It was Sunday evening. We had just returned from a visit to the local supermarket for the weekly grocery and household stuffs. As a matter of fact it was more exciting in reality than it sounds.  We had just discovered a great restaurant serving amazing Rajasthani and Maharashtrian vegetarian cuisine during the lunch hour. Today there is India-Pakistan 20-20 match in the evening. Hence we decided we will go to the supermart before lunch, have our lunch in the adjacent restaurant, finish the shopping and return as early as possible. Since it was a weekend I was in mood for something non veg (a hardcore Bengali after all!). We had observed the beautiful village like restaurant whenever we went shopping but never really cared to find out more about it. But now since that was the only convenient option considering we had limited time, decided to go for it. Rest all apart the fact that it was a pure veg restaurant was a good enough damper for me. But still decided to give it a try.

We entered the village themed restaurant. They charged us 500 for 2 for a buffet meal all inclusive. We stepped in through the door and found us in the middle of a traditional Rajasthani Village. There were charpais all around but we chose the princely divans for better cosiness. The food was awesome (any veg food which can satiate me has got to be fabulous)! We had chats, chai, appetizers, maincourse, sweet dish and of course ice cream from the ice-cream vendor biking around and ringing the small bell announcing his arrival. Kids were running all around after him. It reminded me of the childhood days and how crazy we were about those Rs.1 ice cream cones back then.

After such a super lunch and a very tiring shopping when we reached home I was simply pooped. Had already prepared dhaniya chicken in the morning so didn't have much headache to think about what to serve in dinner. A simple rice would go well. We freshened up and took positions before the TV for the match to start. We had all the munchies handy for the big game. The match turned out to be super exciting.  Sometime midway through the game, we heard thunder. It was pretty humid in the afternoon but such thunderous clouds were a surprise. Within minutes it was pouring like anything with cold lashing winds. Almost something similar to "Kalbaishakhi" of Bengal. We forgot about the game momentarily and was staring at the lightening strike again and again. It was kind of deadly yet romantic. The rain gradually slowed down but the weather was still all breezy- curtains flying and stuff. I was like a simple rice wont do much justice to such a weather. It demands something more romantic, love filled, royal. And royal doesnt always mean hard work. I looked into the pantry, did a inventory check and knew what I would be making - the meetha pulav or the misti polao as we call it in Bengali. It has this mellow yellow colour which makes it more interesting.

This is a super easy recipe just you need to have the ingredients handy. It doesn't go through the elaborate process involved in making a biryani but is almost as delicious if not more.