Vegetable Pulav

Posted byJimi FiloPosted inRecipesTags:, ,

Vegetable pulav (aka: pulao) is an aromatic mix of vegetables with rice. This is a great dish for lunch. If you are not in the mood to prepare a big meal, use vegetable pulav as a one-dish meal. Often eaten with a mixed pickle or chutney; I like mine with minced red onion.

Serves about 4.

This recipe assumes no rice cooker. See Notes on how I usually cook this using a rice cooker.

Hardware

  • Collander/Sieve
  • Large sauté pan or wok
  • Microplane – fine
  • Rice Cooker (optional but fool-proof)
  • A sharp knife 🙂

Ingredients: Rice

  • 1 cup basmati rice, rinsed clear and allowed soak for 30 minutes, then to drain for 30 minutes.
  • 2 cups water
  • 2 TBS oil
  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
  • 2 tsp Whole Cloves
  • 1-2 Bay Leaf
  • 1 tsp salt

Ingredients: Vegetables

  • 3 TBS oil
  • 1 tsp Cumin Seeds
    • Or 1/2 tsp powder
  • 1 Carrot, diced (close to pea-sized)
  • 1 cup frozen Green Peas
  • 2 Serrano chili peppers, sliced lengthwise
    • or 1 Thai chili (seeded at your discretion)
  • 1 tsp grated Ginger
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp Garam Masala
  • 1 TBS Lemon or Lime juice (to taste)

Directions: Rice

  1. In the pan heat the oil on medium.
  2. Add cumin and bay leaves and stir for a few seconds.
  3. Next add the rice. Stir-fry for 2 minutes
  4. Add water and salt, bring to a boil and turn the heat to low. Cover the pan.
  5. Cook for about 15 minutes, or until the rice is tender and the water has evaporated. Turn off the heat and fluff the rice with a fork.

Directions: Vegetables

  1. Use a frying pan to cook the vegetables. Add the vegetables that need the most time to cook first and the vegetables that need the least time will be added last.
  2. Heat the oil in frying pan. Test the heat by adding one cumin seed to the oil; if it cracks right away oil is ready.
  3. Add cumin seeds after cumin seeds crack, add carrots. Let them cook for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  4. Next add green peas, ginger, green chilies, and cook until vegetables are tender.
  5. Turn off the heat.
  6. Incorporate garam masala and lemon juice.
  7. Next gently fold the rice into the vegetables. Transfer to a serving dish and garnish the rice dish with cilantro.

Notes

  • I prefer to do the rice ahead of time with a rice-cooker. Same ingredients in the rice pot, (substitute oil for butter) and be sure to use the rice cooker’s rice and water measurements. Once the rice-cooker is done, let it cool a bit and do the veg portion of recipe. Then cut-and-fold the rice into the veg pan with the heat off.
  • If you have a rice cooker and a large carbon wok, you can bang this out with little effort and active cook-time. And yes, in keeping with typical stir fry method, you can use day-old rice.
  • Also, regular butter works fine. Try not to burn the milk solids.
  • Side note, I’ll usually short-cut this by using half a 15oz bag of frozen Peas & Carrots mix. I’ll also use a ginger-garlic paste I keep on hand, for the ginger part of the veg.

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