I am a lover of rice. Serve it to
me in breakfast, lunch or even dinner I wouldn’t complain. I do struggle with
rotis and even paranthas but when it comes to rice my real and huge appetite
shows up. For me the word satisfaction and rice goes hand in hand. I, so badly
wish rice was as healthy as wheat flour or multigrain flour. Then, I could have
truly lived up to my love for rice.
I like to try varieties of rice
and I am pretty good at some of them. Now it’s hard to believe that I have
tried hard for 2 long years to re-create this simple magical vegetable pulao.
In retrospection, I feel that I had nurtured the misconception that such an
awesome tasting pulao could never be so simple. But the fact is that it is
indeed very simple- no onion, no garlic and even no ginger or tomatoes. So when
I first made it few days back with this particular recipe, I was not high on
expectation and packed it for lunch. The first bite one of my friend’s took she
said with a happy expression “yum…biryani”. Now that’s the mutual words of
appreciation we use for awesome tasting rice item. Then there was another friend
who traded her lunch box for mine. So I was finally elated at my success. So
sharing this recipe for this simple and tasty Vegetable Pulao
Vegetable Pulao (no onion no
garlic recipe)
Serves: 2 persons
Ingredients:
Basmati rice- 1 glass
Water- 1 ¾ glass
Carrots- ½ cup (chopped into fine
cubes)
Beans- ½ cup (finely chopped)
Green peas- ½ cup (3/4th
boiled)
Whole garam masalas
Green cardamom- 6
Cloves- 6
Bay leaf- 1
Cinnamon- 1 inch stick
Oil- 1 tbsp.
Ghee- 1 tbsp.
Salt to taste
Procedure:
Heat oil+ghee in a pressure
cooker. Once hot add the whole garam masalas. Now reduce the flame to low and
let the garam masalas splutter for 2-3 minutes. Keep an eye so as not to burn
the masalas. This step is crucial as it helps the oil to extract the flavors
from masalas. Then add carrot and beans. Cover and fry over medium flame till
it is half done. Then add the peas and cook for another 2 minutes. After that
add rice and fry it well for 1-2 minutes. Then add water, salt and bring the
flame to high. Close the lid and wait for the first whistle. Then lower the
flame and cook for another 7-8 minutes. Switch off the flame and let all the
steam escape on its own and then open the lid. The simple yet magnificent pulao
is ready to be served.
Notes:
Use good quality of Basmati rice
for preparing this vegetable pulao.
You may reduce the ghee quantity
used by ½ tbsp.
I have cooked the rice in
pressure cooker and because of the correct way of cooking by rice didn’t stick.
One may also cook the rice
through traditional method, but do follow the instructions provided by the particular
brand of Basmati rice you would be using.
