For rice lovers -Vegetable Pulao

I hate rice. I eat rice one time a day with great difficulty. Give me idli, dosa, vada, poori, roti, bread, chaat anytime of the day, anything except rice! The only thing J and I share in common is our hatred for rice! What is even torture is rice items for breakfast :| When I got married, my MIL made pulao for breakfast and I gulped it down in 5 mins flat with a big glass of milk!! Even though it was tasty, rice and morning kinda don't go together, you know what I mean? :P

But to me, her pulao is the best and till date I follow her pulao recipe -- i.e., when we have the once in a blue moon rice mela in my house! Today is one such day, lets get started shall we?

Vegetable Pulao:

1 C rice

1.5 C water

1/2 tsp jeera

5-6 cashew nuts halved

1/4 C (each) chopped veges - I use the usual beans, carrot, peas, capsicum, turnip

1 onion thinly sliced

1 tsp chopped ginger

3-4 Tbsp lemon juice

few sprigs of coriander leaves

Pulao masala:

1 tsp khus-khus

1.5 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp jeera

1 inch stick cinnamon

3 cloves

1 elachi

3-4 green chillies

2 Tbsp coconut

Grind the above to a fine powder with no water. There is no need to roast any of the ingredients.

1) Heat 1 tsp ghee and 2 tbsp oil, in a pressure cooker add 1/2 tsp jeera and 5-6 cashews. Saute.

2) When the cashews turn golden add the onions and saute till soft.

3) Add the ginger and the vegetables mix well.

4) Add the masala and saute for 1 -2 min.

5) Turn the heat to medium and add water and salt mix and cover the cooker.

6) When you see steam raising, add the rice. Turn the heat to low and cover, place the weight and cook for 10mins. I got this tip from Namrata's blog. I never get mushy rice!

7) Once it cools down, open the lid add the lemon juice and coriander leaves and mix.

This is a pukka southie pulao. Its heavily flavoured and tastes very different from the usual pulaos. God knows where my MIL got this one from!!

You need a raitha to go with it no?

Cucumber tomato raitha:

1/2 cucumber diced

1/2 tomato diced

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 green chilli chopped

1 Tbsp peanuts, roasted, deskinned and crushed

1 cup thick yogurt

salt to taste

Chopped coriander

Mix them all together and serve.

This next picture is exclusively for Mr. J who has abandoned his wife on a Friday evening. So there, J ask Mrs. Dell PC to cook for you, I am having dinner.