Pilau and Pan Seared Chicken

Today I take you all the way to Kenya, East Africa with this rice recipe. PIilau is a popular dish in Kenya and was one of my favourite dishes when I was growing up (it still is). Usually we use beef, but I decided to use chicken instead. I used:

1/2kg chicken
4 garlic cloves
9 cardamom pods
4 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cups rice
10 whole black peppercorn
1 tsp ground ginger
¼ cup cumin seed powder
4 small tomatoes
6 cups water
1 yellow pepper

Crush the garlic and cardamom together with 2 tbsp water using a mortar and pestle. Saute the onion until it is golden brown. Add the rice, meat, garlic and cardamom mixture, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, and cumin seed powder. Cook covered over medium heat until all are nicely brown, about 10 minutes. Add the tomatoes. Cook and stir until the tomatoes are thoroughly cooked down to the consistency of a sauce. Add the 6 cups water to the rice mixture, bring to a boil and then cook over very low heat, (while covered) for another 15-20 minutes until all water is absorbed and the rice is cooked through. 

For the pan seared chicken, I used:

1/2kg of chicken
3 tablespoons of oil
Salt
Black Pepper
3 Garlic cloves
1 yellow pepper

Heat a pan on medium heat, drizzle chicken with oil and season with the salt and black pepper.
Put the chicken in the pan, then add the garlic and the yellow pepper. When the chicken has a golden colour turn it over.