Indian lemon-saffron rice pilaf is awesome. There are a million recipes out there, so I have my own conglomeration. I try to keep the seasonings delicate, for a change. Browse some of the recipes, but here’s essentially what I do.
Cook basmati rice as usual, with a big pinch of saffron and a whole lemon’s worth of juice in with the steaming water. Some recipes will have you add the lemon juice after, but that makes porridge/cruddy congee, so I just put it in the boiling water. Add a honking spoonful of ghee or butter just before putting in the rice, plus some salt. Suggested seasonings–ginger, freshly smushed cardamom, fenugreek, nutmeg, asafoetida or white pepper. No garlic or cumin this time.
If you like, after you add the rice, put in a handful of chopped golden raisins and chopped cashew or peanuts. Turn down the heat; wait till water is absorbed.
Fold in a little chopped greens if you want–chives, cilantro, whatever.
This goes great with roast or poached chicken.
A little cheat I like to use is fried shallots in the rice. That really zings it up. Also, I didn’t see any sauce on the chicken itself - usually we drizzle some light soy sauce and sesame seed oil (around 1 tablespoon each maybe?) on the chicken itself. The recipe itself looks pretty ok though.
I’ll give it another shot and maybe see if there’s any restaurants in the Chicago area that have a good version of this dish, so I can properly calibrate what it should taste like.