Vegetable Pulao - One Pot Meal

One pot meals make a quick and filling lunch or dinner. Since its winter here, its mostly phulkas for dinner. Once in a while, I make this pulao for dinner. Pulao when served hot with a side of pickle and chips is always welcome. A medley of vegetables and spices with rice cooked in a pressure cooker makes a quick meal too.  I don't stick to this recipe every time I make pulao. But this is the basic recipe and I make changes according to my mood like adding some coconut milk or tomato puree etc. The vegetables that go in also add up to the taste of the pulao. The aroma when the cooker is opened, is enticing enough to bring your family to the table.

You need

• Long grain rice/Basmati rice - 1 cup
• Chopped Vegetables - 1 cup (carrot,french beans, potato, peas)
• Red chilli powder - 1/4 tspn
• Salt - 1/2 tspn

 To ground to paste

•  Green chilly - 2 nos
• Ginger - 1" piece
• Coriander powder - 1 tspn
• Garlic - 2 pods
• Onion - 1

For Seasoning

• Ghee/butter - 1 tblspn
• Cumin seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Fennel seeds - 1/2 tspn
• Cloves - 4 nos
• Cinnamon -1" stick 2nos
• Bay leaf - 1 no
• Cardamom powder - 1/2 tspn

Method

Wash and soak rice in 2 cups of water for half an hour. Make a paste of the ingredients under to made to paste. Don't add water. Moisture from the onion is enough to make the paste.

Heat a pressure cooker. Add ghee or butter. When hot, add the seasoning ingredients. When the seeds turn light brown, add the ground paste. Saute till the raw smell goes. Tip in the chopped veggies and saute for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain the water from rice and reserve the water. Add rice and continue to saute. Add chilli powder and salt and the reserved water. Stir well. Close the pressure cooker and cook for two whistles and cook in the lowest flame for 5 minutes or till another whistle blows. When the pressure is fully released, gently fluff with a fork. Check salt and add if needed.  Serve with some chips or raitha.

To make it more rich,you can add  julienned  and sauteed onions till brown, roasted cashews and raisins too.