benazir's blog

Vegetable Pulao

I got a rave for this pulao last night from Mr. Riaz. He really enjoyed it. If you can make jollof rice I am certian you can make this. When I started making jollof rice I said to myself, oh my God, it is so simple. It is just like making pulao almost.

Today I am going to show how to make an Indian dish and it is a grand meal at that. I really love pulao. Pulao means that you cook the rice in a broth while biryiani is total opposite. I think I have said it before that when a biryiani is made that you cook the rice and add stuff to it later. Which means that you make a curry and then fold it in with the cooked rice, now that is briyiani. Whith this out of the way that we can now make the pulao.

I added 1/4 cup of olive oil to the pot on high heat I sliced 1 onion or shallot in to half moon slices, added 1 pinch of pink salt and fried until the onion was golden. I added 1 pinch of black cumin seeds, 3 bay leaves, 1 clove, 1 black cardamom and 2 green cardamoms I have crushed in my mortar and pestle then added to the masala mix in the pot.

I added 3 pinches of cashews to the masala mix and roasted them until they turned golden. I added 1 green chili, 3 aloo bukhara, 2 cloves of garlic and 1 slice of ginger I added to mortar and pestle to make a paste and added it to the masala base. I added 1 pinch each of turmeric, red chili powder and cinnamon powder to the masala mix and stirred. If using a tiny piece of cinnamon stick then grind with mortar and pestle to make a powder and add to the masala base.

I added 3 dashes of maggi or knorr aroma, 1 bullion cube and 1 chopped tomato. I cooked the tomato in the masala base to make it in to a curry base. I turned the heat on low and added 1 tbs of water so the mixture does not burn and kept stirring until the tomato turned to mush. I added 1/2 bag of frozen mixed veggies and stirred. I added 1 cup of basmati rice after I have rinsed it before adding it to the pot.
I stirred and added 1 liter or 1 quart of water to the rice mixture stirred once more and put some almuminum foil over the lid and placed it on the pot.

Again I made sure that the flame was on low and cooked for 15 minutes. I kept checking the rice every 5 minutes or so and stirring lightly. You do not want broken rice. After time was up I ended up placing the lid on the pot again and setting the timer for 20 minutes while the rice is on dum.

After 20 minutes it is ok to check the rice and at this stage it is perfect and ready to enjoy. I served it with my tandoori fish.