Turkish Pilau is a traditional British recipe, based on Charles Elmé Francatelli's recipe of 1861, for a classic starter of parboiled rice that's lightly fried and cooked in stock before being flavoured with curry powder and served with roast chicken meat that's moistened with a stock made of the chicken bones. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Turkish Pilau.
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This is a classic recipe for a Victorian version of Turkish Pilau that's derived from the chef, Charles Elmé Francatelli's 1861 volume, The Cook's Guide and Housekeeper's & Butler's Assistant. Below you will find both the recipe in its original form and a modern redaction.
Original Recipe
No. 326.—TURKISH PILAU.
Roast off a chicken, and when done, remove all the meat from the bones in large neatly-out slices, and set these aside on a plate with the chicken bones, a bit of ham, thyme, shallot, two cloves, a glass of sherry, and a pint of stock or water, boiled gently for half an hour ; make an essence, which after being strained must be further boiled down to the value of a gill, and kept in reserve. While the fore part of the preparation is going on, wash and parboil for five minutes a pound of rice, drain it free from water, and put it into a stewpan with four ounces of butter, and stir this over a brisk fire until the rice acquires equally in every grain a light-fawn colour ; then add a pint and a half of stock or water, cayenne pepper, and the juice extracted from three pennyworth of saffron, by boiling it with a little water ; put the lid on the stew pan, and set the rice to boil, or rather simmer, very gently over a slow fire for about three-quarters of an hour ; by the end of this time the rice being done, stir it lightly with a fork, to detach the grains from each other, adding a little curry powder ; pile the rice up in a dish ; place the pieces of fowl kept in reserve, and which have been warmed in the essence—also reserved for that purpose ; crown the whole with a group of stewed Sultana raisins, and serve hot.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
1 roast chicken
60g ham, sliced
1 tsp thyme
1 shallot, finely chopped
2 cloves
140ml dry sherry
600ml stock or water
450g rice
120g butter
900ml stock or water
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
generous pinch of saffron crushed in a mortar with 2 tbsp water
1 tbsp curry powder
2 tbsp raisins briefly boiled in white wine to plump and drained
Method:
Slice the meat from chicken bones and set aside. Separate the bones, place in a pan and combine with the ham, thyme, shallot, cloves, sherry and stock. Bring to a boil then continue boiling gently for about 30 minutes. Strain into a clean pan, bring to a pan then reduce to 70ml in volume then combine with the chicken meat and set aside to keep warm.
Thoroughly wash the rice in a colander under plenty of cold, running, water to remove the excess starch. In the meantime, bring 1.5l of lightly-salted water to a boil, add the rice and parboil for 3 minutes then drain and set aside.
Melt the butter in a pan, add the rice and fry until very lightly-browned then add the 900ml of stock or water along with the cayenne pepper and saffron. Bring to a simmer, cover the pan and and cook gently for about 45 minutes, or until the rice is done and almost dry. Fluff with a fork then add the curry powder.
Pile the rice on a serving dish and surround with the reserved chicken meat. Garnish with the raisins and serve.
