As delicious as biryani but much easier and faster to prepare, chicken pulao will liven up any occasion or party. Pulao is a traditional dish that needs no introduction and there are many ways to prepare this dish. The traditional way of cooking pulao is a bit lengthy and requires some kitchen equipment that is not easily available to college students. College meals that are microwave friendly may have you scratching your head for new ideas. Pre-packaged meals get old after a while and are not exactly cheap on a student budget. Cooking in the dorm room or hostel is not the easiest thing to do. You have limited space and cooking equipment (maybe just a microwave) and you are probably looking for easy recipes that you can whip up in minutes. This recipe of dorm room microwave pulao is tasty and easy to prepare dish and it is budget friendly. Also you may easily customize it as per your choice. Do try this microwave chicken pulao and have a healthy meal in your dorm room.
Wash and soak the rice in water for about 30 minutes.
In a grinder add cube cut onion, cloves, black pepper corns, green cardamom, dried red chilies, fennel seeds, cumin, cinnamon and some salt. Add a bit water and make a paste of all these ingredients.
In a bowl add yogurt, chilli powder, and grind paste, combine everything well.
Add chicken pieces in this marination, coat it well and keep it aside.
Take a large microwave safe bowl (as we are cooking a good quantity of chicken pulao), add cooking oil, bay leaves and sliced onion in it. Give a stir to it.
Put the bowl in microwave and cook on microwave mode for 3 minutes. The onion will become soft in this time.
Take the bowl out and add ginger garlic paste in it, give a mix and cook in microwave for 2 minutes.
Now add marinated chicken in this cooked masala, mix well.
Cover the bowl with lid or with cling wrap (poke a few holes in it with tooth pick or fork), cook the chicken in microwave for 5 minutes.
Take out again and you will see chicken has released juices. Now add soaked and drained rice in the chicken.
Add water (double the quantity of rice) slit green chilies and salt to taste, give a gentle stir, cover the bowl again and cook in the microwave now for 15 more minutes. Gently stir the rice after every 5 minutes with a fork.
After the time take out chicken pulao and give 5 minutes of standing time to it without uncovering the bowl.
Serve this delicious and filling dorm friendly microwave chicken pulao and enjoy.
____________ Note: You may skip or change the spices as per your taste.
The microwave I used was of 900 watts, cooking time may vary depending on you microwave.
