Pulao comes from the Persian dish “Pilaf”. It essentially involves separately cooking rice and then steaming it with vegetables in a flavoured broth or seasoning. But don’t let that scare you, first time pulao cooks! Here’s an easy recipe for Pea Pulao. It’s simple, delicious and goes with almost everything!
Servings
6
servingsPrep time
10
minutesCooking time
40
minutesTotal time
50
minutesIngredients
2 cups rice
1 medium onion
2 tsp salt
8-10 peppercorns
1 cinnamon stick
4 cloves
½ tsp ginger & garlic paste
½ cup oil
½ – 1 cup peas
Directions
- Wash the rice and soak in water for at least an hour.
- In 1/2 cup hot oil add the onions and fry till golden brown. Spoon out of the pan and onto a plate. Set aside.
- In the same oil, add garam masala (peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon sticks) and fry on low heat.
- Add peas and cook on medium heat till peas are soft.
- Add garlic-ginger paste, yogurt (whipped) and half of the fried onions and stir for a few seconds.
- Add the drained rice and stir fry on medium heat for about 30 seconds.
- Add salt and water till rice is completely immersed (so that the water level is ½ ” above the level of the rice).
- Cover and cook on medium heat until the water dries and rice is cooked.
- Garnish with fried onions and serve with spicy raita or cucumber raita.
Notes
- When frying the onions, turn the heat off a few seconds before the onions are golden brown. When you’re taking the onions out of the oil, they will continue to cook. If you over-fry onions, they get a very bitter taste to them.
- If you feel like the water’s dried up and the rice is still uncooked, add a little bit of boiling water to allow the rice to continue cooking. It’s important that you do not add cold or room temperature water, otherwise the rice will lose its cooking temperature.
