Delicious and tasty dessert vermicelli rabri katori is ready.

SHEER KHURMA

Eid in old Dhaka is not complete without sheer khurma, a traditional preparation made on the festival of Eid. Every household has its own recipe of this rich preparation. Here is an authentic version of this delicacy that is loaded with almonds, cashew nuts, pistachios, raisins and dates. This dish contains huge amount of milk, many fruits and the main ingredient, vermicelli.

Ingredients

2 litre milk

1 cup broken vermicelli

3 tbsp ghee

1 tin condensed milk

¼ cup almonds, blanched and slivered

¼ cup cashew nuts, blanched and slivered

¼ cup pistachios, blanched and slivered

¼ cup deseeded, chopped dates

¼ tsp cardamom powder

Method

Heat the ghee in a deep pan, add vermicelli and cook till turn golden brown, keep aside. In the same pan, heat ghee and add chopped dry fruits and sauté for 3-4 minutes, stirring often. Heat milk till reduced to three fourths its volume. Add roasted vermicelli and sugar to the milk and simmer till vermicelli is cooked. Add fried dry fruits mixture and cardamom powder and condensed milk. Cook for 5 minutes on low flame. Switch off the fire and stir, garnish with the dry fruits and serve hot, warm or chilled.

Tip: if you are using dry dates, then don't sauté them in ghee. Instead, cook them in milk. You can also soak overnight to soften them.

Photo: Sazzad Ibne Sayed

Food and Stylig: RBR