Friday, July 27, 2007

Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao




Believe it or not, this recipe is taken from a Hindi movie. Really!! When watching the movie "Cheeni Kum", the other day, Amitabh Bachchan (who acts as Chef in this movie) mentions this recipe in one of his dialogues. Every time Amitabh Bachchan said “Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao” my stomach drooled and wanted to have it. I was very keen to try out this recipe. So today, at last I tried it; And to my delight it came out good. Zafrani is commonly known as Saffron. Usually Zafrani pulao is sweet, but this "Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao" is the savory dish. I researched about this dish on the Internet and found that this very dish was considered to be a delicacy of the Nawabs (the Royals of the South) in India. This recipe has a very rich ingredients and with a rich aroma. Enjoy it!!


I posting this recipe for the Jihva for Rice hosted by Sharmi of Neivedyam. Thanks for organizing such a wonderful event on Rice. This is my entry for rice.




Preparation time: 10 mins
Cooking time: 20 mins

Ingredients:
450 gm (2 cups) basmati rice
1 medium onion, sliced
2 tablespoons ghee
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
1 inch stick cinnamon
1-2 cardamoms (elaichi)
2-3 cloves
1 bay leaf
1"(25mm) ginger
2 cloves of garlic (optional)
pinch of saffron strands
10 tsp milk
2 tsp chilli powder
2 tbsp sour curd
50 gm (1/2 cup) slivered almonds
25 gm green raisins or sultanas
4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt




Method:
1. Soak saffron in 2 tablespoon of warm milk for few minutes.
2. Meanwhile rinse rice and soak in fresh water for 30 minutes in a pan.
3. Heat ghee in a heavy saucepan. Add cumin seeds when they crackle, add onion and all the spices(cloves, bay leaf, cardamom, cinnamon), ginger and garlic except saffron to the hot ghee. Stir-fry until the onion turns golden brown.
4. Add almonds, raisins and well-drained rice, chilli powder, milk and sour curd, stir-fry for a further 5 minutes.
5. Pour water into the rice, It should be just the right quantity - one inch above the rice level.
6. Add the salt and saffron, stir well and bring to the boil.
7. Reduce heat, cover the pan tightly and cook on slow fire for about 20 minutes until the rice is tender and fluffy and the water is absorbed.
8. Fluff up the rice with a fork and serve immediately.

Note: Rice and water ratio is 1:2 so use accordingly.

12 comments:

Padma said...

you have stealed the show...now its ur hubby turns to come with a chatri for you....no not another cheeni-kum episode! I loved this puloa being so well drafted from the movie, these days lotsa a movies are made on food/food theme. Good to see.

As usual very nice step by step info
thanks

Athika said...

Hi padma, How do you manage to send a feed back immedietely when I post the recipe.

Thanks I have tried to follow the same recipe from the movie as I could and added few ingredients of my own. Hope you like it. It is good for us we can try new recipe from the movie.

Roopa (KitchenAromas) said...

Welcome to food blogging Athika. You should set up RSS so we can see your posts on Food Blog Desam. Nice looking pulao! I wantched that movie and the mention of the pulao caught my attention too :)

Athika said...

Hi Kitchenaromas, Thanks for your comment and what is RSS and how can I set it up.

Anonymous said...

hey athika!

i tried the pulao with pretty good results! definitely doing it again ;)

Thanks for doing the research & posting the recipe.

Anonymous said...

yikes, that was me "nila93441" in the earlier post ;D

Saju said...

nice pulao, I am definately trying this.

Unknown said...

Hey, any suggestions on an accompanying gravy or something?

Anonymous said...

I tried the pulao - was looking for a recipe after watching the movie!! Very good - thanks

Anonymous said...

tried and it was awesome! thanks.

YReach said...

Mouth watering recipe, I've tried it and find it interesting, step by step process of preparing the recipe has help me a lot in preparing it.

Great work Athika, I'll look forward for your posts...

Shruthi,
http://www.yreach.com/

Deepti said...

Hi Athika. Zafrani pulao was good.
Changes I made were added 1/2 lemon juice and little extra curds. If we omit adding red chilly pow and instead use g chillies the color of kesar will stand out and the pulao will look even more royal.