BY ANJALI PATHAK,
Serves: 4 people | Takes: 15 mins to 30 mins
There is nothing in this recipe that I don’t love – caramelised onions, sweet dried fruit and the royal spice saffron.
Ingredients
250g basmati rice
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large onion, finely sliced
4 cloves
6 green cardamom pods
2 cinnamon sticks
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
really good pinch of quality saffron
good pinch of salt
small handful of dried fruit, I like cranberries, apricots and raisins
fresh coriander, for sprinkling
Method
- Wash the rice in several changes of water and then leave to soak in a large bowl of cold water for around 30 minutes if you have time.
- Gently heat the oil in a large pan and sauté the onions with the cloves, green cardamom, cinnamon and cumin seeds for around 10 minutes until the onions are golden brown and caramelised.
- Strain the rice and stir into the pan with around ½ litre of boiling water.
- Stir through the saffron and salt and bring to the boil. The rice will have changed colour to a beautiful sunshine yellow and most of the water should have been absorbed after around 5 minutes. Strain off any excess water and return the rice to the empty pan. Stir through the dried fruit and pop a lid on and allow the rice to steam for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- Taste and check the rice is cooked through and fluffy before serving with a generous sprinkling of coriander.
