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1. Make a paste with all the ingredients and marinate the chicken pieces for 1-2 hours.
2. Add to a pyrex dish with some more olive oil and water.
3. Preheat your oven at 200 Degrees Celsius, place in the oven and after 10 minutes turn the heat down to 180 degrees Celsius. 
4. When done, garnish with fresh coriander. 
5. Serve with potato wedges, crisp salad or veggies. 

1/2 cup oil
5 onions, thinly sliced

1. Combine all the spice mix ingredients together and set aside. 
2. Heat in a pan, oil and braise the onions till golden.
3. Remove and drain the fried onions, reserve half of them and crush the other half.
4. In the same pan, with the oil still hot, add the chicken, ginger paste, garlic paste and 1/2 tsp salt, and fry the chicken on high heat on both sides until the meat changes color (so for about 5 minutes).
5. Add the crushed onions and the rest of the spice mix ingredients.
6. Give everything a stir and then add around 1 cup of water.
7. Lower the heat and let the chicken simmer gently, place the cover on the pot, put the heat on low and leave to cook till the chicken is tender.
8. It should take around 15-20 minutes depending on the size of the chicken pieces.
9. Keep checking on the meat, keep the heat on low and watch you do not over cook the chicken as it will cook more during the steaming of the pilau. 
10. In the meantime, prepare the rice, soak for 30 minutes.
11. In a big pan of water, add some salt, vinegar and the green chilli.
12. Once the water comes to a boil, drain the pre-soaked rice and cook it in the boiling water until it is about 3/4 done.
13. Drain the water from the rice.
14. When the chicken is done turn off the heat. 
15. In a big pot, layer half of the rice first.
16. Next, a layer of the chicken with its masala over the rice, sprinkle the reserved fried onions on top.
17. Then, add the last layer of the rice, cover the pot tightly  and place on a low heat and steam for about 15 minutes or bake in a preheated oven at 180 Degrees Celsius for the same amount of time. 
18. Whilst the pilau is steaming, prepare the garnish by heating butter then lightly fry the raisins and grated carrots for about a minute. 
19. When the pilau is ready, dish out into a platter, top with the garnish, and serve with rita, kachoobar (grated onions mixed with vinegar) and dhay (sour milk mixed with green chutney).

STEAK MARINADE

500g rump or rib-eye steak
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1 tsp lemon pepper
1 tsp pepper steak
1 tsp ground garlic
2 tsp ground green chillies

• Marinate the steak in the spices above, I would say make more marinade than needed because when the 2nd cooking step comes into play the marinade will be used to baste.
• Slice a trio of robot peppers (all 3 colors) and onion rings and allow to cook on medium heat.

* If you cannot find Knorr dressing, you can use the same Italian salad dressing you used in the starting, to save don't use the entire bottle in the starting leave a little for the ending.
* If you like mushrooms you can chop some into the mix.
* I would say the best tip is to keep a packet of Hawaiian Stir-fry in the freezer, its a life saver to make a quick stir-fry when you have unexpected guests or a different meal didn't go the way you expected.


* You can substitute steak with chicken (same spices minus the tenderizer) if that is what you prefer a lighter meal.

* Also for a more unconventional touch add seasoned, fried potato chips, give a toss and serve hot (goes with both steak and chicken).

For more infomation email Safiyya Patel at vanillasugarsa@gmail.com or/and www.vanillasugar.co.za