Yesterday, I made vegan Kaju ghee pulav for this year’s celebration of Diwali and it was an absolute hit! For those who had eaten my usual Kaju ghee pulav that contains dairy, they could not tell the difference between this one and the previous one. Growing up in India, I know how ghee smells and this Livlo Vegan Ghee smells exactly the same. The taste is a bit different but that does not necessarily mean it tastes less good.

So I’m gonna describe a simple short recipe for this dish. I believe most Indian dishes can be made in a spectrum of ways which are all good, and this is one of them that I like. Pulav being pulav, there are no strict rules and you should improvise the recipe as per the availability of ingredients, time, and your taste.

Ingredients

All ingredients are for 2 cups of uncooked rice.

Minimum Required

  • 2 cups Basmati rice. (I used this one.)
  • 1 cup Cashews (I used this one.)
  • 4 Tbsp Vegan Ghee (I used this one.)
  • 1/2 cup Onion
  • 3 Tbsp Cumin seeds
  • 2 Bay leaves
  • 4 Black cardamom
  • 2 Green cardamom whole
  • 2 green cardamoms (seeds only)
  • 1 Star Anise
  • 2 cm Cinnamon stick
  • 5 Cloves

Optional

  • Golden raisins
  • Saffron

Note: The amount of spices won’t increase linearly with the amount of rice. Some of these spices like Cinnamon or star anise are dominant fragrances, and you would want to increase them slower than other spices.

Equipment

  • Pot with stove
  • Rice cooker with access to a stove
  • Instant pot

You can use a pot, or rice cooker pot on a stove (yes it is fine to do it), or your instant pot. I’ll use the word pot to mean whatever you are using.

Steps

  • Soak basmati rice for 30 minutes in double the amount of water as rice.
  • Meanwhile, chop the onion into semicircular arcs, roughly 5 mm wide.
  • When rice is about to be done soaking, heat some vegan ghee in a pot. Increase the amount of ghee depending on what kind of richness you want.
  • Gauge the temperature of the pot by putting a single cumin seed. You want the seed to start sputtering immediately. If that doesn’t happen, wait more.
  • Then put cumin seeds and wait about 10 seconds.
  • Then add all the remaining whole spices and lower the heat. Your aim here is to let spices sit in the hot ghee to effuse out all their flavor and fragrance into it. You are not frying the spices.
  • After about a couple of minutes, you can add onion and increase the heat a little bit.
  • When onions are halfway to caramelizing, add cashews and stir nicely to coat all cashews with ghee.
  • Roast for a couple of minutes.
  • Then add the soaked rice (most of the excess water drained out) to the pot. Stir nicely to event distribute the ghee, onion, and spices around the rice. At this point, if you feel like adding more ghee because you went too conservative earlier, go for it!
  • You can also add some raisins at this point.

If you are using a pot:

  • Then increase heat and add water to about 1 cm above the rice level in the pot. Note that this is less than the usual finger method deliberately.
  • Add salt to taste. Ideally, the water should taste slightly salty for a good taste in the end.
  • Add some saffron if you have it and want to add some saffron color to the rice.
  • Close the lid. I’m assuming your lid has a vent hole and is transparent.
  • Monitor the temperature of the side wall of the pot using an infrared thermometer. You want to reduce heat to very low when the temperature goes above 102 degrees Celsius.
  • Alternatively, monitor when the water is boiling and reduce the heat about a minute after you see the last signs of boiling at the top.
  • Wait for about 10 minutes after this point. Check the rice, if it is not cooked, add a little bit more water and heat again for some time.

If using a rice cooker or instant pot

  • Add water to about 1 cm above the rice level in the pot. Note that this is less than the usual finger method deliberately.
  • Add salt to taste. Ideally, the water should taste slightly salty for a good taste in the end.
  • Add some saffron if you have it and want to add some saffron color to the rice.
  • Close the lid.
  • Transfer your rice cooker pot to the rice cooker and turn on cook mode. For the instant pot, set it to the rice cooker setting and turn it on.

Serving

Serve as it is or with a garnish of fresh chopped cilantro. Can be enjoyed as it is or with Indian sabzis.