Pilau Rice - the perfect pulao.

One of the biggest gastronomic sacrifices I've made in moving from the hustle and bustle of London to the wilds of a Cambridgeshire village is the ease of access to an abundant supply of fine take away establishments. I often get a hankering for an authentic curry, especially at the weekend and although I enjoy cooking curries the joy of a curry is in all the condiments and extra sides and I haven't braved making my own Naan bread to give the true curry indulgence experience.

This recipe for Pilau rice (or "Classic Pulao") goes some way towards softening the blow of having to fake the authenticity of the indian dishes we eat and helps to recreate the proper curry house takeaway experience. Coupled with the Slow cooker Kashmiri Chicken this rice makes for a wonderful meal.

I found this recipe in a'Flipcook' book that my mum bought for me from 'The Book People'. It's in a genius flip chart format and is called "Curries of the world". I haven't really used it for much else but this recipe is well fingered (and oiled) as it is easy to make after you've made it once. Don't be put off by the long list of ingredients, as with a lot of Indian cooking the amount of different spices is plentiful but the amount of each spice is small.

The recipe is easily halved or doubled but when halving I do tend to keep the amount of onion, cashew nuts and sultanas the same, but that's just because I'm a greedy guts!

The recipe states that "...the secret of a perfect pulao is to wash the rice thoroughly, then soak it briefly. Soaking before cooking softens and moistens the grains, enabling the rice to absorb moisture during cooking and resulting in fluffier rice." I tried this once and now always soak rice before cooking, it totally eliminates the possibility of bad rice (whether water logged or sticky) and it reduces the cooking time but about half as well!

Classic Pulao
Serves: 4 - easily halved or doubled

Ingredients
600ml hot chicken stock
A generous pinch of saffron threads
50g butter
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2.5cm piece cinnamon stick
6 green cardamom pods
1 bay leaf
250g basmati rice, soaked for 20 - 30 mins
50g sultanas
15ml vegetable oil (optional)
50g cashew nuts

Method
1) Pour the hot chicken stock into a jug and add the saffron threads then set aside.
2) Heat the butter in a large saucepan and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes.
3) Stir in the cinnamon stick, cardamoms and bay leaf and cook for 2 more minutes.
4) Drain the rice and add it to the saucepan, then cook, stirring, for 2 minutes.
5) Pour in the stock and saffron and add the sultanas. Bring to the boil, stir, then lower the heat. Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes or until the rice is tender and all the liquid has been absorbed.
6) Meanwhile, fry the cashew nuts in a wok or frying pan. You can fry them in the vegetable oil but I prefer to dry toast them. Sprinkle the nuts over the rice to serve.

Enjoy!