Friday, May 15, 2009

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

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.

Masala

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.


Pulao 2

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.

Raitha

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.

Veg Pulao


17 comments:

  1. Yay! I remember all those weddings and receptions in bangalore when we used to snicker at such Southie pulaos but now I miss them :(

    I will try this for a weeknight meal ok? :D

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  2. My pulao also is quite heavily spiced except this one time I tried the blander (more accurate) version for the blog. I quite liked the spicier version, what with being a Southie and all :D

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  3. Wow...looks super yumm, adding coconut and khuskhus in pulao is something new...Interesting recipe.

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  4. Southie pulao :) All these 'darshinis' have these kind of pulaos no ? But the masala does sound interesting...havent ever tried a southie pulao, the ones i make are more Northie ones :) Will give this a try - I am a big rice eater, but rice for breakfast, now that is difficult !!

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  5. I can live without rice for 2-3 days.. but when i have rice after a short break, i feel nothing is more satisfying on earth than having a cup of curd rice with pickle!

    pulao looks yummy.

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  6. Pulav looks great and the raitha looks soo creamy, luved the bowl! I am also not much of a rice person but need for once in a day that too for lunch! Even I hate to have it for mrg breakfast and dinner.

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  7. U food bloggers are part of the Shiv Sena or what...separating every food into south and north?? Let the pulao be pulao!!! Hey adding khus khus is a damn great idea..ur MIL rocks. I can eat rice daily as long as you won't serve it for breakfast..If you do, in that case will go for a rice cereal :(

    This chopping board and the last pic is awesome...send it to some CLICK VLICK SLICK will you???
    Hey I always thought J was the photographer but you mentioned he left ya and you are having the dinner alone...GOSH you were taking all those professional pics??? Fainted!!!

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  8. @Nandu,
    I used to see this in hotels and say thu what type if pulao is this. And they used to call it pulAV bleh!

    @Nags,
    Who doesn't like spice- except J!!

    @Poornima,
    Thats why this is a southie pulao!

    @Arch,
    Yep, the same darshini walla pulao only this is!

    @Mahima,
    My MIL is like you- cannot live without rice. Ya we hog curd rice and pickles when we return from a trip- after all that horrible pizzas and burgers yuck!

    @Priti, Prathiba, Toothlesswink,
    Thank u!

    @Sharmilee
    Ya, rice refuses to get into the system in the morning! Cannot shove it in.

    @sakshi,
    Oy!! I am not BJP- hate them. See the ingredients like coconut and khus-khus which people in the noth do not use to make pulao. People in the south have completely modified the original pulao (which calls for only whole spices) and made it to suite their taste! You will find this type of pulao only in South India nowhere else! Thats why southie pulao! Oh yeah, they don't say pulao they call it pulav!

    J dosn't know how to operate that camera ya, i take all the pictures. Plus the man doesn't have any patience to sit and focus- he would have focussed the place mat and the food would have been out of focus. So he doesn't butt his head in the picture taking process. OMG! 2 paragraphs reply for your comment!!!

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  9. @Sakshi

    Sorry sorry the darshini hotel people call it PALAV!! It can't get more southie than this ! ;)

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  10. ..2 paragraphs in comments to my little whimpering......hee..Raj Thackery would be glad to have you in his team...

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  11. Any ways you can send this recipe to the very South Indian Host Nags who is gathering ravishing rice for her monthly mingle...now that would be a mela of north and south rice..al discrimination!!!

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  12. @Sakshi,

    Bharath maathe mereko forgive kardho for splitting india into east, south, west and north. Jai Hind! and no i won't join Thakrey.

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  13. This is one of my favorite combos. Bookmarked, I like the pulav masala recipe. Its my kinda comfort food!

    Kanchana

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  14. Pulav clicks are wonderful.... looks yummy too...

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