Zarda ~~ Sweet Rice Pulao

Am back !! After a long and refreshing break from Turkey.. It was soo good there, warm and sunny , all green and blue. And now here we are again, winding against the so unpredictable weather of England J No complaints, I love England too. And since Spring is on the door, the scene is quite shiny here as well. But these despicable patches of rain .. Ughh !!

It was hard for me to get myself together for blogging again. I looked for some drafts but everything was just unfinished L I really wanted to cuss my laziness. Had I kept few drafts fully done, I could have posted few more recipes while being busy in unpacking and catching up with Office. Its almost mid-month and many challenges are coming closer to their deadlines. So, here I am back with a simple yet very very tasty dish. It’s the Zarda Pulao.

For those who are confused by the name, it’s the sweet pulao. A very popular dish made for special occasions at my home and around. When I thought of this month’s Magic –Mingle ( which unfortunately I got to know after getting back from Holiday ) this was the first thing to come in my mind. Since I have already tried Carrot Kheer, I  did not want to repeat that. Other reason of making this was, obviously I didn’t have much time remaining for the posting. So, I just combined the basic recipe of Modar Pulao with the carrots and raisins and result was “A better Modar Pulao ” A.K.A. Carrot sweet pulao with lesser sugar than the usual. Since half of the sweetness came from adding carrots and raisins.

There can be many ways of making this recipe, but I used the quickest and fool proof one. A special and exciting dish for kids specially and a good way to make them eat carrot and nuts.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Basmati rice ( soaked for an hour )
• 1 cup grated carrot
• 1 tbsp Ghee
• ¼ cup Raisins
• ¼ assorted nuts
• 3 tbsp Sugar ( see… its that less )
• ½ cup milk
• Few strands of Saffron
• 2 cups of water

Method:

• Soak saffron in the milk and keep aside.
• Heat ghee in the pan, fry the nuts and take them out. Keep aside.
• In the remaining ghee, fry the grated carrots on medium flame for 4-5 minutes. Add drained rice and fry for 2-3 minutes on slow flame.
• Now add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil keeping on medium-high flame. Lower the flame and mix sugar, stir just once and cook for a minute.
• Now, when the water has stopped boiling since we have lowered the flame, add milk with saffron and all the nuts and raisins. Just one gentle stir here.
• Cook covered for 5-6 minutes on low flame without stirring till rice gets cooked completely. If there is any water left in rice, you could leave it uncovered for next 2-3 minutes and it will dry up.
• Sprinkle some more raisins on top and serve hot..

Going off to Kalyani's Magic-Mingle for this month with Carrot and Raisins:

Chandrani's Spotlight - Lunch Box Ideas , Srivalli's Kids Delight hosted by Rujuta - Easy to Make snacks, Divya's Lunchbox Ideas,  Geetha's Picnic Desserts  - Cook Eat Delicious,  Wholesome Lunch box by Coffee and Vanilla ,