Saturday, October 27, 2007

Mixed Vegetable Pulav


The credit of this pulao goes to a hungry afternoon which stimulated my brain cells a little more than usual and made me try out this short cut method. I would confidently vouch for this particular recipe. This method has been tried and tested by many friends of mine and complimented upon. Please follow the instructions to the dot.
Serves about 3-4 people
Time taken-25-30 minutes
Cooking Tip- Using frozen mixed vegetables reduces the time taken to cut them.
Ingredients Used:
3 cinnamon sticks
2-3 buds of clove
Cardamom -2
Bay leaf
(The above four items are referred together as whole masala)
1 large onion
Half an inch ginger
Half a tsp each of turmeric powder, chilli powder, garam masala powder and biryani pulao masala
One and half tsp coriander powder
1 big cup of rice(preferably basmati rice)
1 big cup or equal amount of mixed vegetables like beans, carrots, green peas and corn
6-7 cloves of garlic
1 tomato
2-3 tbsp oil
2 tsp ghee
Method of Preparation:
Warm the oil in a cooker and put the whole masala into it. Stir it with a ladle until you get the aroma of the masala. Add chopped onions to this and fry till golden brown. Then, add plain unwashed basmati rice to this and roast it until it turns slightly white/loses its transparency. This ensures that the rice doesn't become sticky and cooks well too. To this, add turmeric powder, chilli powder, coriander powder, Garam masala and Biryani pulao masala and grated ginger. Mix it well. After about a minute, add medium cut mixed vegetables, two big cups of water, salt, grated garlic and chopped tomato. Pressure cook on medium high flame until one whistle. After the whistle, lower the flame in to medium level and cook for 3-4 minutes. The pulav is now almost ready. Once the cooker cools, open its lid and pour in the ghee for extra flavour. It also changes the consistency of the rice.
Note:Pulav tastes good as it is or with raita prepared by mixing finely chopped onions, tomatoes, cucumber and a little bit of salt in curds(plain yoghurt). You could also toss in a few mint leaves to this mix while preparing pulao to add extra flavour.

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Raja Masala

Raja Masala is a quick and easy snack made out of groundnuts(peanuts). Have heard that it goes well with Chilled Beer. It tastes good with coffee too, especially on a cold winter evening.

Ingredients Required:
Three handfuls of dry roasted, skinned peanuts
One handful of finely chopped onions
Two finely chopped green chillies
Quarter tsp. red chilli powder(Chat masala-optional)
Salt, lemon and coriander leaves to taste

Time Taken: 5 minutes

Serves about 4 people.

Method of Preparation:
Mix the ingredients mentioned above in the given order. Make sure the peanuts are crispy(kurkure). The less-health conscious people could use deep fried peanuts(obviously, it would enhance the taste). Chatpata raja masala is now yours to savour.

Note: Snacks of similar types can be prepared by replacing peanuts with sprouted moong(raw uncooked or partially cooked green gram varieties) or cooked chana(chickpea).

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