Qabili Pilau - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced
1 lb basmati rice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 lbs lamb or 1 chicken
1 cup water
2 large carrots
1 cup seedless raisin
2 teaspoons char masala or 2 teaspoons cumin
1/4 teaspoon saffron (optional)
2 1/2 pints water
salt and pepper
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 - 1 1/2 teaspoon cardamom

Preparation

Brown 1 medium diced onion in oil. Fry until the onion is fairly dark. Add 1 lb lamb cut into 1\"-2\" cubes and brown lightly.
Add 2 cups of water, 1 teaspoons Salt and 1 to 1 1/2 tsp each (cinnamon, ground cumin and ground cardamom) Cover and simmer until meat is tender, about an hour.
Remove meat from the juice and set juice aside. Cut 3 carrots into match stick size pieces. Saute carrots and 1 tsp sugar in about 1/4 cup of oil. Cook until they are lightly browned. Remove from oil Add 1 cup of raisins (I prefer golden sultanas) to the oil and cook until they swell up.
Boil the meat juice and add 2 cups basmati (very long grained) rice, 1 1/2 tsp salt and enough boiling water to come 2 inches over the rice. Cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is tender, but not mushy.
Mix the meat, carrots, raisins and rice together. Place in a large oven-proof casserole, cover and bake at 300 degrees for about a half hour--or up to an hour. To serve--place on platter, making sure the carrots and raisins show on top.