Indian Pooloot is a traditional British recipe, based on Charles Elmé Francatelli's recipe of 1861, for a classic starter of rice boiled with chicken where the chicken is jointed and fried with onion and rolled bacon until golden where the onion is served topped by the chicken, fried onions and stewed cardamoms and black pepper. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: Indian Pooloot.
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This is a classic recipe for a Victorian version of Indian Pooloot 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. 328.—INDIAN POOLOOT.
Wash a pound of rice and parboil it ; then place the rice in a stewpan with a fowl trussed; moisten with a quart of water or stock, and the juice of six onions extracted by pounding in a mortar, and then wringing the juice with great pressure through a napkin ; season with a little salt and the juice of green ginger ; in the absence of this, boil a tablespoonful of ground ginger in a gill of water and the juice of a lemon, and strain it through muslin to the fowl. While the fowl is boiling, cut four onions in slices and fry them of a light colour, and keep them warm on a plate ; fry also a dozen small rashers of streaky bacon, curled round into balls, and fastened in shape with tiny wooden pegs. By this time the fowl will be done; remove it from the stew pan, and set the rice to dry in its stew pan in the screen. Cut up the fowl into members or joints. fry these in the butter the onions were fried in, and then dish up the pooloot in manner following: viz.,—first, pile up the rice in the centre of the dish, then the joints of fowl, next strew the fried onions over the top, strew also some stewed cardamums and peppercorns over this ; garnish the dish round its base alternately with slices of hard-boiled eggs and the rolls of fried bacon, and serve hot.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
450g rice
1 boiling chicken, trussed
4l water or stock
6 onions
salt, to taste
ginger juice, to taste (pound fresh ginger and wring in a cloth to extract the juice)
4 onions, sliced
12 rashers of streaky bacon
onion for frying
6 green cardamom pods
1 tsp black peppercorns
6 hard-boiled eggs, halved
Method:
Chop the six onions, place in a mortar and pound to a paste. Scoop into a cloth then wring out as much of the juice as you can.
Was the rice thoroughly, place in a pan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Cook for 6 minutes then drain before placing in a clean pan with the trussed chicken, 4l water and onion juice. Season to taste with salt and ginger juice and bring to a boil. Cover the pan and cook until the chicken is done (about 40 minutes).
In the meantime, roll the bacon rashers into tubes and secure with a cocktail stick. Melt butter in a pan, add the onions and bacon and fry until the bacon is cooked through and the onions are well browned (remove from the pan and set aside). Add the cardamom pods and black pepper to a small pan with 60g butter. Bring to a simmer, cover and stew gently for 10 minutes.
When the chicken is done, remove from the pan (keep this on low heat to dry the rice and keep hot) then joint the chicken and add the pieces to the pan in which the onions were fried. Fry the chicken pieces until nicely browned.
Fluff the rice then pile up in the centre of a serving dish. Add the fowl joints then scatter over the browned onion pieces. Finally scatter the stewed cardamoms and black peppercorns over the top. Garnish the base alternately with the bacon and halved eggs then serve.
