Chicken Pilau “Perlo”

Make sure you’ve removed the giblets from the chicken. Place chicken into a large pot or Dutch oven. Add water, celery, onion powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, 2 teaspoons salt, black pepper, and bay leaf. Bring to a slow boil over medium heat. Once water begins to boil, reduce heat down to low, cover, and allow to simmer for 1 hour.

Remove chicken from Dutch oven and remove all the skin and bones. Cut chicken into small chunks and set aside.

Carefully skim the surface of the liquid and remove the fat. Strain the liquid and reserve 4 cups. Set aside.

Slice sausage into 1-inch pieces. Add sausage to the Dutch oven and cook over medium heat for 2 minutes. (This just allows the sausage a chance to get slightly crispy. You can skip this part and add everything in all at once if you’d like.) Add the reserved 4 cups of liquid, chicken, 1 teaspoon of salt, and rice, and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat to low and cook for 20 minutes. Some stir their pilau a few times, but I set it and forget it. This insures the rice gets cooked to perfection!

Serve and enjoy!

Serves 6 to 8.