Kashmiri Pulao
Serves 4 Time 40 minutes Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 16 Steps 12
This very fancy Kashmiri pulao, or Kashmiri Pallao, is from the Northern Indian state of Kashmir. Although it is a frozen region high in the Himalayas, Kashmir lies along the ancient overland trade routes between India and Central Asia, and the cuisine is famous for using a huge assortment of nuts and dried fruits from all over Central and Western Asia.
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee or butter
- 5 cloves
- 4 pods green cardamom
- 1 cinnamon tree leaf (or substitute 2 bay leaves)
- 1 small onion, sliced thin
- 1 ½ teaspoons ginger-garlic paste
- 2 green chillies, split lengthwise
- 1 pinch of salt
- 3–4 strands saffron
- 1 tablespoon milk
- ½ kilogram basmati or other long-grained rice, cooked and drained
- 100 grams dried dates, pitted and sliced thin
- 50 grams white raisins
- 50 grams cashew nuts
- 50 grams pistachio nuts
- 50 grams almonds, blanched and diced
Steps
- Heat ghee or butter in large wide pan or wok.
- Add cloves, cardamom and cinnamon tree leaf.
- Add chopped onion. Fry until it just begins to brown.
- Add ginger-garlic paste and chillies. Fry about 1 min. Add all dried fruits and nuts.
- Add salt to taste.
- Turn flame to low.
- Soak saffron strands in milk, mixing until milk turns orange.
- Add cooked rice to pan. Sprinkle saffron-milk on top.
- Stir carefully without breaking rice grains, mixing flavourings and saffron colour in uniformly and heating rice.
- Mix in dried fruits and nuts.
- Add more ghee to preference.
- Serve with a gravy such as basic tomato gravy.
Notes from the original
- Try adding paneer fried in ghee to the pulao.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Kashmiri Pulao” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-07-10, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.