When we first moved to Sydney we did not know any good places to dine out in the city, so we asked around and received a few great suggestions. One of these quickly became one of our favourite restaurants: Abhi’s Indian Restaurant. The food is fantastic and some of their dishes are just plain delicious. Our favourites are Palak Patta Chat, Aloo Tikki and their Kashmiri Pulao. Now, I have to say I am very picky when it comes to rice and I tend to severely judge the quality of a restaurant by the way they cook their rice. So, when I first went to Abhi’s and had their Kashmiri Pulao I was sold… their rice is cooked to perfection, it is not sticky, the grains are all separated and the cashew nuts and raisins add crunchiness and sweetness to it. So, as it always happens when I like something, I set on a mission to try and replicate the dish in my kitchen. After a few attempts, I got my own recipe for this Pulao, that I called “Kashmiri” in honour of Abhi’s Kashmiri Pulao.
Ingredients (serves about 3 persons):
3/4 cup rice
1 cup raisins
1 cup cashew nuts
1 pinch saffron threads dissolved in 2 tbsp of hot milk
1 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
2 cloves
2.5 cm (1 inch) stick of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 cardamom pods
1 pinch salt
Kewra Water, 2 drops (optional)
Clean, wash and then soak the rice in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, soak the raisins in hot water for 5 minutes. Dissolve the saffron threads in the hot milk and keep aside.
Put the ghee, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf and cardamom pods in a non-stick pot and sauté them for a couple of minutes on a medium- high flame.
Add the cashew nuts and fry them for 1 minute.
Add the drained rice and sauté for a couple of minutes.
Now add the raisins, saffron milk, salt and 1 ¼ cup of water.
Bring to a boil, cover and let it simmer on a VERY low flame until cooked. It will take approximately 10 minutes to cook. It is best not to open the lid as the rice cooks with the steam. When the water has been fully absorbed, the rice is ready. At this point you can sprinkle 1 or 2 drops of Kewra Water (optional) on the rice.
Serve hot. It is very good by itself and is the perfect accompaniment to any Indian curry. I always make this to eat with my Lamb Korma.
Ok, you have me on this! I love Indian food, and this looks simple and delicious! 🙂
Yum! What a delicious dish. Wish I could pop right through the screen and grab a plate!
Looks delicious! I have only tried cooking Indian food a handful of times, but every time I do it is always sublime! Love cooking with saffron. Great recipe as I actually have some in the cupboard.
I can’t believe that I just now realized that you live in Sydney! One of my best friend’s lives there and I visited last July. Well, she recently lived there then her hubby got transferred up to Brisbane. Lucky you! Sydney is a wonderful town and the food was excellent!
Great recipe! Yummy!
Gorgeous! I love the combination of flavors- the cardamon, cinnamon, and saffron have me practically drooling!
This recipe is totally new to me! what a amazing flavors all in one dish..wonderful Manu,
Looks fantastic,and extremely tasty..
Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful Sunday!
This is a popular dish here in India too & is so similar to a pulao that I make. Yours looks really, really yummy & very authentic! 🙂 I love the addition of the raisins myself, but I don’t do that with my pulao because the rest of my family doesn’t like fruit in their rice 🙂 Great recipe, Manu! Thank you for sharing!
Hey Manu,
You are obviously talented not just cooking Italian! We have always driven past Abhi’s on our way somewhere but have never dined there. Perhaps it’s time we give it a go. 🙂
Manu, what a gorgeous rice dish…so chock full of delicious ingredients. I love all your photos…especially the one of the saffron threads steeping in milk. Beautiful.
Your photography is so good I can look at that plate and smell the fantastic aroma of Indian cooking.
This pulao is so pretty! the flavours are superb!
Yum, i love this style of food too!
This dish has so many of my favorite flavors. Saffron and cashews are on the top of my list!
Hi Manu! I heard about your Tina-Pinay In Texas Cooking & Nami-Just One Cookbook, so I drop by to say Hi 😀
I love this rice! It’s so yummy! The first time I tried it was from a newly opened small little stall that sells Indian food near my house. I bought the chicken briyani, they used this Kashmiri Pulao and I totally fell in love with it! I can buy this almost everyday or whenever I passed by! But too bad they’re no longer there anymore, worse is I don’t know where they’ve moved to 🙁
Now that you succeeded on your own version and shared the recipe with us, I can try cooking this myself! Tks for sharing and your blog is so full of nice, delish new foods for me to learn! 😀
Hi Manu! I’m admired of you that you are cooking Indian cuisine just as often as Italian food (maybe not equal but still good amount). I married to a Chinese husband, but not only I can’t communicate with Chinese but also I don’t know or try hard enough to cook authentic Chinese dish. Your kids are totally getting both cultures and it’s great! Your Kashmiri Pulao looks delicious. This is my first time hearing its name, but I’ve tasted something similar from our block parties with our Indian neighbor. She became a very close friend of mine after we shared our love of cooking and food. I wish I can eat more spicy food so that I can enjoy complete Indian food. She even cooked some spicy Indian food for my husband to enjoy. Since you write Indian recipes very well I should surprise her with your recipe. Hehe.
Kashmiri pulao is one of favorite rice dish. Love the way you prepared really authentic.
This looks freaking GOOD Manu! And I do this too… If I have something that rocks my world in a restaurant, I make it a mission to recreate it in my own kitchen. My latest was guava bread pudding :). Happy Tuesday!
This sounds and looks amazing! Kashmiri pulao is always so rich and delicious, and your version certainly is. I love the step-by-step instructions too! Can’t wait to make this!
These days I am missing visiting your blog everyday dear … this is a great pulao dish and kashmiri pulao are the best !
I love aroma of kashmiri pulao and u done very well.
I can tell this must have been wonderful. I almost can smell it cooking. Yum!! I love the flavors. Great Job! : )
Manu, this looks amazing. I love pulao so the next time I make it, it will be your recipe I try. The photos are gorgeous, particularly the finished dish. That restaurant sounds great too. Thanks for sharing this great food.
Hi Manu,
the recipe sounds divine, what rice do you use? is it a plain basmati?
many thanks
Kim
Hi Kim
Yes, I use Dehradun basmati rice, but any basmati will work fine. 🙂
Hope you like it! Let me know!