How to Make Pakistani Pilau a Rice Dish

Pilau rice is a delicious and flavorful Pakistani rice dish.  It is definitely a family favorite! Pilau rice is cooked in a stock with whole spices, onions and meat which is then used to flavor the rice. Some people may call this a Pakistani brown rice recipe, but the rice is only brown after having been cooked in the meat stock.

This pilau recipe (some spell it pulao) is a meat pilau recipe. The meat that is pictured is actually goat meat. However, chicken pilau is quite popular, along with lamb, mutton and beef.

I love Pakistani/desi food, it’s my all-time favorite! The word ‘desi’ often refers to people of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi decent.  Although the spices and flavors may vary by region, dishes such as pilau are known and made uniquely throughout these areas. 

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I am not Pakistani, but I am married to a wonderful Pakistani man! They say that a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.  Even though I knew I already had his heart, I still wanted to learn to cook Pakistani style food since I was a huge fan of the cuisine.  I took it upon myself to learn to cook Pakistani food to keep him satisfied in between my Western style cooking!

Not all my Pakistani style dishes are a hit since I’m still learning! However, I promise to always test run my cooking by my husband first to get his approval before posting an authentic Pakistani dish recipe! LOL.  So since you are reading about my pilau, I guess it passed the taste test!

Here are a few of my other Pakistani dinner recipes: Bhindi gosht (beef and okra curry)

Keema (ground meat curry) and

Chicken korma.

Cooking Tools

I recommend using at least a 6 quart stainless steel pot when cooking for family and 8 quart if you are making more for entertaining. I like stainless steel because I feel it lasts longer than non-stick pots.

It does take some practice cooking with stainless steel, but you will become a pro in no time! A good pot is definitely worth the investment.

Here’s our video tutorial for how to make pilau rice.

Directions:

The first thing I do is place my meat in a large pot and cover it with just enough water. I let it boil and then dump out the water and repeat this step until the water is fairly clean and no more froth comes up.  I feel like this makes the meat cleaner but you can skip this step.

In the same large pot add the meat, coriander seeds, black pepper corns, garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamoms, star anise, salt and 1 onion (cut into quarters). Fill pot with enough water or stock to cover the meat and spices.

Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer until meat is tender (depending on the meat you are using it can take anywhere from 25 minutes for chicken and up to an hour for beef or goat meat.

Once meat is tender, you will strain the stock into another pot or bowl which is large enough to hold the stock. Once it is strained put the stock aside and take out the meat pieces and place them aside on a plate. Throw away the whole spices and don’t worry if there are still some coriander seeds stuck to the meat (it doesn’t have to be perfectly clean of spices).

In the same pot you had your meat simmering in, place it back on the stove top and heat the oil on medium heat. Once hot, add the sliced onions and cumin seeds. Sauté till the onion is brown but do not let it burn. Note that the browner you get the onions the darker the colour of the rice will be.

Add the meat and the drained basmati rice and 6 cups of the stock (if you don’t have 6 cups of stock top it up with water). Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer on low heat until the water dries up and the rice is soft (this should take about 10 – 15 minutes).

Turn off the heat and allow the rice to rest covered for another 10 – 15 minutes before serving.

How to Make a Pakistani Pilau Rice Dish

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Pakistani pilau is flavorful rice cooked in stock and whole spices.

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 45 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 lbs of meat bone in (I used goat meat, but chicken, or beef can also be used in this recipe)
• 2 1/2 tbsps coriander seeds
• 2 tbsps black pepper corns
• 8 cloves of garlic
• 2 bay leafs
• 1 stick of cinnamon
• 2 black cardamoms
• 6 green cardamoms
• 1 Star Anise
• 5 whole cloves
• 2 medium onions (1 cut into quarters and the other thinly sliced kept aside separately)
• 4 tbsps of canola oil
• 3 cups of Basmati Rice soaked for 30 minutes
• 4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp of cumin seeds
• 7-8 cups water or stock (stock is recommended but not necessary)

Instructions

1. Prior to placing the meat in with all the whole spices to cook in I like to place my meat in a large pot and cover it with just enough water. I let it boil to cook with a cleaner meat and dump out the water and repeat this step until the water is fairly clean and no more froth comes up.  But you can skip this step.
2. In the same large pot add the meat, coriander seeds, black pepper corns, garlic, bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamoms, star anise, salt and 1 onion (cut into quarters). Fill pot with enough water or stock to cover the meat and spices.
3. Bring to a boil and cover. Simmer until meat is tender (depending on the meat you are using it can take anywhere from 25 minutes for chicken and up to an hour for beef or goat meat.
4. Once meat is tender, you will strain the stock into another pot or bowl which is large enough to hold the stock. Once it is strained put the stock aside and take out the meat pieces and place them aside on a plate. Throw away the whole spices and don’t worry if there are still some coriander seeds stuck to the meat (it doesn’t have to be perfectly clean of spices).
5. In the same pot you had your meat simmering in, place it back on the stove top and heat the oil on medium heat. Once hot, add the sliced onions and cumin seeds. Sauté till the onion is brown but do not let it burn. Note that the browner you get the onions the darker the color of the rice will be.
6. Add the meat and the drained basmati rice and 6 cups of the stock (if you don’t have 6 cups of stock top it up with water). Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer on low heat until the water dries up and the rice is soft (this should take about 10 – 15 minutes).
7. Turn off the heat and allow the rice to rest covered for another 10 – 15 minutes before serving.
   
   

Hope you enjoy this dish! If you love a flavorful rice dish as much as I do, take a look at this Spanish Rice recipe.

If you are interested in other Pakistani dinner recipes, try this ground meat recipe called Keema, and Chicken Korma.