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A Real Indian Pilau

A layered casserole of rice, butter, chicken, raisins, almonds, spices, and yogurt, baked slowly.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 12 ingredients
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Why it works: Almond and cardamom match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 457 recipes. Both carry eucalyptol, which smells eucalyptus, herbal. The science ↓

A Real Indian Pilau

Ingredients

Directions

The book gives no oven temperature. The 300°F (150°C) in the steps was added when the recipe was transcribed, as a starting point.

Prepare

  1. Boil the rice until it is half cooked.

  2. Fry the onion in butter until brown, then remove it.

  3. Add the raisins to the pan and fry or boil them.

  4. Cut one chicken into pieces and rub with ginger and curds.

  5. Let the marinated chicken rest for 2 hours.

Layer and bake

  1. In a casserole, layer some butter, then a layer of rice, followed by onion, raisins, and almonds.

  2. Sprinkle saffron and a little water over the layer, then add a layer of marinated chicken.

  3. Repeat the layering process until the casserole is full.

  4. Pour the remaining butter over the top, cover the casserole tightly with a lid or paste to seal in steam.

  5. Bake in a 300°F (150°C) oven for 3 hours.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Almond + cardamomtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together457 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  2. Allspice + cardamomtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together137 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-phellandrene (minty, terpene).

  3. Raisin + almondtop 2% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together1,781 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2-nonanone (fruity, floral).

  4. Rice + chickentop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together4,769 recipes

    Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).

  5. Rice + almondtop 6% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rice
Forms the bulk of the dish and absorbs butter and steam as it finishes cooking.
Butter
Adds fat and richness, carrying flavour and helping the rice and onion brown.
Chicken
Provides the main protein, which the curds and ginger tenderise and flavour as it rests.
Curds
Acidity in the yogurt tenderises the chicken and helps the marinade cling to it.
Sultana raisins
Add sweetness and moisture that contrast with the spiced rice and chicken.
Saffron
Gives the rice a golden colour and a distinctive aroma.

The step that matters

Sealing the casserole before baking. A tight lid or paste seal traps steam so the rice and chicken cook gently in their own moisture over the long bake. A loose seal lets steam escape, leaving the rice dry or unevenly cooked.

Swap the mace

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (rice, butter, chicken, raisin, almond, allspice, cardamom):

  1. Cinnamonfits better
  2. Nutmegfits better
  3. Turmericfits better
  4. Macethe original

Fit is the average pairing score against rice, butter, chicken, raisin, almond, allspice, cardamom. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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