My 304th recipe, "15 min Fruit and Nut Pulao", a classic Back to School rice recipe made with Success® Rice. A wholesome rice recipe, which you can make in just 15 mins and is loaded with a whole lot of fruits and nuts. Perfect to be packed for your kid's lunch box.
It is that time of the year here, when all kids get back to School after enjoying their long and happy Summer Vacations. The time which I always loved. Waiting to get back and meet all my friends and make some new ones. However, if you are a mom of one of those kids, I am pretty sure that it is time for you to keep pondering over the question of what to pack for lunch.
I would call my mom as one among a very few lucky ones. My school was located very close to my home. My mom never had to cook lunch in a hurry, early in the morning, to pack for lunch box. She would happily drop by my school around noon time with a hot box of rice and gravy. I guess that kind of luxury is not something which is commonly available in other households. I believe it is still a nightmare for most of the moms to prepare lunch in a very short notice, especially during the busy morning hours.
In consideration of such busy moms, I tend to post many quick and easy recipes, especially with rice. I grew up always having rice for lunch. While those recipes themselves are pretty quick and easy to make, the time taken to cook the rice is considerable if you employ traditional cook techniques. I do not prefer using a pressure cooker to cook the rice and boiling in a pot of water is what gives me peace of mind.
I am not entirely new to the concept of boil-in-bag rice. Once I was in a remote part of Alaska during my vacation and craving for some rice and curry. When I saw a box of instant cooking rice in a local store, I bought it with a big grin in my face. However the grin did not last for long. After cooking the rice as per the package instructions, it still felt under cooked. It tasted like being treated with chemicals and didn't like it one bit. So I was little apprehensive before giving another mess free rice a try.
However, once I cooked the Success® Jasmine Rice, it is all a different story now. Success® Rice is convenient, and can be made on the stove or in the microwave without sacrificing its great taste or quality. It’s a great pantry staple, which can be used to make a variety of meals – breakfast, lunch or dinner. With 4 varieties available, including Success® Whole Grain Brown Rice and Success® White Rice, and globally-inspired aromatic varieties of Success® Rice, including fragrant Thai Jasmine or Basmati Rice, there’s a variety everyone in your family will love.
Since I wanted a really aromatic and flavorful rice for my recipe, I went with the Success® Jasmine Rice. Success® Jasmine Rice is the only boil-in-bag Jasmine rice available. It has a sweet buttery fragrance, silky, smooth, white grains and delivers fully cooked rice in 10 minutes. It’s pre-portioned, BPA-free boil-in-bag means no measure, and no mess is involved. It’s gluten-free and can be incorporated into both Asian inspired dishes and even mainstream recipes. And it is just perfect to take up the flavors we add on to it.
This Fruit and Nut Pulao is inspired by the famous Kashmiri Pulao from the Indian cuisine. I had made slight adaptations to it to suit the 15 min cooking process. There is nothing in the Fruit and Nut Pulao which your kids's wont like. It has a nice aroma and flavor with the addition of ghee and whole spices. And the whole lot of fruits added give it a nice freshness and a natural sweetness. The nuts adds a lovely texture to this pulao. And last but not least, the saffron adds a lovely color to the pulao also enhancing the flavors greatly. Pack this fruit and nuts pulao for your kids's next lunchbox and you can be pretty sure that they would go nuts over it 🙂
Fruit and Nut Pulao
Fruit and Nut Pulao
Ingredients
- Success® Jasmine Rice - 3 Packets *Each box contains 4 packets
- Hot Milk - 1 Tbsp
- Saffron - 1 large pinch
- Oil - 3 Tbsp
- Onion - 1 medium thinly sliced
- Ghee - 2 Tbsp
- Bay leaf - 1
- Cinnamon - 1 small stick
- Cloves - 4
- Cardamom - 2 pods
- Star anise - 2
- Cumin seeds - ¼ tsp jeera
- Cashews - 15
- Raisins - 20
- Almonds - 10 chopped
- Salt - ½ tsp adjust per taste
- Apple - ½ chopped
- Grapes - a small handful
- Pineapple chunks - a small handful
Instructions
- First cook the rice as per the package instructions. It should take you about 10 mins to cook it and drain.
- While the rice is cooking, heat the oil in a pan. Add the sliced onions to the oil and cook in low-medium flame stirring occasionally until nicely caramelized and crisp. Drain from oil and keep it aside. This should be done by the time rice is cooked through.
- Meanwhile, soak the saffron in hot milk and keep it aside.
- Once the rice is ready, heat the ghee in a large pan. Add the spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, star anise and Jeera) to the ghee and saute until the jeera starts to change color.
- Now, add the cashews, raisins and almonds to the pan and saute until the cashews turn slightly golden and the raisins puff up.
- Now add the cooked rice to the pan. Add the saffron soaked in milk and the salt. Turn the flame to medium-low. Carefully mix the rice until all the ingredients are mixed up, without mashing it. Turn off the flame.
- Immediately, add the grapes, apple, pineapple chunks and fried onion to the rice. Toss well until combined.
- Serve hot along with an optional garnish of fruits, nuts and fried onion.
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