Shahi Pulav

I am a South Indian. For me, Pulav means only one thing. It is rice with ground onion and cilantro paste with other spices, cooked with lot of veggies. You can read my regular pulav recipe here. When I heard of this pulav, which is more like fried rice, I thought let me try that. Not because of anything, but it gave me a reason to use my wildly growing mint. I am very pleased with this recipe though. This is actually perfect for parties to go with different kinds of dals or curries.

One Year Back - North Indian Cucumber salad - Chucumber
Two Years Back - Homemade vegetable broth
Recipe adapted from - Vahrehvah Chef.
Ingredients: 
Basmati rice - 2 cups soaked in enough water for 30 minutes
Water - 4 cups (Use 3 cups if using new rice and not aged basmati)
Oil - 4 TBSP
Shah jeera or kala jeera/ black cumin / caraway seeds - 1 tsp
Cashews - 3 TBSP
Golden or Indian green raisins - 3 TBSP
Cinnamon - 2 sticks of 1"
Cardamom - 2 - 3 whole
Cloves - 5 - 6
Sugar - 1 TBSP
Salt - to taste
Red Onions - 2 medium sliced into strips of 1"
Ginger - 1" piece
Garlic - 2 pods
Green chillies - 5 - 8 as per taste
Cilantro - 1/2 cup chopped
Mint leaves - 1/2 cup chopped

Method:
In a pan, heat oil. When hot, add black cumin. When they pop, add cinnamon sticks, cardamom, cloves followed by cashews and raisins. Stir and add sugar. Stir and once the cashews are toasted, add onions and mix. Let it wilt. Take ginger, garlic and green chillies in a blender and crush them without adding any water. You could also mince them fine with a knife instead. Add it to the pot and mix. When onions are half done, add mint and cilantro. Add salt and mix well. When onions are done, add 4 cups of water. Drain the rice and add it to the pot and mix once or twice. Check for the salt. Increase the heat until the mixture starts boiling and has most of the water evaporated. Turn down the heat to very low and cover with a lid. Let it cook completely. It will take 5 - 8 minutes after you have covered with the lid. Turn off the heat and after 10 minutes, fluff with a fork. Serve warm with any curry of choice or raita. By the time I took pictures, I was not left with any raita, so here is a plain shahi pulav picture.

Notes:
You could make this in rice cooker too. After the onions are cooked, transfer the contents to a rice cooker, add water and rice and turn it on.
Enjoy.

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