Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Vegetable Pulao

This Vegetable Pulao is an excellent rice dish to include on the menu for special occasions and parties. My husband loves this pulao and it takes him back to his childhood days when his neighbor would make this on special occasions. For them, it was a mandatory dish to include on the menu for all festive days. So, when he described it to me, I remembered that when we were kids, our neighbor had an aunt visiting it and she had made this for us kids. She had made it in the hope that all of us would eat this without much fuss and she was right we did lap it up.
Once we had made this vegetable pulao, my husband and I were so taken by it that we took this along for an overnight travel journey along with some rice papad and enjoyed it. Especially, since it was dry and not messy. I had forgotten to pack in spoons in spite of reminders, and we ate the pulao using our business cards as scoops. And remembered all the roadside bhel puri we had using either a puri or paper scoops!

Ingredients
Basmati Rice - 2 cups
Mixed chopped vegetables - 1/2 to 3/4th cup
(I use a mix or carrots, green beans, little cauliflower and green peas)
Bay leaf - 3
Cloves - 8
Cinnamon - 1 inch stick
Green Cardamom - 2
Black Cardamom - 2
Ghee - 3 tbsp
Salt as required
Wash the rice and if you have the time soak it for 30 minutes or till the time it is ready to be added to the pressure cooker.

Heat a pressure cooker and add in 2 tbsp ghee and when it is hot add the bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, green cardamom and black cardamom. Sauté for a minute and then add the mixed chopped vegetables and sauté for a couple of minutes. Then scoop in the drained rice and sauté it for a couple of minutes.
The rice we use daily - Sona Masoori or Kolam, requires double the quantity of water to cook but basmati rice needs lesser water than that.
Continuing with the recipe, Add 3 and 1/3rd cups of water and salt and let it come to a boil, then check for salt and add little more if necessary. Close the lid and cook under pressure for 2 whistles. When the pressure has released open and top it with the remaining ghee or additional ghee and lightly fluff the rice with a spatula. Cover the lid and open when ready to serve.

Pulao goes well with any vegetable or meat dish with a little gravy.

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