This aromatic and unique Pilaf Seychellois – Plo Seselwa- is made with three meats and seasoned with turmeric and tropical spices. The dish is a medley of both textures and flavours and will certainly fully satisfy your taste buds.
- 300 g salted pork
- 300 g chicken pieces
- 300 g Local Seychellois or continental Sausages
- 600 g Basmati Rice
- 600 ml salted pork cooking liquor- monitor quantity
- 1 medium onion-sliced
- 1 tsp finely diced ginger
- 1 tsp roughly crushed toasted coriander seeds
- 5 sprigs thyme- washed
- 6 cardamom pods-bruised
- 5 whole cloves
- 1 tsp cummin seeds
- 1 tsp mustard seeds
- Oil to fry chicken
- 2 tbsp olive oil for pilaf
- 2 tsp ground turmeric
- 10 curry leaves
- ½ tsp Cinammon powder
- Salt and pepper to taste
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Cut the chicken into bite size pieces. Season with salt and pepper
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Heat oil in a medium size pan and add chicken pieces
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Fry until golden brown
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Remove from oil and transfer into a bowl and keep.
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Quickly rinse the sausages in running water and pat dry. Do not cut.
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Heat some water in a small pot and add sausage and cook for about 10 minutes
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Allow to cool and cut into bite size pieces. Keep
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Put salted pork in a bowl and wash to remove all surface salt.
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Soak it in fresh water for about 2 hours.
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Remove it from soaking liquid and wash very thoroughly under running water to further remove any surface salt.
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Transfer to a pot and add about one litre of water and gently simmer for about 20 minutes
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Remove the pork from cooking liquor, allow it to cool and cut into bite-size pieces. Keep the cooking liquor to use as stock for the dish instead of water. This is because the flavour secret of the dish is using the cooking liquor in which the salted pork was cooked.
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Heat a medium size pan and lightly toast the cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and roughly crushed coriander seeds for no longer than 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
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Add oil to a heavy medium size pot and stir in the onion, ginger, curry leaves and chopped thyme, and fry for a minute or so.
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Add washed rice and turmeric and stir thoroughly so that all spices and the oil coat the rice.
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Add about 400ml of the cooking liqour, stir in the meats and bring to a simmer and cover the pot. Use low to medium heat so as to avoid burning the rice.
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After about 10 minutes, stir in the remaining 200ml of cooking liquor and cook for about 20 minutes or until rice is cooked. You may have to adjust the water quantity to cook the rice to your desired preferences
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Heat a medium size pan and lightly toast the cardamom, cloves, cumin seeds, mustard seeds and roughly crushed coriander seeds for no longer than 2 minutes. Transfer to a bowl.
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Add oil to the pan and stir in the onion, ginger ,curry leaves and chopped thyme, and fry for a minute or so.
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Transfer all the aromatics to a rice cooker and thoroughly stir in the rice and turmeric, the three meats and water and start the cooking process.
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When the cooking liquor starts to boil, carefully mix well together. Allow rice to continue cooking until ready.
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Immediately after rice is cooked, open rice cooker. You will find that the chicken pieces, pork and sausage pieces will have floated to the top. Taking great care, carefully mix all the ingredients together so as to obtain a uniform mix. Close rice cooker and allow to rest covered for a about 15 minutes.
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When ready, transfer the pilaf onto a warm serving dish, and sprinkle with the chopped coriander leaves.
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Ideally served hot with a vegetable achar and freshly made chilli sauce .
This pilaf has no chilli. You may decide to add some if you wish.
If the cooking liquor is too salted dilute with some water
You may wish to decorate with sliced boiled eggs
The sausages may be microwaved or even pan-grilled
Adding a few curry leaves at the last minutes helps to enhance the aroma of the pilaf.