Chutney Pulao (Pesto Rice)

This past weekend along with the clocks turning back an hour, Hindus around the world celebrated Diwali - the festival of lights - which is considered one of the most important of Hindu celebrations. Generally, small clay lamps (see picture) are lit and fire crackers are burst in order to chase away any bad spirits. This 5 day festival is spent with friends and family, involves a great deal of cooking, sharing of food and the exchange of Indian sweets.
On Diwali we try and observe a vegetarian diet and it gave me a chance to to try a new recipe for pesto rice that had recently tweaked my interest. Contrary to the image that pesto conjures up, this recipe did not call for pine nuts, basil or olive oil. It was easy to make and delicious to eat on it's own.
I am currently using coconut oil almost exclusively in my cooking and I substituted this in place of the oil or ghee the recipe called for and found that it enhanced the flavour. Another substitution I made was to use frozen green chickpeas or hara chana (Hindi) in place of green peas. Hara Chana is found in Indian stores but you can use any kind of beans of peas you have on hand.
The recipe suggested eating it with something light as this dish is quite rich. So I made dal and Indian Zucchini (recipe to follow). This would be equally good with some baked or steamed fish or BBQ chicken.

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 2 - 4

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup basmati rice (washed, soaked and drained of water)
• 1/3 cup desiccated unsweetened coconut 
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 inch piece of ginger root 
• 2 cups coarsely chopped cilantro/coriander leaves
• 1 cup chopped mint leaves
• 2 T coconut oil
• 2 green chilli deseeded
• 12 raw cashew nuts
• 1 inch piece of cinnamon
• 4 cardamom pods crushed slightly
• 4-6 cloves
• 1 red onion sliced
• 1 cup frozen green chick peas
• salt to taste
• 2 cups of water

METHOD

1. Wash and soak the rice for 20 minutes
2. Put the coconut in a bowl and add a 1/2 cup of water, let it sit for 10 minutes
3. In a food processor add the coconut with the soaking water, chilli, coriander, mint, ginger and garlic and blend until smooth
4. Add 1 Tbsp of coconut oil to a pan and fry cashews until they are brown, remove, drain and set aside
5. Add the rest of the oil to the same pan and put in the cinnamon, cloves and cardamom, stir for a minute and then add the onion and saute until transparent
6. Add the rice, coconut mixture and salt and stir until combined, taking care not to overmix and break the grains of rice
7. Add the green chick peas and the 2 cups of water, reduce heat to low, cover and cook rice for about 10 minutes
8. Turn off the heat. Do not lift up the lid, allow rice to continue to cook in steam for another 7-8 minutes
9. Fluff rice with a fork, add cashews and serve with raita (seasoned yogurt) or chutney. Our raita had pomegranate seeds and a dusting of cumin powder