Afghani Pulao is a traditional Afghan dish and no celebration is complete without it. Usually it has meat in it too but of course since I made it, it had to be vegetarian.In fact it’s almost vegan too, just soak the saffron in some water or non-dairy milk in place of regular milk and then this will be all vegan. The vegetarian kabuli pulao has 2 main ingredients – carrots and raisins.The most important thing for making this pulao is to choose the right type of rice. I used Sella Basmati Rice and it works so well in making pulao, biryanis etc.
Ingredients:
Rice
2 cups basmati rice
2-3 teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon cardamom powder [from 6-7 green cardamom pods]
cumin powder, to sprinkle
pinch of saffron, soaked in 1 tablespoon of milk
water, as required
Handful of Carrots and raisins
10/12 Cashews
Some peas
1.25 cups carrot, shredded or thinly sliced
⅓ cup raisins
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
Method:
Soak basmati rice in enough water for 45 minutes. Drain the rice and set aside. In a large pan, bring water to boil, add around 2-3 teaspoons of salt to the water as it boils. [Don’t worry rice won’t be salty as we drain all the water]
When water comes to a boil, add the soaked & drained rice to it. Cook for 10 minutes, stirring at regular intervals in between. We don’t want to fully cook the rice and it must not turn mushy. Just like we cook the pasta till al dente (firm to bite), the rice should also be cooked to a point when it’s still firm. If you soak the rice for 45 minutes to 1 hour, it should not take more than 10 minutes for rice to reach that stage.
Remove the pan from heat as soon as rice is done and then drain. Set aside.
While the rice was cooking, heat vegetable oil in a pan. Once oil is hot, add the shredded carrots.
Cook for 1-2 minutes and then add 2 tablespoons of sugar and mix.
Once the color of the carrot starts changing a bit, add raisins, peas,cashews and cook for another minute or two. Remove from heat and drain on a paper towel. Don’t drain the oil that you used for frying the carrots and raisins, we will use it the next steps.
Now take a large sheet of aluminium foil and place the fried carrot and raisins in the center.
Close all sides to form an aluminium foil packet with the carrot and raisins inside.
In the meanwhile, transfer the cooked rice back to the pan again.
Just to show you, I kept a flat skillet and then placed the pan with rice on top of it. We will steam the rice on low heat for 20-30 minutes and this ensures that rice doesn’t burn.
Sprinkle cardamom powder on top of the rice and then place the prepared aluminium packet on one side of the rice.
Now add the oil that was leftover after frying with carrots and raisins to the rice. Just drop it all over.
Cover the pan tightly and let the rice steam with the carrots and raisins on low heat for 20-30 minutes. In the meanwhile, in a small bowl, soak some saffron in a tablespoon of milk.
Remove rice from the pan and transfer to serving bowl. Pour the soaked saffron all over the rice. Sprinkle some cumin powder(optional).
Open the aluminium foil packet and top the rice with the carrots and raisins(optional).
Enjoy Afghani Pulao as such or serve with a side of borani banjan.
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