Cranberry Ginger Pilaf

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Basmati Rice
• 1 cup fresh Cranberries
• 1/4 cup fresh ginger cut into julienne
• 3 green chillies slit and cut lengthwise
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground red chilli
• 1 tsp ground cumin-coriander powder
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 6-7 peppercorns
• 1 -2 bay leaf
• 1-2 sticks of cinnamon
• 1 black cardamom(badi elaichi)
• salt to taste
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 4 cups water

***You could adjust the quantity of ginger depending on your taste. Personally, I feel the flavors of cranberrries and ginger go very well together. Also you could tell, my love for ginger.

Preparation :

1. Wash and Soak 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of water. You will not need to add anymore water to make the pilaf. Just use this rice with the water. Keep this aside for around 15-20 minutes
2. Now heat some oil in a pan . Now once the oil has warmed up add Cumin seeds. When they splutter, add peppercorns, bay leaf, Cardamom and cinnamon sticks.
3. Add the freshly chopped ginger. Fry for about a minute.
4. Keep the heat on low flame and add the green chillies and the cranberries. The cranberries will begin to pop, so be careful. After about half a minute, add turmeric, salt, red chilli, cumin/coriander powder. Then add the rice with the water which we had kept aside earlier.
5. Let this cook uncovered on medium flame. Now when you see that most of the water has dried up (like 85-90%) set the stove to the lowest flame and cover the pan with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes
6. Its ready to serve. You could Serve this Cranberry Pilaf with Pineapple Raita.(The Tartness of the Cranberries could be reduced by the sweetness of the Pineapple Raita .)