Machboos Omani chicken one pot rice

A step by step guide to making the National dish of Yemen a chicken one pot rice.
From the book Bahari: Recipes from an Omani Kitchen and Beyond.
6 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 garlic cloves, or 1 tbsp garlic paste
2 cinnamon sticks
8 cardamom pods
3 tsp baharat spice mix
2 green chillies, halved or roughly chopped (optional)
2 dried limes
2 tbsp tomato purée
1-1.5kg whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces, skin left on or removed
3 tomatoes, finely chopped
½ red or green pepper, chopped
600g basmati rice
50g blanched almonds (optional)
10g coriander, finely chopped
½ pomegranate, seeds only (optional)