Basanti Pulao
There may be several ways of making this pulao. This recipe is my family recipe. It is extremely simple once you have mastered the art of cooking the rice perfectly.
Recipe by Madhushree
Ingredients
- 2 Cups Rice Use aromatic short grain Govindbhog or the closest similar is ambemohar
- 1 Tbsp Turmeric Powder
- 2 Tbsp Salt
- 6 Tbsp Sugar
- 1 Tsp Garam Masala Powder Bengali Garam Masala powder is a mix of green cardamom, cinnamon and cloves
- 1 Tsp Ginger Paste
- 5 Tbsp Ghee or Clarified Butter
- 1-2 No Dried Bay Leaf
- 1/2 Cup Broken Cashews
- 1/2 Cup Kismis/ Golden raisins
- 1 Tbsp Thick Yogurt
Instructions
- Wash the rice thoroughly and soak it in water for half hour.
- After half hour, drain the water out completely.
- Now mix the rice with salt, sugar, garam masala powder, turmeric powder, yogurt and ginger paste and keep aside.
- In a frying pan, take a couple of tbsp of ghee and heat it. When the ghee is hot, add the bay leaf and then the cashew and kishmish.
- Stir it around and keep the heat to low since cashew burns very quickly. When the cashew is lightly golden, add the rice and stir it around to make sure that the rice doesn't stick to the bottom.
- Once the rice is fried, it just takes 4-5 minutes, turn off the heat.
- There are several ways of cooking the rice now. One can simply add hot water to the frying pan, stir it around, cover and cook for 10 - 15 minutes. In between, open the lid and drizzle the rest of the ghee. The quantity of hot water is usually double the quantity of rice. In case of gobindbhog, the quantity of water should be one and half times.
- One can also use a pressure cooker to make the pulao. For a pressure cooker, add the rice in the pressure cooker and for 2 cups of rice, add only one cup of water plus 2 tbsp. Let the water boil and release steam, at which point you close the lid of the pressure cooker and turn the heat to medium. Let there be a slow whistle for sometime (approximately 6- 7 minutes) and then turn of the gas. The rice cooks in the steam which is created in the pressure cooker. Let the steam release on its own and the open the lid and drizzle the rest of the ghee all over.
- I always do my pulaos in an electric rice cooker. For an electric rice cooker, place the rice inside the container. Add exactly double the quantity of hot water or as per the instruction of your rice cooker. Cover the container and turn on the cooker.
- Sometimes midway, open the lid and quickly drizzle the rest of the ghee all around and cover and let the rice cooker do its job.
- When it is done, serve it hot with some kosha mangsho and alur dom.
Notes
1) The quantity of water to be used can sometimes be tricky. Even though we follow the basic double the quantity of water formula, sometimes, depending on the quality of rice or the temperature of a place as well as the amount of heat used, the cooking time may vary.
2) Same goes for the amount of salt and sugar. Some people like it very sweet and add more sugar. For me, 6 tbsp always works fine.
2) Same goes for the amount of salt and sugar. Some people like it very sweet and add more sugar. For me, 6 tbsp always works fine.