Indian Recipes
Basmati Rice Pilaf with Indian Spices and Raita
Fragrant basmati cooked with whole spices, golden onion and peas, served with a cooling cucumber and mint raita.
- Serves 6
- Prep 35 min (with soaking)
- Cook 30 min
- Indian
Method
Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs almost clear, then soak it in fresh water for 20–30 minutes. Drain well.
Melt the ghee in a heavy saucepan that has a tight-fitting lid. Add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and bay leaves and stir for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the onion and fry gently for 8–10 minutes until golden.
Add the drained rice and peas and stir carefully for 2 minutes so every grain is coated. Pour in the water with 1 teaspoon of salt and bring to the boil.
Cover, turn the heat to the lowest setting and cook for 12 minutes without lifting the lid. Turn off the heat and leave to stand, still covered, for 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork, picking out the whole spices if you like.
For the raita, beat the yoghurt until smooth, then stir in the cucumber, mint and a pinch of salt. Sprinkle with the toasted cumin and a pinch of chilli powder and serve with the pilaf.
Tip: tap a step to tick it off as you cook.
Chef’s notes
- The rule of thumb here is 1¾ times the volume of water to rice by weight (700 ml for 400 g); soaked basmati needs less water than unsoaked.
- Swap the water for light vegetable or chicken stock for a richer pilaf.
How this recipe was developed
The old Cookeryonline page reproduced a published recipe, so we wrote a new one. We followed the standard Indian matar pulao method and paired it with a simple raita.
- Soak, then absorb. Swasthi Shreekanth’s matar pulao soaks the rice and cooks it by absorption with whole spices fried in ghee first.
- Resting time. Our tip: leaving the pan covered off the heat for 10 minutes finishes the grains without breaking them.
- Raita. Grated cucumber and roasted cumin follow Hebbar’s Kitchen; Swasthi’s raita guide (5/5 from 209 votes) recommends raita with pulao.
Sources we compared (ratings as shown on each site on 31 October 2026):
- Swasthi's Recipes (Swasthi Shreekanth): Peas pulao (matar pulao)
- Swasthi's Recipes (Swasthi Shreekanth): Raita recipes for biryani and pulao (5/5 from 209 ratings)
- Hebbar's Kitchen (Archana Hebbar): Cucumber raita
This is an original Cookeryonline recipe written in our own words. Ingredient choices and techniques are credited above; no source text has been copied.