This recipe for meethe chawal (also known as zarda pulao) is a sweet rice dessert that’s aromatic and delicious! This sweet saffron fruit and nut rice is a popular Indian and Pakistani dessert often served for special occasions such as weddings, Diwali, Eid.
What is Meethe Chawal?
Meethe chawal is a sweet rice pilaf speckled with fruit and nuts.
This is my mom’s signature dessert – she makes this sweet dish for almost every special occasion and has done so for as long as I can remember. Everyone who tries her meethe chawal raves about it so I’m sure you’ll love this dessert! Today I’m sharing my mom’s famous meethe chawal recipe – adapted for the instant pot making it even easier to make!
My family’s recipe calls for spices like floral green cardamom, smoky black cardamom, sweet cinnamon, and fragrant cloves and saffron. It also calls for pineapple, shredded coconut, raisins, and nuts.
You can easily make different variations of this rice: try garnishing it with sweet (canned) mandarin! Or use different nuts! I prefer pistachios for both the flavor and the pop of color it adds to this rice but cashews or sliced almonds work great too!
A Dessert with Two Names: Meethe Chawal & Zarda Pulao
This sweet rice dish is known by two names: in Hindi this dish is called meethe chawal which means “sweet rice” and in Urdu this dish is called zarda pulao which means “yellow rice.”
Typically yellow food coloring is added to this dessert to give the dish a brighter yellow hue so feel free to add that if you’d like. I prefer making this without food dye and so my rice only has a faint yellow hue thanks to the saffron.
This sweet pulao is a recipe straight out of my cookbook, Indian Food Under Pressure. One of my blog readers left me a book review on amazon and this is how she described this dish: “The rice dessert smells like Christmas and tastes like love.” I love that description so much because this really is a special occasion dessert that tastes like love.
I hope you make and love this festive and fragrant sweet rice pilaf!
Instant Pot Meethe Chawal (Zarda Pulao)
Instant Pot Meethe Chawal (Zarda Pulao)
Ingredients
- 2 cups basmati rice soaked for 1 hour
- 2 tablespoons ghee
Whole Spices
- 10 whole cloves
- 5 green cardamom
- 1 black cardamom
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ stick cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon golden raisins
- 2 cups water
- Pinch of saffron
Add Later
- 2 cups ripe pineapple chunks or 1 20 ounce can of pineapple chunks, drained
- 1 cup frozen grated coconut*
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 ½ cups sugar
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios or nuts of choice garnish
Instructions
- Soak the basmati rice in cold water for 1 hour. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Press the sauté button, then add the ghee. Once the ghee melts, add the whole spices to the pot. As soon as the spices begin to sizzle, add the raisins and give them a stir, then add the rice, water and saffron.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 7 minutes at high pressure.
- Open the valve to quick release any remaining pressure.
- Add the pineapple chunks, grated coconut, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of water and mix well. Carefully pour the sugar on top of the rice, making sure it doesn’t get on the edges of the steel pot. Do not mix the sugar into the rice.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 1 minute at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure.
- Mix well, garnish with chopped pistachios and serve.
Notes
- *Find frozen unsweetened grated coconut at your local Indian grocery store.
- Try topping it with canned mandarins for a variation.
- You can use yellow food coloring if you’d like to make it look more yellow.
- You can soak the saffron in a bit of milk or water before adding it to the rice if you prefer. I’ve found the steam from pressure cooking also helps impart color.
Emma says
Ashley, this is my favorite dessert ever! I am making it again today. I always use canned mandarins in their own juice, and use the juice to replace some of the water. I only add about half the sugar, just enough to cover the rice in my 3 qt instant pot. The rice comes out perfect. Delicious!
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Emma, happy to hear that! Love the canned mandarin tip – thanks for sharing 🙂
Neha says
Hey Ashley,
Can I replace sugar with Jaggery? If yes, what amount?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Neha, I think jaggery will be fine in this – let me know how it goes 🙂
Isha says
Hi Ashley,
I would love to make this recipe. Would could be the substitute for frozen grated coconut? Desiccated Coconut or fresh grated coconut or dried grated coconut?
Thanks
Anya Singh says
Hi Ashley,
Great recipe as always! It honestly brought back memories of my mum making meetha pulao on special occasions. I was curious if the measurements for the sugar were right though, we added 1.5 cups of sugar according to the recipe and it felt too sweet. Regardless, we’ll be making it again because the family ADORED it!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Anya! I’m so glad you made and liked this! And yes, lol that sugar measurement is right – I know it’s a lot but I felt like the rice needed that much sugar to really feel like a dessert… that said if you think it’s too sweet feel free to reduce the sugar! Glad your family liked it 🙂
Noory says
Can I make this recipe without fruit? I just made your moong dal halwa (which was wonderful) and wanted to make something for my Mom. She’s a little picky and doesn’t want any fruit. Can you suggest any changes to your recipe compensate for no fruit?
Noory says
I was wondering if this can be made without the fruit? My Mom is very picky and doesn’t want any fruit. I literally just made your Moong Dal Halwa an hour ago which was wonderful. So I thought I would make her meethe chawal that she loves. Can you suggest any changes to make up for no fruit in your recipe?
My Heart Beets says
Yes you can make it without the fruit – you can just leave it out 🙂 Let me know what she thinks!
Sharon Huta says
I’ve been wondering if I substitute jaggery for the sugar in any recipe is it in the same amount?
Jennifer Martin says
Can I substitute the sugar for maple syrup?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Jennifer, I haven’t tried it with maple syrup but my guess would be no – I think the sugar is important to getting the right texture for this dish. If you try though, let me know how it goes!
Sangita says
Hello Ashley…
I don’t want to add pineapple in the rice…do I need to increase the sugar?
Thanks Sangita
My Heart Beets says
Sangita, you can use another ripe fruit! how about canned sweet mandarins?
Harpreet says
Hello Ashley, can this recipe be made without soaking the rice? If so, does the high pressure cook time change? If by how much?
(I like my Zarda plain so I don’t plan to add anything at all)
Ashley - My Heart Beets says
Hi Harpreet, I’m sure it’ll be fine if you skip the soaking – I’d probably still keep the cook time the same. You can always leave the lid on longer at the end if you feel it needs to steam a bit more. Let me know how it goes 🙂