Vegetable Pulao

Ingredients

• Basmati rice – 1.5 cup

• Onion – 2 medium size
• Cauliflower – 1 small
• Ginger -1” piece
• Garlic – 1 (optional)
• Green chillies – 3-4
• Ghee – 4 tablespoons
• Tomato -2 medium
• Bay leaves -2
• Black pepper – 8-10
• Cloves – 5-6
• Coriander leaves -for garnishing

Preparation
• Begin by rinsing 1.5 cups basmati rice in water until it runs clear of
starch. Next, soak the rice in enough water for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes strain the rice of all the water and keep aside.
• While the rice is soaking, prep the veggies. Rinse and chop them.
Chop the vegetables in small cubes. For cauliflower, chop them in
medium-sized florets. Peel, rinse and slice 1 large onion thinly.
• Keep all the whole spices aside.
• Add chopped ginger (1 to 1.5 inches), garlic (4 to 5 small to medium
garlic cloves, peeled) and 1 to 2 green chilies (green peppers) in a
mortar-pestle.
• Crush to a paste. You can also use a small grinder for crushing these.
Add a bit of water if required while grinding in a small grinder or mixer.
• Heat 3 tablespoons ghee or oil in a deep thick bottomed pot or pan.
• Once the ghee has melted and become hot, add all whole spices and
fry for a few seconds until they become fragrant. The spices will also
splutter while frying. The ghee should not smoke or become too hot.
• Add 1 cup of thinly sliced onions.
• Mix the onions with the ghee and begin to sauté them.
• Sauté the onions on a low to medium-low flame. First, the onions will
become light golden. Stirring often continue to sauté.
• Sauté onions until golden.
• Once the onions become golden, add crushed ginger + garlic + green
chili (chili pepper) paste.
• Stir and sauté for some seconds until the raw aroma of the ginger &
garlic goes away.
• Add ½ cup chopped tomatoes.
• Mix and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
• Now add all the chopped veggies. You will need about 1 to 1.5 cups
of mixed chopped vegetables.
• Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro). At this
step, you can also add 2 tablespoons of chopped mint leaves.
• Mix and sauté again for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
• Add the rice. Mix rice gently with the rest of the ingredients.
• Sauté rice gently for 1 to 2 minutes on a low to medium-low flame,
so that the rice gets well coated with the oil or ghee.
• Pour 2.5 to 3 cups water into the pan. I added 3 cups of water.
Depending on the quality of rice you have used, you can add less or
more water. You can replace water with vegetable stock.
• Add ¼ teaspoon lemon juice. Season with salt. Mix very well. Stir
and tightly cover the pot or pan with its lid.
• Cover and cook the rice until all the water is absorbed. Cook on a low
to medium flame.
• Once the rice grains are cooked, fluff them and let the rice stand for
5 minutes covered with the lid.
• Serve pulao garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro), mint leaves
or fried onions and fried cashews or fried raisins.