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Been to the Coast of Kenya? Then you must know how the locals cherish their most favorite rice dish, ‘pilau’ and they serve it with kachumbari.Good enough, the dish has spread all over the country and everyone loves the popular dish including me.
I mean,
A wedding without pilau isn’t complete!
A graduation without the yummy coastal dish is incomplete!
And a retreat without pilau cannot just happen!
So, when we had our retreat at Paradise Lost, we had the chance of preparing the rice dish for all of us. It couldn’t just miss on the menu! As much as we had a lot of chapattis and peas stew on the menu, pilau was the king!
What’s great about the dish is the aroma! The dish is full of spices thus produces such an aroma that would invite you at the table without any second thoughts.
Forget ‘pilau njeri’ , this is how to make the real ‘ beef pilau’ like a local from the coast. The recipe was courtesy of Grace Bako who is an absolute master in the kitchen and good enough, has spent a significant time of her life living at the Coast.
Ride along…
BEEF PILAU WITH KACHUMBARI
Preparation Time: 2 hours.
Servings: For 14 people.
INGREDIENTS
FOR PILAU
I cup of oil.
5 medium onions, chopped.
5 medium carrots, grated.
10 big, ripe tomatoes, diced.
I bulb of garlic, ground the cloves of garlic to fineness.
3 fruits of green pepper, cubed.
3 tablespoons full of masala.
Freshly ground black pepper.
Freshly ground cardamom.
4 kg of beef, cut into small pieces and cooked before with pawpaw to tenderize it.
3kg (6 cups) Dawaat Basmati rice rinsed and soaked.
12 cups of water (to cook the rice)
A bunch of coriander leaves.
Salt to taste.
FOR KACHUMBARI
5 bulbs of big onions, diced.
20 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, circled.
A bunch of coriander leaves.
Salt to taste.
4 lemons to taste.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE BEEF PILAU
- Heat the oil in a larger cooking pot.
- Add the onions and stir until they brown before adding the grounded garlic and ginger.
- Put the carrots inside the pot, season with salt then stir to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- After they brown, add the black pepper, cardamom, and ‘pilau’ masala. Cook for a few minutes till they darken up in the pot.
- Add the tomatoes, green pepper and coriander leaves. Let them cook to softness.
- Add the beef in the pot making sure to let it absorb the juices of the spices and cook for about 4 minutes.
- Pour in water to cook the rice inside the pot and let it boil.
- Add the rinsed rice in the boiling water and let it simmer uncovered until the rice runs almost dry.
- Cover the pot and reduce the temperature to allow the rice to sit for around 10 minutes till it’s ready.
- Remove the rice and serve the ‘beef pilau’ immediately with ‘kachumbari’ and drinks.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE KACHUMBARI
- In a large bowl, mix up the onions, tomatoes and coriander leaves.
- Spice it up with salt to taste and squeeze a little lemon juice over the bowl.
HOW TO SERVE
Top the ‘kachumbari ‘over the ‘beef pilau’ on your plate and enjoy!
There you have it! We prepared the recipe at Paradise Lost together with Grace Bako being the chief chef. After which, we ate together as a family over conversations we had and snapshot moments. Good enough, we had a lot of soft drinks, chapattis and peas stew on the menu too as well as fruits and drinking water for a balanced diet.
How awesome!
Beef pilau served with kachumbari
*Black pepper makes the beef pilau spicy hot so if you don’t appreciate spicy dishes, please omit that. Otherwise, you can always use a small amount of it or a lot depending on your taste.
Well, do you love the beef pilau?
Or would you be willing to prepare it?
Please share your thoughts with me below…
Hugs!
Dalene.
Now this was my favorite part; the spicy pilau! Thinking about it is making me salivate. Thanks for sharing the recipe .
I will try and see if I can replicate it; if not Grace needs to change careers and be a chef so we can hire her.
Haha…I think she should just be our chef. Anyway, really working on the recipe too. I’ll also make sure it comes out as yummy.
Glad you dropped by!
Now, this sounds like a delicious meal! I could 100% give this a try myself. I’ll have to give making it a go!
Oh Sarah! It is super delicious so please give it a try especially if you appreciate spices in food.
Xoxo!
My husband loves beef and he would love this for dinner. I need to get the ingredients to make this.
That’s awesome Tara. I’m certain that he’ll love the beef pilau too.
Hugs!
I haven’t tried beef pilau before, but it looks really amazing and mouth watering! Thank you for sharing the recipe and how to cook it!
Anytime Reika.
Beef pilau is so yummy you’ll love it when you have it.
Xoxo!
This looks good. I love spicy beef and this looks right up my ally. I’ll have to try making it.
