Veg - Pulao / Vegetable Pulav / Vegetable Rice (Cooker Method)

          

                 Ever wondered the easy way to prepare a pot of pulao (Still confused if I should use Pulao or Pulav or Pilaf?) with vegetables of your choice - then here it is. Super simple recipe that I love to prepare any number of times. This is one regular dish I cook for pot-luck parties. The colour - white rice, with red and green spots is so attractive - I usually don't go crazy about what I cook, but this one is surely an exception.

Ingredients:

Basumathi Rice - 2/3 cup
Beans - 2/3 cup
Carrot - 2/3 cup
Peas - 2/3 cup
Onion - 2/3 cup (Finely chopped)
Cooking oil - 1 tablespoon
Ghee - 1 tablespoon
Garlic - 1 tablespoon(Finely chopped)
Cardamon - 1 no
Star anise - 1 no
Cinnamon - 1/2 inch stick
Bay leaf - 2 no's
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
Fennel Seeds - 1/4 teaspoon
Salt - as needed
Water - (2/3 cup + 1/2 cup)

Method:

• Heat Ghee and oil, add Cardamon,Star anise,Cinnamon,Bay leaf,Cumin seeds,Fennel seeds and saute for 30 seconds.

• Add chopped garlic and saute to light brown.

• Add onion and saute till they are transparent. 

• Add the vegetables with required salt and saute for 2 minutes(until vegetables are half cooked).

• Now add Rice and saute for 30 seconds.Then add water, mix well and check for salt. Pressure cook running only one whistle and switch off the stove.

• Open after the pressure is released completely and mix the pulao well.

• Vegetable Pulao is ready to serve.

Note:

• I use India Gate Basumathi rice. We can also use normal rice/Sona masoori.
• I also add Corn - 1/2 cup and Potato - 1/4 cup - but here I couldn't add because I din't have them at home.
• Add some Raisins and Cashew to increase the richness of the rice.
• Add only 1/8th cup of chopped onions if you want your pulao to be pearl white.
• Rice cooking differs from the type of rice used. For any basumathi rice I prefer only one whistle. For sona masoori it might take 3 whistles to cook.