Meetha Chawal – Himachal Pradesh Sweet Rice Recipe

Today we have a sweet rice / Meetha chawal from Himachal Pradesh. I was searching for recipes from Himachal Pradesh when I stumbled upon this post by Poonam. She made a vegetarian thali from Himachal Pradesh which is called as dham. Himachalis make dham for festivals and celebrations. As vegetables available are scarce, dham mostly has lentils and milk based products. One among those recipes was this easy to make meetha chawal. The flavourful rice is cooked in milk along with the spices and turmeric, which gives it the golden colour. The chawal is then decorated with roasted nuts and raisins. Sugar is used as the sweetener here.

Though Sruti loves spicy pulao and biryani, she stays away from sweet rice. She doesn’t even want to taste pongal. So the sweet rice in this series were made for myself or for hubby’s colleagues. I made this meetha chawal for myself and used a zero calorie sweetener instead of sugar. The mildly sweet rice with crunchy nuts on top tasted amazing. As the rice is cooked in milk, it has a ice richness to it. Adding saffron gives it a dessert kind of flavour too.

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice – 1 cup

Ghee – 2 tbs

Mixed Nuts a handful

Raisins – 2 tbs

Milk – 3/4 cup

Water – 1 1/4  cup

Saffron a pinch

Turmeric Powder a pinch

Cardamom – 2

Cinnamon – 1 small piece

Clove – 2

Fennel Seeds – 1/2 tsp

Sugar – 1/3 cup

Procedure:

Wash and soak rice for 20 minutes.

Add saffron to milk and set aside for 10 minutes.

Heat ghee and fry the nuts and raisins and set aside.

Now add cinnamon, fennel, clove and cardamom to the ghee and roast for a while.

Add the drained rice and fry for a minute or two.

Add sugar and saute until it melts completely.

Add water and saffron soaked milk along with turmeric powder and allow it to come to boil.

Cover, reduce flame to low and cook until the rice has absorbed all the water.

Remove from flame and let it sit for 10 minutes.

Garnish with the roasted nuts and raisins and serve.

Recipes so far in this festival

Kaju Pulao from Andhra Pradesh

Kharzi Pulao from Arunachal Pradesh

Meetha Pulao from Assam

Bihari Veg Boti Biryani

Chole Chawal From Delhi

Masala Bhath from Goa

Khari Bhat from Gujarat

Aloo Chutney Pulao from Haryana

Meetha Baath Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Dish, Rice Varieties

Cuisine Himachal Pradesh, Indian

Servings 2 Servings

Ingredients

  

• Basmati Rice - 1 cup
• Ghee - 2 tbs
• Mixed Nuts a handful
• Raisins-2 tbs
• Milk - 3/4 cup
• Water - 1 1/4  cup
• Saffron a pinch
• Turmeric Powder a pinch
• Cardamom - 2
• Cinnamon -1 small piece
• Clove-2
• Fennel Seeds - 1/2 tsp
• Sugar - 1/3 cup

Instructions

 

• Wash and soak rice for 20 minutes.
• Add saffron to milk and set aside for 10 minutes.
• Heat ghee and fry the nuts and raisins and set aside.
• Now add cinnamon, fennel, clove and cardamom to the ghee and roast for a while.
• Add the drained rice and fry for a minute or two.
• Add sugar and saute until it melts completely.
• Add water and saffron soaked milk along with turmeric powder and allow it to come to boil.
• Cover, reduce flame to low and cook until the rice has absorbed all the water.
• Remove from flame and let it sit for 10 minutes.
• Garnish with the roasted nuts and raisins and serve.

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