Wohoo! Then it actually will be your favorite since we made it spicy.
Xoxo!
This looks amazing! I love spicy food and food with a lot of flavor, which you can literally see from the pictures. I going to try making this for my husband!
How packed this pilau is! He will just love it.
Xoxo!
This dish looks like it would be so delicious. I would love to give it a try – looks like it is jam packed with some amazing flavors I would really like.
Packed with amazing flavours? Well that’s so true! How yummy!
Xoxo!
It’s a mouthwatering recipe. I love Pilau and want to try different varieties of it. I think I should give it a try.
That’s awesome. I’m happy you love pilau too. Please try this recipe out too.
Hugs!
Yum, this looks so delicious! I had not heard of this before, but it definitely looks like something my family would enjoy, so looking forward to giving it a try!!
It’s so yummy Angela. If you follow the recipe, you’ll be sure of a great first pilau meal for you too.
Hugs!
I do not eat beef but I would totally go for Chicken Pilau. It is one of my favourite dishes. Also, your pictures are totally amazing. The presentation itself can give someone hunger pangs instantly
Oh Sayanti…thank you gorgeous! And if you don’t take beef, you could always substitute it with chicken pieces in the recipe. It is just as yummy.
Xoxo!
We are Filipinos so we are rice eaters. And of course, we really like flavored or fried rice. My husband’s favorites are paella and Mongolian rice. I will try to cook this one for him. 🙂
That’s great! If you love flavoured rice, then for sure, you’ll appreciate pilau.
Hugs!
Beef pilau looks delicious I love kachumabri along with it, full flavored meal for any time.
Absolutely Swathi! Just the perfect meal no wonder people prepare it in each occasion.
I am going to try these recipes! The food looks great! I am always looking for various ways to make rice. Thank you for sharing.
I’m glad you got a new recipe for rice now Andrea.
Xoxo!
I never knew that u r a great cook too. Now I guess I have to come down to see you for the delicious feed..?
Aaaw…thank you Moni. I’m working to up my kitchen skills too. You can’t to see more recipes over time.
Hugs!
Aaaahhhhh….pilau my love! Can eat it anyday….thanks Dalene, for sharing.
Aaaw Michael! Seems we all love pilau then…
Wohoo!
Any rice recipe would be a hit for me. Love this looks really delicious. Thanks for sharing.
Aaaw! It’s nice to hear that you too love rice Grace.
Xo!
You made salad sound the most desirable thing in the world. I will try it with chicken or mutton though.
And salad can be so yummy and easy to prepare. Please do try it Anshul.
I have tried that dish once but did not know it was so easy to make. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Aaaw Marnie…there you have the recipe now! It is so easy to make as long as you got all the ingredients.
Hugs!
Look like a very delicious meal. I love rice recipes so definitely going to try this.
Yay! That’s good to know Karen. Pilau is just yummy!
Hugs!
It looks like Chinese fried rice, but I bet the taste must be totally different because of the spices. Don’t know the aroma though, sadly, I can’t smell it from the photo.
Haha…I wish you could smell the aroma too but it’s too bad. Anyway, it is so yummy and filling especially because of the spices.
Hugs!
This looks very delicious. I am loving the ingredients you have used to make the dish.
Thank you Stella. The ingredients indeed add the color and taste to the pilau.
Xoxo!
I never been to Kenya and never heard also this food, but after seeing this in here i feel like i want to make some. Thank you for the recipe 🙂
Please do Damigo. You’ll love it. And I hope that you visit Kenya for a vacation someday and have the meal prepared by the gurus. You’ll love it!
Oh my!
I have never heard of this before, so I have never tried it but it looks so good! I will definitely have to give this a try and see how it turns out. Thanks for sharing!
Anytime Nicole! Hope you get to love pilau too.
Hugs.
Nom, nom, nom !! This beef pilau looks so scrumptious. We have a similar dish back in Romania called “pilaf “, the same ingredients except for cardamom and masala. Usually, we add chicken, not beef.
Very similar they are Catalina. It must be just as yummy!
Xoxo!
Wow… Pilau looks like a delicious dish! I would absolutely love to try this and will definitely be copying your recipe above. I love trying new dishes and this is perfect!
That’s good Melissa. Please try it out and let me know how it turned like. I’m sure it’ll be just as yummy!
Xoxo!
I love how flavorful this dish is. I was looking for something new to try this weekend. I think this might it. Thank you!
Go ahead Fatima!
Xoxo!
This meal looks delicious. I like it and looks like the seasonings will make this flavorful.
And it sure is delicious Kiwi.
Have fun preparing it.
Xo!