Recipe for Gucchi Pulao

Chef Vanika Chaudhury beleives in beinf an ambassador of her home, Kashmir. She has worked closely with foragers, farmers, and culinary custodians, integrating their knowledge into her menus at her now-shut restaurant, Noon.

Here, she shares a recipe for gucchi pulao, which is a tangible connection to her family’s history, deeply shaped by the women in her family. Gucchi pulao was on the weekly repertoire in the family, and it has always been deeply associated with comfort. It was the first dish she craved upon finding out she was pregnant, and later, it became the first taste of mushrooms her son ever experienced, marking another generational link in the dish’s long journey. The recipe, passed down through at least three generations, is a vessel of cultural preservation — carefully nurtured from her grandmother’s kitchen in Kashmir to her mother’s hands in Jammu, and now, to her own.

This is a #1000Kitchens feature. You can read the full story here.

VANIKA CHAUDHURY’S RECIPE FOR GUCCHI PULAO

Serves 3

Ingredients

½ cup aged basmati rice or Mushk budji rice 
60 g gucchi/wild morels 
2 onions, sliced 
A few strands of saffron 
1 bay leaf 
½ tsp shah zeera 
2 cardamom pods, crushed 
2 inch cinnamon stick 
1 black cardamom 
4 tbsp of ghee 
4 cloves
Salt to taste 
5 cups of water 

Method

Wash the gucchi and soak it in five cups of water for 30 minutes. Wash the aged basmati rice & soak it in water for 60 minutes. Soak the saffron in a tbsp of hot water for 30 minutes.
In a medium bowl, boil the gucchi in the soaked water. Bring it to a full boil, simmer the heat and let it cook for 30 minutes. Strain the gucchi through a muslin cloth, reserving the gucchi broth. This is the precious umami broth that adds all the flavour and aroma to the pulao. Wash the soaked rice thoroughly. 
Add ghee to a medium clay pot or copper/brass pot.
Once the ghee is hot, add shah zeera and let it crackle for a few minutes.
Now add the rest of the spices — bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, black cardamom, cloves and onions. Saute the onions for 8 to 10 minutes or until the onions become dark brown, while stirring frequently.
Add the gucchi and sauté for 8-10 minutes.
Now add the soaked rice, giving it a gentle stir, for another 3-4 minutes.
Add 1.5 cups of the reserved gucchi broth, saffron water, and salt. Let it come to a full boil. Cover the clay pot and cook the pulao on a low heat until all the water is absorbed (this would take 15 minutes for aged basmati and 20 minutes for mushk budji rice).
Remove the pot from heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. Fluff it gently with a fork.

Note — Use of spices also needs to change with seasons and her mom generally skips the cloves when she is making gucchi pulao in the summer. 

Words by Tansha Vohra. Images by Terrence Manne.
Special thanks to our partners.

ALSO ON GOYA