Name: Pilau rice with coconut and coriander pesto
Yield: Serves 4
Cuisine: India
Ingredients: 50 g/2 oz/4 tbsp ghee, or 25g/1 oz/2 tbsp unsalted butter and 30 ml/2 tbsp sunflower oil or light olive oil; 25 g/1 oz raw cashew nuts; 4 cloves; 1 medium onion, finely sliced; 2.5 cm/1 in piece of cinnamon stick; 4 cardamom pods, bruised; 5 ml/1 tsp salt, or to taste; 75 g/3 oz/½ cup green beans, cut into 2.5cm/1in pieces; 75 g/3 oz/½ cup peas, frozen and thawed, or pre-cooked fresh ones; 3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped; 25 g/1 oz/⅓ cup desiccated (dry unsweetened shredded) coconut; 225 g/8 oz/generous 1 cup basmati rice; 15 g/½ oz fresh mint leaves and stalks, roughly chopped; 15 g/½ oz fresh coriander (cilantro) leaves and stalks, roughly chopped; 2.5 cm/1 in piece of fresh root ginger, roughly chopped; 1–2 fresh green chillies, roughly chopped (deseeded if preferred)

Preparation info

Serves
4

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

The Complete Indian Regional Cookbook

By Mridula Baljekar

Published 2017

About

A fabulous flavour triangle is created when fresh coriander, mint leaves and green chillies combine in this sumptuous pilau, Chatni Pulao, which can be a vegetarian meal in itself when served with a raita. The pesto sauce used here is not dissimilar to the Italian version, although the Indian recipe does not contain pine nuts, and includes coconut to add richness.