Love Pilau Rice? Love dried fruit? Love nuts? Then you are going to love my Fruity Pilau Rice! Better still, this easy peasy pilau rice recipe is ready in just 25 minutes and is virtually foolproof! The perfect accompaniment to a homemade curry.
One of my favourite recipes EVER!
I love all my recipes, and I will never put a recipe on my website that I don’t love. Every recipe I create goes through rigorous testing and is extensively taste-tested by my expert panel (AKA my husband and 2 kids – honestly, they are brutal sometimes!!) and there are hundreds (possibly thousands by now) of recipes that have failed the grade never made it onto Easy Peasy Foodie.
But every now and again, there’s a recipe I create that is head and shoulders about the rest… and this is one such recipe. I simply adore the combination of pilau rice, dried fruit and nuts. The flavours are all delicious in their own right. But put them together and something quite magical happens.
Honestly, I just cannot get enough of this fruity pilau rice! It is just the most delicious combination of dried fruits, nuts and spices.
And it’s not just me and my ‘expert panel’ who think so. Because I love this recipe so much, I’ve shared it with other ‘taste tasters’ (AKA dinner party guests!) and they all rave about it too!
Wow factor without the work!
This Fruity Pilau Rice might look fancy and complicated… But it’s secretly super easy to make!
All you need to do is fry diced onions, a cinnamon stick, bashed cardamom pods, cloves, turmeric, salt and bay leaves. Then add in basmati rice, diced apricots, cranberries, sultanas, pistachio kernels and water, cover with a lid and cook for 8 minutes. Then turn the heat off completely and allow the rice to steam for 5 minutes.
(Full recipe in the recipe card below.)
Make it your own!
I’ve done quite a bit of testing to come up with what I consider to be the ‘best’ combination of dried fruits and nuts. But this recipe is super easy to adapt, using whatever dried fruits and nuts you particularly like. Raisins, currants, dates, dried cherries, cashews and almonds (whole or flaked/slivered) would all work well here.
And if you like this recipe, you might also like to try my other pilau rice variations:
- Easy Peasy Pilau Rice
- Easy Mushroom Pilau Rice
- Vegetable Pilau Rice
- Pilau Cauliflower Rice
- Multicoloured Pilau Rice
What to serve with fruity pilau rice?
This Fruity Pilau rice would work well with any of my easy peasy curries. But it goes especially well with my Easy Peasy Lamb Curry, which is shown in the photos.
Other good options include:
- Easy Lamb Dhansak
- Easy Homemade Chicken Tikka Masala
- Slow Cooked Chicken Bhuna
- Easy Peasy Beef Curry
- Easy Yellow Split Pea and Spinach Dhal (Vegan)
Fruity Pilau Rice with Easy Peasy Lamb Curry
What to do with leftover fruity pilau rice?
Put any leftover rice in a lidded container and place in the fridge where it will keep for 1 day. Reheat it until it is piping hot, before eating immediately.
Please take care to follow food safety guidelines when it comes to storing and reheating cooked rice.
Can you freeze fruity pilau rice?
Yes you can. Put any leftover rice in a lidded container and place in the freezer within 1 hour of cooking, where it will keep for 1 month. Defrost your rice overnight in the fridge and reheat it until it is piping hot, before eating immediately.
Please take care to follow food safety guidelines when it comes to freezing, defrosting and reheating cooked rice.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Fruity Pilau Rice
Ingredients
- 25 g butter (you can use ghee or 2 tablespoons of olive oil, if you prefer)
- 1 onion sliced
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 4 cardamom pods gently bashed to open
- 2 cloves
- 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 300 g basmati rice
- 50 g semi-dried apricots chopped finely (I use Tesco ready to eat apricots)
- 25 g dried cranberries
- 25 g sultanas
- 25 g pistachio kernels (pistachios without their shells)
- 600 ml boiling water
Instructions
- Melt the butter very gently in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the sliced onion, stir and cover with a lid. Cook on a low heat for 5 minutes until the onions are soft but not brown, stirring occasionally.
- Add the cinnamon stick, bashed cardamom pods, cloves, turmeric, salt and bay leaves. Fry gently for 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Add a small splash of water if it gets too dry!)
- Add in the basmati rice, diced apricots, cranberries, sultanas and pistachio kernels and stir to coat the rice with the spices and to ensure the fried fruit and nuts are evenly distributed.
- Pour in 600ml boiling water and bring back to the boil. Cover with a lid and turn the heat right down. Continue cooking for 8 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. (See Note 1.)
- Turn the heat off completely (take the saucepan off the burner if you are using electric), but leave the lid on. Allow the rice to steam for 5 minutes.
- Serve with your favourite curry or why not try this with my Easy Peasy Lamb Curry?
Notes
- Rice cooking times do vary, so be sure to check packet instructions. I have used these exact timings with both Tesco Basmati Rice and Tilda Basmati Rice, and it comes out perfectly every time. If you find your rice is not sufficiently cooked after following the instructions above, simply add a little more water (if necessary) and cook a little longer. However, take care not to overcook!
- Suitable for freezing. (Take care to follow food safety guidelines when it comes to freezing, defrosting and reheating cooked rice.)
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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