Monday, February 25, 2013

Kashmiri Pulao/Pilaf ~ a royal treat

Yes, you read it right. This pilaf is fit for a king, fit to be in the kitchen of kings and queens and fit for everyone out there. Its sweet from the crunch of the fruits, mildly spiced and rich from those ghee roasted cashew bits. Is that enough reason for you to try this dish atleast once. Yes, try it once and you will be hooked to it or else you would want to try it atleast once every month, a change from the regular spicy and masala-y biryanis. Atleast that's what has happened in our case.

I love to try new dishes much to the huss's annoyance. He always sticks to the tried and tested recipes. Once during a common friend's treat, we ordered an Indian bread basket. It had naans, tandoori rotis, stuffed phulkas and a heavily buttered Kashmiri naan which was totally ignored by everyone. It sat there beautifully studded with red and green tutti frutties and that made me grab the naan. I totally loved it ~ the slight hint of sweetness worked out great for me and since then its been Kashmiri naan for me.

But Kashmiri pilaf has never made it to my plate till date. Whenever I imagined Kashmiri pilaf, all I got was an overdose of sweetness. And so when the question of weekend lunch was thrown during the weekday dinner, I thought of giving this a go mainly because I was in control of what went into the pressure cooker. I browsed for recipes but was not satisfied with what came up and hence went by my instincts. It came out good and I am sure I will be making this often. I made a simple potato masala to go with it and the two teamed up great.

~*What U Need*~
Basmati rice - 1 1/2 cups
Water - 1 cup
Milk - 2 cups

Cinnamon - 1" stick
Cloves - 2
Cardamom pods - 2
Bay leaf - 1

Onions - 2 + 1/2, sliced
Green chilli - 1
Ginger garlic paste - 1 tsp
Tutti frutti - 1/4 cup
Fruits, chopped - 1 cup(apple, pineapple, pomegranate)
Raisins - 2 tbsp
Broken cashews - 2 tbsp

Ghee - 1+2 tbsp
Oil - 2 tbsp
Warm milk - 1 tbsp
Saffron - 1/2 tsp

How I Made it:
Clean and soak basmati rice for 15 mins. Add the saffron to the warm milk and set aside for 10 mins. Chop the fruits and set aside. Fry the raisins and cashews in 1 tbsp ghee till golden and puffy.

Heat the remaining ghee in a pressure cooker. Add the cinnamon, cloves, cardamom and bay-leaf and fry. Add the slit green chilli and fry.

Add the sliced onions (from 2 onions) and saute till golden and soft. Add the ginger garlic paste and saute. Once done, add the water, milk and soaked basmati rice and pressure cook for 2 whistles. Meanwhile deep fry the remaining sliced onions till brown.

Once the rice is done, fluff with a fork. Sprinkle the soaked saffron mixture onto the rice and fluff. Add the frutis, half of the fried onions, fried raisins and cashews and mix carefully not to break the rice.

Serve warm with the remaining fried onions!!!

So thats it Folks...
With Love,

Signs off!!!

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51 comments:

  1. looks wonderful...love to taste now itself!!

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  2. Title is so catchy, this is necessary dish to try, and presentation is too good.
    (If you could change your background, it’s too colourful, mixing with original post.)No offence
    Have a great weekend ahead!

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  3. Hi Vimitha, this look really awesome. Love your pilaf and the color is so pretty. I don't mind to have extra serving please!

    Have a wonderful week ahead,regards.

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  4. beautiful delicious pulav..awesome click ..

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  5. Pulao looks so delicious and colorful!!
    Nice pictures, Vimitha :)

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  6. I love Kashmiri polau ! I mean i love love love love love ^ infinity :D
    am book marking this page :)

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  7. this looks really lovely... looks really fit for a king...

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  8. This looks absolutely stunning! Well done on a great recipe and pictures :)

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  9. look absolutely tempting !! Gorgeous

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  10. Colorful n delicious pulao. loved ur clicks too...

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  11. Woww.. Looks super delicious and perfect.. wonderful pictures too. thanks for sharing dear :)

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  12. looks colorful.. i like this.. bt my hus always prefer hot and spicy recipe.. :( btw lovely clicks..:)

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  13. PERFECT explanation....yesterday we had a pot-luck and i made some veg-pulav. Everyone were happy with my preparation and then started the talk about kashmiri pulav - was happy to see the recipe today. your new looks is cool too.

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  14. so colorful and flavorful, must have tasted awesome..

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  15. lovely recipe..looks delicious..
    http://foody-buddy.blogspot.com/
    new follower to ur blog...
    If you get a chance, visit my blog...

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  16. OH MY GOD that looks so DELICIOUS, totally in luv with it dear. Superb.

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  17. Take a bow dear Vimitha. This pulao is meant for Royalty. So colorful and lavish!
    Deepa

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  18. very colourful and mix of flavours.. loved the snap
    Noel Collections

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  19. lovely mouth watering and tempting kashmiri pulao.

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  20. Adorably delicious.nice pics,so tempting,

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  21. Tasty & wonderful pulao! Loved the colours :)

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  22. "...ghee roasted cashew bits" and raisins. Sounds wonderfully flavorful. Vimitha, help me out here, what are the green and red tutti frutti? And now I'm off to check on your simple potato masala!

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  23. So colorful & inviting!!!
    Prathima Rao
    Prats Corner

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  24. OMG! its soooooooo colorful...
    http://recipe-excavator.blogspot.com

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  25. Loved the new look of your blog :) So colorful and pleasing!! The pulao also looks so royal and yum!! :)

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  26. colorful and delicious pulao made me hungry.

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  27. Vimitha, this is definitely something different! With addition of fruits, this would be really tasty with hints of sweetness. I like it and the photo of the pilaf is beautiful!

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  28. Pulao looks royal, colourful and too delicious.......amazing!

    today's recipe:
    http://sanolisrecipies.blogspot.in/2013/02/my-200th-post-savoury-pancake-regular.html

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  29. Love the colours on the blog, so vibrant.
    Never thought of adding pomegranates on rice, so nice and cool!

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  30. WOW looks so good! I would definitely like to have a plate of that.

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  31. very colourful preparation dear...enakku ore plate kidaikuma?

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  32. love the presentation,Vimitha..yummy colorful pulao!!

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  33. Thanks for sharing your version Vimitha , looks delicious

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  34. So colourfull pulao.Love the header of ur blog.

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  35. Delicious kasahmiri pulao, yes it is royal.

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  36. Kashmiri pulao looks delicious! Wonderful snaps!!
    http://www.rita-bose-cooking.com/

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  37. nice clicks.. delicious and colorful pulao..

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  38. Beautifully done, who can resist to this wonderful and delicious dish.

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  39. love the mild colours of the pulav. luks very tempting.

    first time here. nice space. do visit my blog as well...

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