I have always loved rice dishes. In fact, there was a point of time when I would eat rice for breakfast! My mother pampered me with her endless varieties of rice dishes. I loved the vegetable pulav that she made, I will post that recipe in the future. The recipe I am posting today is a hybrid of a few other recipes. It is an easy dish made with rice and vegetables and cooked with the right amount of powdered spices. It goes very well with any garam masala based curries, be it vegetarian or non-vegetarian.
Ingredients
- Basmati rice - 1 cup
- Mixed vegetables, chopped - 1 cup (green beans, carrots and green peas)
- Oil - 4 tbsp
- Cumin seeds - 1/2 tsp
- Onions, medium sized - 2, sliced
- Ginger - 1' piece
- Garlic - 6 cloves
- Green chillies - 5 (more or less depending on your taste)
- Garam masala powder - 1 tsp
- Salt to taste
- Cilantro for garnish (optional)
Instructions
Wash and soak the basmati rice in water for about 30 minutes.
Wash and chop the green beans and carrots. I used frozen green peas, you can use fresh ones too.
Using a food processor, finely mince the ginger, garlic and green chillies. If you do not have a food processor, you can either finely chop them by hand or use a blender too.
Thinly slice the onions and set aside.
Heat oil in a stockpot. Add 1/2 tsp of the cumin seeds. When they crackle, put in the sliced onions. Fry till onions are translucent.
Add the minced ginger, garlic and green chillies and saute till fragrant. This should take about 3-4 minutes.
Put in the chopped vegetables and mix well.
Add the garam masala powder and salute for a couple of minutes.
Drain the water from the rice in a colander and add the rice to the onion and vegetable mixture. Mix with a gentle hand as you do not want the rice grains to break. Pour in the required amount of water (2 glasses for the basmati rice that I use) and add salt to taste. Mix well, cover with a tightly fitting lid and cook till done.
Garnish with finely chopped cilantro.
This dish can be eaten by itself or with onion, tomato and cucumber raitha or as an accompaniment to any Indian curry.
Note:-
- As much as possible, try and use fresh vegetables, I have made this rice with frozen vegetables too and have felt that the taste of the Pulav is totally different. Also you can increase the amount of vegetables in the dish if needed.
- The rice to water ratio will be different depending on the rice you are using. Some use 1:1 1/2 whereas others use 1:2. (I use 1:2)
- Do be gentle when mixing the rice as it has been soaked for 30 mins and soaked rice grains tend to break if mixed vigorously.
- This dish can be prepared in a pressure cooker too, I like to use stockpots for making rice dishes rather than cookers. If you are not careful when you use a pressure cooker, your rice can turn mushy.
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