Instant pot Zafrani Pulao

Nothing screams festive more than food prepared with sweet scented saffron. Spices makes everything rich and this Instant pot Zafrani pulao is a perfect mixture of sweet, fragrant and comforting. Zafrani pulao is basically fragrant basmati rice cooked in saffron, ghee and sugar, garnished with nuts like almonds, cashews and pistachios. You can probably tell from the ingredients that this is a dish that you make for special occasions.

But just because it is a festive recipe, doesnt mean it is time consuming or laborious. Infact it is one of the easiest dishes you can whip up! And if you’ve got an instant pot, it becomes so much more easier.

While there are many recipes that give color to the rice with a bit of food color, I decided to let saffron do its job and keep it clean. I am not a fan of heavy saffron scented dishes but they worked so beautifully with the other spices and made this pulav colorful and delicious. It wasn’t overpowering at all.

Saffron, cloves, cardamom and rose water! This is such a delightful combination. Combined with already fragrant basmati rice, this dish is a winner. You could make this dish vegan by using oil instead of ghee like I did. But if you are not, please make this with some homemade ghee to truly experience the richness.

Don’t forget to garnish this pulao with lots of nuts and raisins. You could cashews, badams, pistachios, rose petals and make it look as beautiful as you wish. These beautiful igredients make this perfect for Diwali and otheer special occasions.

Here’s a pinnable image for you

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Instant pot Zafrani pulao

Basmati rice cooked with sugar and aromati spices like saffron, cloves and cardamom. This saffron rice is rich, fragrant and indulgent.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Indian

Servings: 3

Author: Preethi

Ingredients

1/2 cup basmati rice (soaked for 30 minutes)
3/4 cup water or milk for cooking the rice
3 pinches saffron strands
6 to 8 cloves
1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/3 cup sugar (use 1/2 cup if you want it more sweet)
1/2 tsp rose water (optional)
1 tbsp chopped cashews
1 tbsp almond slivers
1 tbsp raisins
1 tbsp chopped pistachios
1 tbsp ghee / neutral tasting oil

Instructions

Instant pot Method:

Add the soaked basmati rice, oil/ghee, saffron strands, cloves and water or milk to your Instant pot. Cook on manual high for 5 minutes and release pressure after 8 minutes. Let it cool down a bit before you fluff up the rice.
Once you have fluffed up the rice using fork, add the sugar, cardamom powder and let it cook. Cook it in saute mode, low heat.
When the sugar starts melting, the rice will become liquidy again. Let it cook until the sugar is absorbed and the rice grains are separate. It took me about 8 to 9 minutes. Keep stirring occasionally until the sugar is absorbed fully.
Serve hot garnished with nuts, raisins.

Recipe Notes

It is important to soak the rice before cooking it.
Which nuts to use and how much to use is totally upto you.
1/3 cup made this pulao mildly sweet. You could add more for a much sweeter version.
The rice will harden a bit when it is cool. You could steam them a bit and use them again. It is best served hot.

Are you making this recipe for Diwali this year? If so please do click a photo and share it with the hashtag #cookingwithpree. Also do leave a rating by clicking on the number of stars in the recipe card and Share it in social media (Instagram , Facebook and Pinterest)

Other Easy Diwali recipes that you can try – No bake Date Nut and Rose Energy balls, Instant pot mIllet kheer, Instant Millet Murukku, 10 minute beetroot halwa