Slice onions. Transfer it to a strainer and dust it with cornflour. Reason I did this is to shake off all the excess cornflour before frying the onions.

Heat oil and deep fry the onions till they are light brown in color and crisp. Do not over fry them or else they will taste bitter.

Fried onions are ready. Set them aside.

Let's prep up ingredients to make moti (pearls) for our pulao.

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and..

Knead a soft dough.

Form balls, about the size of a penny.

Heat appe pan, grease, add these balls and..

Cook until brown in color and crisp.

Feel free to fry them until crisp. Set them aside.

Assemble: ingredients for rice.

And spices for pulao.

And minced garlic.

Add saffron to hot milk and set it aside.

Rinse rice under cold water to remove all the dusty stuff.

In a pan heat oil, add peppercorns and chopped garlic.

Saute for few seconds and add cumin, bay-leaves, cloves and black cardamom. Pour in water salt and add rice.

Boil till half of the water has evaporated and rice is clearly visible.

Cover and steam cook for another 3-4 minutes on low flame. Take it off the flame and let it sit covered and undisturbed for 5-6 minutes.

Remove the lid, fluff rice with fork and add in rest of the spices and motis.

Pour saffron and mix until well blended.

Add fried onions, chopped cilantro and return it back to the flame. Put a lid and let it simmer for 2-3 minutes.

A deliciously fragrant moti pulao is ready.

Serve hot with raita and chutney of your choice.