Ingredients

• 250 g - rice
• 1 litre - water
• 25 g - each of cashewnuts, almonds, raisins and pistachios
• 1 tbsp - fresh curds
• 25 g - khoya
• 100 g - ghee
• 1 - big piece ginger, sliced
• 125 g - sugar
• 2 - cardamoms
• 4 - cloves
• 1 piece - cinnamon stick
• ½ tsp - black jeera or shahjeera
• 1 tsp - chana dal
• 1 tsp - cumin seeds
• a few peppercorns
• 10 - bay leaves
• a few drops of yellow colouring
• a few drops of essence of saffron
• rose or kewda

How to Make Sweet Pulao

• Tie ginger, black jeera, dal, cumin seeds and peppercorns in a piece of muslin and put into the water.
• Boil the water till the water turns red and is reduced to half its original quantity, remove from fire and discard the spice bag after squeezing it nicely.
• Blanch and slice the nuts. Coarsely pound cardamoms, cloves and cinnamon, clean, wash and fry the rice for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Now add all the nuts, raisins, sugar, khoya, curd and coarsely pounded spices in rice and mix well.
• Also mix in half of the ghee and fry the rice to a golden colour stirring all the time.
• Remove from fire and place rice and bay leaves in layers in a vessel.
• Start and finish with a layer of rice, then pour the water on top.
• Cover tightly and cook over a slow fire till the rice is done.
• Mix in the essence and colour and remove from fire. Cover with foil before serving.