Wash and rinse the rice. Then soak it in plenty of water. Set aside.

Peel the onions and chop 4 of them. In a cooking pan or a stock pot heat the oil and fry the chopped onions with the whole cumin seeds and whole coriander seeds.

When the onions become translucent, add in the cloves, cardamoms, black pepper, garlic, ginger, bay leaves, and cinnamon. Cook further until the onions turn golden brown. 

Then add the salt, the remaining whole onion and the chicken pieces. Give a stir and let the poultry cook until it turns opaque in colour.

Pour the water in the chicken, let it boil and simmer at low heat. It takes me an hour to make the stock. 

By now, the rice will have expanded a little bit and turned white opaque in colour. Drain the rice. Set aside.

Sieve the stock into a large cooking pan and discard the ginger, garlic, bay leaves, and all the whole spices. Carefully pick the chicken pieces and put them back into the stock. 

Let the stock boil again. Once it gets to the boiling point, put the rice in it and cook at moderate-high heat until all the water evaporates. Take care throughout the process by stirring the rice every now and then. But make sure not to break the grains.

Cover the pan lid with a tea towel and put it on the pan. Turn the heat down and further cook at low heat until the steam comes out.