Basmati rice cooked with ghee, saffron, cardamom, sugar and raisins — the sweet rice of Haryana made for weddings, Baisakhi festival and religious celebrations. Simple but fragrant from the saffron and cardamom.
Ingredients
2 cups basmati rice — washed and soaked 30 minutes
3 tbsp ghee
4 green cardamom — lightly crushed
4 cloves
2 bay leaf
3.5 cups water
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 tsp saffron soaked in 3 tbsp warm milk
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
2 tbsp raisin
2 tbsp cashews — fried in 1 tsp ghee until golden
2 tbsp almonds — sliced thin
Method
Fry cashews and keep aside: Heat 1 tsp ghee in a small pan. Fry cashews until golden. Remove and keep for garnish.
Heat ghee and add whole spices: Heat 3 tbsp ghee in a heavy pot. Add crushed cardamom, cloves and bay leaves. Let sizzle 20 seconds.
Add drained rice: Drain the soaked rice. Add to the pot. Stir gently for 2 minutes to coat the grains with the spiced ghee.
Add water and bring to boil: Add 3.5 cups water. Bring to a full boil on high heat.
Cook covered on lowest heat: Once boiling, reduce to the absolute lowest heat. Cover tightly. Cook 18 minutes.
Add sugar carefully: After 18 minutes, open the lid — most water will have been absorbed. Add sugar over the top of the rice. Add saffron milk. Cover again and cook on lowest heat for 5 more minutes until the sugar dissolves and the remaining liquid is absorbed.
Rest covered: Turn off heat. Rest covered for 5 minutes.
Add raisins and cardamom: Open lid. Add raisins and cardamom powder. Fluff gently with a fork — lift rather than stir.
Garnish: Scatter the fried cashews and sliced almonds on top.
Serve warm: Serve in a wide bowl. The rice should be golden from saffron, fragrant with cardamom and cloves, sweet and each grain separate.
Note: Mithe Chawal (mithi = sweet, chawal = rice) is made at every auspicious occasion in Haryana — from the birth of a child to weddings to the festival of Baisakhi (the harvest festival in April). In Haryanvi villages, the preparation of sweet rice signals to the entire community that a celebration is happening. The rice is often distributed among neighbours as a gesture of sharing good fortune.