The chana kishmish pulao is quite a tasteful surprise. With whole fennel and coriander seeds, the stock is very aromatic and the mix of chickpeas, raisins and mint creates a fresh, sweet and spicy flavour.
This chana kishmish pulao recipe comes from across the border. I saw it last Friday on Masala TV’s programme Handi. The mix of ingredients and the method both looked quite interesting; so I decided to try it for the Sunday bbq party. To me the combination of chickpeas and raisins sounded very Moroccan. If I made it in the tagine, this recipe could as well be a recipe for chickpea and raisin rice tagine. My neighbour says it is more Afghani than Pakistani. Well what’s in the place! right?
Chana Kishmish Pulao/ Chickpea and Raisin Rice Pilaf
By Ashima Goyal Siraj
Preparation time: |Cooking Time: |Serves: 4
1 cup dry chickpeas (kabuli chana), washed and soaked overnight
1/2 cup small raisins (kishmish), soaked
2 cups basmati rice, washed and soaked
4 tbsp oil
2 onions, sliced
2 green chillies, chopped
1 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tsp cumin seeds
6 green cardamoms, lightly pounded
1/2 cup plain yoghurt, whisked
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, torn
Salt to taste
1 tbsp butter
for the stock
1 tsp whole garam masala
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp coriander seeds
1 onion, peeled and cut into 4 pieces
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt to taste
4 cups of water
- Boil the soaked chickpeas in sufficient water and a little salt until soft. You can also use canned chickpeas if you didn’t have time to soak the chickpeas the night before.
- To make the stock, dry roast whole garam masala, fennel and coriander seeds for a minute. Add onion, garlic, salt and 4 cups of water. Cook on medium-high heat till the water starts to boil. Reduce the flame to slow and simmer for another 10 minutes. Strain the stock and keep aside.
- In a deep pot, heat oil and fry onions to golden brown. Remove half of the onions on a kitchen towel. Keep aside.
- Add green chillies, ginger-garlic paste, cumin seeds, cardamom and yoghurt to the onions in the pot. Sauté for a few minutes.
- Drain the boiled chana and add to the pot along with the mint leaves. Keep 5-6 mint leaves aside for garnish. Mix well and sauté for 5 mins.
- Drain the raisins and add to the chana. Add the stock. Mix well and cook covered till there is a boil in the stock.
- Drain the rice and add to the stock. Add salt to taste. Mix and cook covered on low heat till the rice is cooked.
- Towards the end when most of the water has evaporated, add butter on top.
- Garnish with the fried onions and fresh mint leaves. Serve hot with plain yoghurt or with a simple raita by adding roasted cumin powder, salt and paprika to yoghurt.
Appears tempting, shall try shortly
Thanks Sahu! It’s pretty easy too. I hope you try it soon
Would love to see pictures of the pulao when you try it..