Machboos De'Ai - cooking recipe

Ingredients

1 cinnamon stick, broken into chunks (darseen)
4 -6 cloves (mismar)
1 -2 bay leaf (warag gar)
6 -8 pieces cardamom, smashed (hail)
1 teaspoon of crushed black pepper (or 1/2 teaspoon ground, filfil aswad)
1 -2 piece star anise (yansoon alnajm)
1 1 dried black lemons (loomi aswad) or 1/2 lemon, juice of (optional, can use 1 cap full of white vinegar or omit it altogether)
4 -6 curry leaves (optional)
1 chopped tomato (optional, tamat)
1 medium onion (busl, finely chopped or halved)
1/2 bulb of garlic, peeled and smashed (thoom, can also be chopped)
3 -4 cups of long grain basmati rice (aish basmati, regular long grain can be substituted at a loss of flavor)
salt (mil'h)
2 whole chickens, cleaned and cut in half (de'ai'tain)
turmeric, powder (kurkum, for dusting)
cinnamon (for dusting)
garlic powder (for dusting)
water, for boiling
1 teaspoon saffron thread
olive oil or other oil (for frying)

Preparation

Take all the stuff in the list from the cinnamon stick all the way down to the crushed garlic and put them in a pot or pressure cooker. Add the chickens and fill with enough water to cover them by and inch. Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of salt (of to taste; if your tasting the salt in the water you'll want to add the chickens last). You'll be saving the liquid for making the rice later. Boil for one hour in a regular pot, or 35 minutes in a pressure cooker.
While the chicken is boiling, clean the rice and fry it in olive oil until some of the grains look white. Set aside. Steep the saffron in 1/4 cup (or a little less) hot water.
When the chicken is done boiling, remove the chicken carefully (you don't want them to break apart). Set aside to drip. You can strain the broth and discard the pieces in it, or you can keep the broth as-is. I usually strain it because my husband doesn't want to remove whole spices from his food.
Put the rice in the pot, and cover up to your first knuckle (from the tip of your finger). You might need to add water or use less, depending on your elevation and humidity and all that. Now is also a good time to check the saltiness, and add if needed (if you made it too salty, the only way to save the dish is remove some of the liquid and replace it with some plain hot water). Bring the rice to a boil, then bring down to a simmer until the rice has absorbed all the liquid. In the meantime, go back to the chicken.
Rub the chickens with oil and then dust them with garlic, cinnamon and turmeric. When the rice is done cooking, plate it in a large dish. Quickly pan-fry the chicken in olive oil, and arrange with the rice. You can garnish with chopped cilantro, mint and parsley. Wrap in foil and put in warm oven to keep warm until serving. Eat with daqoos and whatever other sauces you feel like.