Kashmiri Pulao - A colorful gourmet

I don't know how many of you are like me, but I'm happy to be a late-night person rather than an early morning person. Yes, I really am. Early mornings are just too arduous for me. I feel that I can rule the world during late nights, but never in the morning. I get so much work done during late nights - it could be either office work, or some planning for house-hold stuffs or even my favorite blogging! I can go on working while the whole world is sleeping. I feel so calm and peaceful when the house is quiet with zero distractions. Even if I am up early (sometimes I do out of necessity), I end up being so busy that I hardly get any quiet time without upheaval. This may sound ridiculous, but I've to tell that I even postpone somethings to late night though I may have some time during the day, because I know I can certainly do that same task better in the night.

Conversely, my husband is an early morning person. He gets up before the sun rises (god knows what he does that early) and takes off to work showing up 15 mins early everyday. I wonder how people do that. I've seen people waking up in the dark, jog around in the neighborhood, scaring the birds. They continue to amaze me. He says I'm lazy when he tries to wake me up early and I'm reluctant to do so, and I tell him he's lazy when he literally yawns every minute at 7 pm :) We know that we both are not lazy or crazy, but just don't fit in the same time zone.

Well, with that been said, today ironically I'm posting this recipe early in the morning :) Not that I've changed suddenly, but it all happened by itself. Its 6.30 am on a working day. My daughter is still sleeping. Before she gets ready for school, I felt like giving her some more time to sleep as she had a rough night because of her stuffy nose. I woke up seeing a snowy morning today! Its absolutely refreshing to watch those flurries through our windows, and the white snow covering our patio tables, chairs and the little plants in our patio! Its also intimidating to see a snowfall in November which is unusual in my area. But that didn't stop me from enjoying its beauty. In the next few mins, I settled down with a hot cup of coffee and my laptop to draft this post.

Ok, with just a few mins left for my morning routine to start, let me jump to the recipe now. I made this tasty, colorful dish over the weekend. I found it in my treasure book - the collection of recipes that mom had written for me when I got married. I made this for the first time and I still don't know how I missed this incredibly simple yet flavorful rice dish for so many years. The fresh fruits are a great addition and gives a fresh and rich taste to the rice. We all loved it and had a wonderful dinner enjoying this with Paneer Makhani.

This goes for SriValli's Rice Mela.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice - 2 cups
• Saffron - 1 pinch
• Onion - 1 medium (chopped)
• G. chillies - 4 small
• Cashews - 20 pieces
• Raisins - as needed
• Green Peas - 1/2 cup
• Black or Brown seedless grapes - 1/2 cup (chopped)
• Pomegranate seeds - 3 tbsps
• Cinnamon - half inch pieces - 2
• Cloves - 3
• Cardamom - 1
• Ghee/oil - 3 tbsps

Procedure:

• Cook the Basmati rice and spread it in a large plate or any flat surface to avoid sticking.
• Cook the mixed vegetables of your choice (avoid potatoes) separately and set aside. I used only green peas and microwaved it.
• In a large wok, heat ghee/oil fry the cashews and raisins and remove them to a plate retaining the oil.
• In the same oil, season with cinnamon, cloves and cardamom.
• When they pop, add onions, g.chillies and saute for a few mins until onions become soft.
• Now add the cooked vegetables, saute for a few more mins.
• Add cooked rice, saffron, salt and mix well gently for 5 mins. Finally add the fresh fruits, half of the roasted cashews and raisins and mix well. The original recipes says to add 2 - 3 tbsps of cream at this point to make it rich. I didn't, but it still came out perfect.
• Turn off heat and transfer to a serving bowl. Garnish with the remaining cashews and raisins.

Its definitely a party food, as it has more color as well as flavor and practically goes with any curry!