Chalkahlom pilau

Mon 25 August 2014

"Good evening dear. Would you like to eat a meal cooked with this red powder sent from Hungary by a chap I've only ever met on the internet?"

I didn't introduce the meal like that in actual fact, and if I did I might have been sent out for pizza. Hmmm, there's an idea. Anyway, here's my recipe for what I call Chalkahlom pilau.

  • 2 cups of rice
  • 2 cups of vegetable stock (or water plus a stock cube)
  • 1 can of kidney beans in water
  • 4 rashers of smoked bacon, finely chopped
  • 1 medium onion, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of paprika (preferably from someone you've never met on the internet)

  1. Put the rice in a rice cooker and add the two cups of stock, or add the two cups of water and crumble in the stock cube. (If you use a pot rather than a rice cooker then you might need to adjust quantities.)
  2. While the rice is heating up, fry the onion in a frying pan or wok on high heat for several minutes, then add the bacon.
  3. While the bacon is frying, open the can of kidney beans and add its contents (including water) to the rice cooker.
  4. Return to stirring the frying onion and bacon and keep it on high heat until it just starts to brown and caramelise, then turn to lowest heat.
  5. Wait until the rice has absorbed almost all the water then sprinkle the teaspoon of paprika over the rice and add the fried onion and bacon.
  6. Once the rice cooker is done, serve, and keep the emergency services on speed dial in case that chap in Hungary isn't as nice as he seems.