Meetha Pulao (Sweet Rice)

Ingredients:

• Basmati rice - 1 cup (soaked for 1 hour)
• Sugar - 1/2 cup
• Ghee or Butter - 3 tbsp (use home made ghee or Desi ghee for great taste)
• Cloves - 3 nos.
• Green cardamoms - 4 nos.
• Raisins - 10-20 nos. or 1 tbsp (soaked in water)
• Almonds - 10-20 nos. or 1 tbsp (blanched & shredded)
• Saffron - 1/2 tsp (soaked in 2 tbsp of warm water or a few drops of yellow color)
• Ruh kewra - 1/2 tsp (or 2 drops of kewra essence)
• Cashew nuts - 10-20 nos. or 1 tbsp.
• Green pistachio nuts - 5-7 nos.
• 1 silver leaf (optional)

Method:

• First of all mix 3/4 cup of water and sugar in a small pan and boil for few minutes. Remove from flame and keep it aside.
• Now heat ghee in a heavy bottomed pan and add cloves and cardamoms. Fry them until cardamoms change color.
• Also add raisins and almonds. Fry till raisins swell.
• Now to this, add rice and 1 1/2 cups of water and mix them gently.
• Add saffron or yellow color to the rice and boil until the rice is almost done and water gets absorbed.
• Add kewra essence to the sugar syrup. Mix and add the sugar syrup to the cooked rice. Stir the rice very gently and cook further for 4-5 minutes till the rice is done.
• Garnish with a silver leaf, shredded pista, cashewnuts and a few whole almonds.
• Serve it hot.

Trivia:

• Saffron's aroma is often described by connoisseurs as reminiscent of metallic honey with grassy or hay-like notes, while its taste has also been noted as hay-like and somewhat bitter. Saffron also contributes a luminous yellow-orange colouring to foods. Saffron is widely used in Iranian (Persian), Arab, Central Asian, European, Indian,Turkish, Moroccan and Cornish cuisines. It also has many medicinal properties.
• A pound of dry saffron (0.45 kg) requires 50,000–75,000 flowers, the equivalent of a football field's area of cultivation. Saffron prices at wholesale and retail rates range from US$500/pound to US$5,000/pound (US$1,100–US$11,000 per kilogram)—equivalent to £250/€350 per pound or £5,500/€7,500 per kilo. In Western countries, the average retail price is $1,000/£500/€700 per pound (US$2,200/£1,100/€1,550 per kilogram)