Vegetable Rice (Pulao)

Vegetable Rice (Pulao)

Well sorry for the terribly bad pic, but I was hungry :)

However I must admit that this is the easiest, fastest cooking and filling vegetarian dish. Cooked across India in almost every household. This is more than often also considered as food for the not so rich people in India. Nonetheless you will find vegetable pulao in the costliest restaurant with various add-ons, and a wonderful taste. 

Hope you enjoy making and eating this dish as much as I do. 

Ingredients: 

1 bowl basmati rice

1 onion (medium size) shredded into long threads

2 tomatoes (medium size) cut into long pieces

3-4 medium sized potatoes cut into 8 pieces each

1/4 of cauliflower cut into medium sized pieces

1 Indian Bay Leaf - Large

Cooking Oil - 3 table spoons

Cumin Seeds (Zeera) - 2 tea spoons

Turmeric - 2 tea spoons

Dry coriander powder - 4 tea spoons

Red Chilli Powder - 3 tea spoons

Salt - 5 tea spoons or to taste

Water

For the final touch

Ghee - 2 table spoons

Ginger - 2 table spoons of long thin threads

Garlic - 1.5 table spoon of thin slices

Fresh coriander finely chopped

Method: 

Soak rice in water and keep aside for 15 min.

Take cooking oil in a Pressure Cooker and heat it. When the oil is hot, add cumin seeds. Then add onions and stir fry till they are golden brown. Now add tomatoes, cauliflower and potatoes and mix well. Now add all the spices, and mix. 

Now drain the water out of the rice, and add rice. Mix gently at this stage, as the rice can break if hit too hard. Add 1.5 bowl of water. Mix again. 

Close the lid of the pressure cooker, and cook on high flame till you get two whistles. The moment you get two whistles, remove the cooker from the flame or hotplate, and let the steam take its time to release completely. 

When done, open the pressure cooker and ensure rice is cooked. 

Now take another pan and heat the ghee in it. Add the ginger, garlic and fresh coriander and heat for 1 min. Pour the mixture on top of the vegetable pulao and serve hot. 

Tip: Served with coriander chutney, curd or raita and poppadums. 

Coconut Chutney

A long pending blog from my side. Finally today I got some free time to write about one of the best chutney's in the world. The south Indian 'Coconut Chutney'. :) 

I haven't made this totally as a South Indian would do, and have added a little flavor from my own kitchen ;)

Ingredients: 
1 cup of coconut powder
1 large tablespoon roasted gram
Salt - 2-3 tea spoons
Curry Leaves - 10
Fresh Coriander (1 large table spoon) - Optional
Mustard Seeds - 2 tea spoons
Cooking Oil - 2 tea spoons
Water - 3/4 glass

Method: 
Take the coconut powder, roasted gram, curry leaves, coriander (optional) and water in a mixture/grinder and grind the chutney to a smooth consistency. You can choose to increase or decrease the water content as per your liking, however I try to make the paste neither too thick nor too thin. 

Now take a pan and heat the oil. When the oil is heated, add the mustard seeds. When they splutter add few more curry leaves, and finely add the chutney to it. There is no need to heat the chutney, so at this step put down the flame. 

Mix the chutney well, and transfer to a ceramic bowl. Refrigerate for 30 min, and serve with south Indian dishes like Dosa, Uttapam or Idlis :)