Zafrani Pulao

Zafrani Pulao

One, out of the several qualities of rice lies in its versatility.The sweet aroma of long grain basmati rice, which when aged to the perfect amount is a rage in itself.And Indians, belonging to a land of agriculture and withstanding a long history and tradition in almost every aspects of life, has taken rice and its associated recipes to the next level.Innumerable types of rice are available here but the undisputed king is - The Basmati.During any of my rice recipes I have always insisted upon using the finest quality out there in the market.And one of the chracterestics of the Basmati is once you put it in boiling water, it doubles in length(well almost!).

Rice is generally consumed steamed, but when its celebration time or its guest time we have Fried rice, Pulao, Biryani. With the phoron(basic ingredients that go on to define the ultimate taste) of a little amount of ghee and garam masala, we can perform innumerable combinations of the other ingredients that virtually there can be a 100 differents forms of Pulao/Fried Rice.Biryani ofcourse belongs to a different class all together - its the king of Indian dishes and the ultimate dream stuff of any cook.

So,sometime back when I was pondering to prepare a different kind of Pulao, the wife suggested why not try out something with Zafran(Saffron)?But getting the right Zafran is difficult because it is expensive and uber rare commodity and most of the stuff that are available in the market are either "look alike" zafrans or "mixed" with real ones.After long searches my trusted shop did fetch me one, but the authenticity I do not know, rather I didnot want to know! So, here is the Zafrani pulao recipe, which required more time to fetch the stuff than cooking it in reality.

Serves: 2

Preparation Time: 20 mins.
Cooking Time: 15 mins.

Ingredients:

• Rice: 200 gms.Use the finest quality Basmati rice.
• Zafran Strans Soaked in 25 ml Hot Milk - 12-15.
• Cashew Nuts - 50 gms
• Soaked Raisins - 25 gms
• Vegetable Oil - 2 tbsp.
• Ghee - 3 tb sp.
• Salt - to taste

Whole Spices:

• Bay leaf - 1
• Green Cardamon - 3.
• Black Cardamon - 1
• Black Pepper - 4-5.Crushed.
• Cinnamon Stick - One 2 inch piece.
• Cloves - 3-4.

Scents and Aroma:

• Kewra Water - 1 drop.DONOT overdo this.
• Rose  Water - 1 drop.DONOT overdo this.

Preparation:

• Soak the rice in water for 30 mins.
• Prepare rice like it is normally done - But add some amount of salt to taste and one table spoon of oil while preparing the rice.
• Once the rice is done, spread it on plates/thalis under a fan. This will remove the moisture from the rice and leave it absolutely dry.
• Check for the salt amount in rice, depending upon which you may add more salt during the cooking.

Cooking:

• Heat the 2 tbsp of vegetable oil in a kadai/wok.
• When the oil gets hot, add the whole spices in it.
• Once the sweet aroma of the spices evolve add the prepared rice and IMMEDIATELY reduce the heat to low.
• Stir for 2-3 mins and ensure that the rice does not stick to the wok.
• Add the Zafran soaked hot milk to the rice and continue stirring for a further 5-6 mins.
• Mix the cashew nuts,raisins and ghee at this point and ensure proper mixing of the ingredients for another 5 mins.
• Add a drop each of rose water and kewra water and stick to the quantities as mentioned else the entire flavour of the pulao will go for a toss.
• Give a final mix.

The Zafrani pulao should be done with 15 mins of frying.Serve hot nd enjoy with chicken/mutton dishes.