Basanti pulao or sweet pulao (Misti Pulao) is a sweet, ghee-flavored rice recipe made with fragrant Govinda Bhog rice, cashew nuts, and raisins.
It is a special dish for any Bengali special occasion.
This recipe is also very popular in many places outside Bengal. I personally love chicken kosha and it is my favorite side dish with Basanti pulao.
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Although there are many other types of pulao made with different types of fruits, nuts, meat, or fish, the Basanti pulao has become the most popular, occupying a special place in the menu cards of Bengali specialty restaurants like Bhojohori Manna.
Old Gobindobhog rice is used for this dish. The elegant yellow color and the sweet fragrance of the rice make it an authentic Bengali dish to relish.
So let’s see how to prepare Basanti Pulao at home easily…

Basanti Pulao Recipe Bengali Style
Equipment
- 1 Kadhai
- 1 Induction Cooktop
- 1 Mixer Grinder
Ingredients
- 2 kg Gobindobhog rice
- 50 g salt
- 1.5 l water
- 10 bay leaves
- 16 small cardamoms
- 6 cinnamon pieces four-inch
- 16 cloves
- 24 nutmeg
- 50 g turmeric powder
- 300 ml oil
- 400 g ghee
- 200 g cashew nuts
- 150 g raisins
- 200 g sugar
Instructions
- To make Basanti Pulao, first, wash the rice very well in cold water. Do not rub them vigorously, just wash the rice gently.
- Spread the rice on a large plate or serving tray. This will dry up the rice in 15-20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, mix ghee, turmeric, half a teaspoon of salt, and garam masala powder with dry rice nicely.
- Make sure you handle the rice carefully. Broken rice will not give you a good result.
- Leave the marinated rice for an hour.
- After one hour, heat 2 tablespoons of ghee in a pan.
- When the ghee is hot, add a few raisins and cashew nuts to the ghee, and fry the cashews and raisins well in the ghee.
- When it turns golden brown, remove the cashews and raisins from the ghee.
- In that ghee, add bay leaves and whole garam masala spices.
- Now add the rice, mix the rice well with the previously added ingredients and stir all the ingredients well.
- Then reduce the heat by adding nuts, raisins, sugar, and water. Now airtight the container and cover it for at least 15 minutes.
- The pulao is supposed to be cooked by soaking the water in the vessel.
- Before taking off the vessel from the gas add another tablespoon of ghee and transfer it to a serving bowl.
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This pulao will be perfect with any non-vegetarian dish like Chicken kosha or Chicken Rezala. If you are vegetarian you can also have it with Shahi Paneer.
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