Nasi Kebuli

Nasi kebuli is an Indonesian member of the pilaf family, its name taken from kabuli palaw, the Afghan rice dish, and its character shaped by Hadhrami Arab, Yemeni and Indian cooking, with cousins in mandi, kabsa and biryani. Food writers connect it to the surge of Hadhrami Arab migration to Indonesia in the nineteenth century, when settlers from Yemen blended their rice traditions with local ingredients. It became established among Arab Indonesians, most prominently the Arab-descended Betawi of the Jakarta region, and is typically served at religious occasions such as Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha and Mawlid. It is also found in other areas with Arab-Indonesian communities across Java.

This is rice with the volume turned up. The grains are golden and glossy with ghee, each one carrying a wave of warm spice — the sweet-resinous hit of clove and cardamom, the earthiness of cumin, the wood of cinnamon. The goat is tender and gamey-rich, the long cook having softened it into the spiced rice. Fried shallots add crisp savour, raisins drop in little bursts of sweetness, and the pickles and sambal cut through with sharp acidity. It is filling and indulgent, the sort of plate that anchors a celebration table.

The dish is a pilaf, so the technique is about cooking the rice in flavoured liquid rather than plain water. First the goat is simmered into a rich, gelatin-laden stock; cooking the rice in that stock rather than water is what carries the meaty depth into every grain. The whole spices are bloomed in ghee at the start so their fat-soluble aromatics dissolve into the oil and coat the rice as it cooks. Ghee also keeps the grains separate and glossy. The rice is then cooked by absorption — simmered until it has drunk up the measured stock, sometimes finished gently covered so the steam evens out the cook and the grains stay distinct rather than turning to porridge.