Mughlai Pulao

Fragrant basmati cooked in a reduced lamb or chicken stock with a bouquet of whole spices — bay leaf, green and black cardamom, cinnamon, cloves, and a pinch of saffron — until each grain is separate and perfumed. Simpler than biryani, this was the everyday court rice; the imperial distinction between pulao and biryani was always the presence or absence of layering.