Last Friday, I was so out of ideas for lunch and since he was coming home I had to make something solid ;-) We were out of veggies and since it's the Lent season, I try and avoid eating non-veg on Fridays. Therefore I was left with very little options, since cooking anything vegetarian keeps me thinking for hours as I feel I cannot do justice to it! There was a time when I feared making a pulao but now it's as easy as breathing ;-)
By the time I planned on what to make I had only 20 mins left with me.Without wasting anymore time,I kept the cooker on the stove and started adding ingredients to it, one by one. It smelt really good and I knew the end result was going to be very rewarding. I was just hoping that the water - rice ratio would be fine. Usually you need 2 cups of water for every cup of rice but in this recipe, I used 1:1.
How could I serve it as is? We don't usually have raita or chutney with rice and having no time to make any curry, I quickly deep fried some cauliflower florets using a simple spicy batter. It was a great accompaniment for the rice, some crunch and some veggies too! I am trying to incorporate more and more veggies into my diet,so looks like there will be more cooker pulao's happening here :-)
GARAM MASALA VEGGIE PULAOMy own recipe
Ingredients:
2 c basmati rice
2 c water
1 tsp ghee
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 onion, diced
5 green chillies, slitted
2 tsp ginger garlic paste
1/4 c frozen peas
1 c cauliflower florets
1 tsp garam masala powder
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
Method: On medium-high,heat ghee and oil together in a cooker. Crackle cumin seeds.Add onions,green chillies & ginger garlic paste. Saute till they are soft, 2 mins.Add the veggies and mix together.Add the powders, cilantro and mix well for a minute. Add the washed rice and fry carefully for a minute. Add water, salt and close the cooker with the lid . Cook for 1 whistle and keep it off the flame. Let the pressure go down on it's own. Fluff up the rice with a fork and serve hot!
When he got back home, I told him that the lunch wasn't ready ;-) C'mon, I need to say something as soon as I see him :-) He was surprised to see a pulao and that too with some fried Gobi! I am sure he wondered what's up with her, today!
He really liked it and said that it was very flavourful and that I should make this quite often from now on .I agree to that 100%. You can incorporate more and more variety of veggies into your meal this way. If you are serving it with a curry, let it not overpower the flavour of the rice. This pulao is very very flavourful and you will feel like eating more and more :-)
