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I prepared this pulao for Diwali and it turned out awesome. It is a very simple and quick recipe of pulao with minimal spices but tastes really good.

Ingredients:
1 cup basmati rice,
2 small onions; halved and thinly sliced,
2 small carrots; diced into 1″ long pieces,
1 cup shelled green peas,
3-4 bay leaves (tejpatta),
4-5 cloves (laung),
8-10 peppercorns (kalimirch),
2-3 cinnamon (dalchini) sticks,
4 green cardamom (chhoti elaichi)
1/2 tsp caraway seeds (shahjeera),
1 tsp cumin seeds (jeera),
Salt to taste,
2 1/2 cups water,
3-4 tbsp ghee (homemade butter).

Method:
Wash the rice and set it aside till you prepare the vegetables.
Melt ghee in a large deep pan or a pressure cooker/pan on medium flame. Add the bay leaves, peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon and fry for 30 seconds. Now add shahjeera, jeera, onion and saute till it turns transparent (not brown). Then add carrots and green peas. Cover and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then uncover, add washed rice, mix well. Add water (2 1/2 cups if you are cooking in an open pan or 2 cups in a pressure cooker/pan) and salt, stir well and cover and cook (for open pan; cook for around 15-20 minutes by stirring at intervals or pressure cook upto 2 whistles). Serve hot with dum aloo, kofta curry, any vegetable curry or dal tadka.

Ingredients:
2 cups almonds; peeled and ground to fine powder,
1 3/4 cup sugar,
1/2 cup ghee,
2 cups water,
2 cups milk powder,
Ground elaichi (green cardamom) as per taste,
Sliced pistachios to garnish.

Method:
In a pan, combine sugar and water and cook till sugar syrup of one thread consistency is formed. Mix almond powder and milk powder and then blend it into the syrup, stir well to mix without lumps. Add ghee and elaichi powder. Cook stirring, over low flame till the mixture starts leaving the sides of the pan. Remove from flame and pour into a greased plate. Spread to flatten it and let it cool. Then cut into desired size pieces and garnish with sliced pistachios.

TIP:
To know if the sugar syrup is of one thread or two thread consistency, dip the backside of a spoon into the syrup (when it sufficiently thickens) and remove it. Then touch a finger to it and pull apart from the spoon, you should be able to see a thread (may be one or two, depending upon the consistency you have prepared).
Syrup of 2 thread consistency is thicker than that of 1 thread consistency.

Ingredients:
For the covering-
1 cup maida (refined wheat flour),
1 tsp ajwain,
1 tsp oil,
Salt to taste,
Warm water to knead dough.

For the filling-
1/2 cup moong dal; soaked in water for few hours and the ground to fine paste,
1/2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds),
1/4 tsp heeng (asafoetida),
1/4 tsp turmeric powder,
1/2 tsp red chilli powder,
1/2 tsp coriander (dhania) powder,
1/2 tsp garam masala,
Two pinches of amchur (dry mango powder),
Salt to taste,
Oil for tempering.

Method:
Mix together all the ingredients for the dough and knead a tight dough. Cover it with damp cloth and set aside till you prepare the filling.
Heat oil in a pan, add jeera, heeng and moon dal paste and fry for 2 minutes. Then add all the spices and salt and cover and cook on low flame for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Now make small balls from the dough, and roll into puris. Using a fork prick these puris, to avoid the samosas to puff while frying. The cut the puri into 2 halves with a knife. Pick up one halve and fold it to form a cone. Seal the edges with little water. Now fill this cone with the prepared filling and again seal the open edges with little water. Similarly prepare all the samosas. Meanwhile heat oil in a kadhai (wok) for deep frying, on medium flame. Then fry these samosas in batches till they turn golden brown. Serve them with your favorite chutney or sauce.

Ingredients:
1 cup almonds; finely ground,
3/4 cup sugar or more if you want it sweet,
1/2 cup milk,
2 tbsp ghee,
Few threads of saffron,
Ground elaichi (green cardamom) as per taste,
Sliced almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts to garnish.

Method:
Soak almonds in water for 5-6 hours or in warm water for 2-3 hours. Then peel the skin and grind to a smooth paste using little water. Then heat a pan, add this almond paste, sugar and milk and cook stirring till it thickens. Then add ghee, saffron (dissolved in little warm water) and elaichi powder, mix well, cook for 2 minutes and remove from flame.
Grease a plate with ghee and spread this mixture evenly on it. Let it cool and then cut into desired size pieces. Garnish with sliced almonds, pistachios and cashew nuts.

Ingredients:
8-10 dry anjeer; soaked in little water for few hours,
100 gms khoya,
7-8 tbsp powdered sugar,
1/4 tsp kesar (saffron) dissolved in little warm water,
Few drops of red food color,
2 tbsp milk powder
1 cup cashew nut powder,
1/2 tsp elaichi (green cardamom) powder,
1/2 cup crushed dry fruits of your choice (walnuts, pistachios, raisins, almonds, etc).

Method:
Grind the anjeer with the saffron color. Heat a pan and roast the khoya on low-medium flame till it turns pinkish in color. Then roast the anjeer mixture with milk powder, cashew nut powder, elaichi powder and red food color. Cook this stirring continously on low flame to avoid from sticking to the bottom of the pan, till the mixture thickens. Then remove from flame and let it cool. Make equal size balls of the anjeer dough. Make a little small sized balls of khoya dough. Now take the anjeer balls one by one and flatten them and then shape them like a cup. Similarly prepare small size cups of the khoya balls. Then fill the dry fruits into these khoya balls. Then place each khoya ball into each anjeer ball and then roll into a laddu. While serving, cut each laddu into two halves so that all the colourful layers are visible.