Pulao
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Ingredients
For Soaking Rice
- 1.5 cups basmati rice - 300 grams, rinsed & soaked for 30 minutes
- water - as required for soaking
Vegetables
- ½ to ¾ cup chopped cauliflower florets
- ½ to ¾ cup chopped potatoes
- ¼ cup chopped carrots
- ⅓ cup green peas - fresh or frozen
- ¼ cup chopped green peas (french beans)
- ¼ cup chopped green bell pepper (capsicum) - optional
- ¼ cup sliced baby corn - optional
Other Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons ghee or oil
- 1 cup thinly sliced onions or 1 large onion, sliced
- ½ cup chopped tomatoes or 1 medium sized tomato, chopped
- 1 to 1.5 inches ginger - crushed to a paste in a mortar-pestle
- 4 to 5 small to medium garlic cloves
- 1 to 2 green chillies (chili pepper)
- 3 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves (cilantro)
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint leaves - optional
- ¼ teaspoon lemon juice - optional
- 2.5 to 3 cups water or veg stock * check notes below for details. I added 3 cups of water
- salt as required
Whole Spices
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds or 1 teaspoon caraway seeds (shah jeera)
- 5 to 6 whole black pepper - optional
- 1 tej patta (indian bay leaf)
- 4 cloves
- 3 to 4 green cardamoms
- 1 black cardamom - optional
- 1 small piece of mace - optional
- 1 small star anise - optional
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 1 small piece of stone flower (dagad phool or patthar ke phool) - optional
For Garnish
- 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves
How to make Vegetable Pulao Recipe in a pot
Preparation-
1. 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.
2. After 30 minutes strain the rice of all the water and keep aside.
3. While the rice is soaking, prep the veggies. Rinse and chop them. Make sure to chop the vegetables in small cubes. For cauliflower, chop them in medium-sized florets. Peel, rinse and slice 1 large onion thinly.
4. Keep all the whole spices aside. From the below list of spices, you can skip black pepper, black cardamom, star anise and mace.
5. 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.
6. 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 mixed.
Frying spices and onions
7. Heat 3 tablespoons ghee or oil in a deep thick bottomed pot or pan.
8. 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.
9. Add 1 cup of thinly sliced onions.
10. Mix the onions with the ghee and begin to sauté them.
11. Sauté the onions on a low to medium-low flame. First, the onions will become light golden. Stirring often continue to sauté.
12. Sauté onions until golden.
13. Once the onions become golden, add crushed ginger + garlic + green chili (chili pepper) paste.
14. Stir and sauté for some seconds until the raw aroma of the ginger & garlic goes away.
15. Add ½ cup chopped tomatoes.
16. Mix and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
17. Now add all the chopped veggies. You will need about 1 to 1.5 cups of mixed chopped vegetables.
18. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro). At this step, you can also add 2 tablespoons of chopped mint leaves.
19. Mix and sauté again for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
20. Add the rice.
21. Mix rice gently with the rest of the ingredients.
22. 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.
Pulao Recipe | Vegetable Pulao In A Pot
By Dassana Amit
Last Updated: June 5, 2020
Pulao or pilaf, is comfort food at its best and I make it when I want to cook something quick, easy and satisfying. This one-pot dish made with rice and vegetables has added spices and herbs, giving it a mild aromatic flavor.
This special recipe is my mom’s and is my go-to recipe when making vegetable pulao. The dish is also vegetarian and is great on its own or paired with raita (an Indian yogurt dish), pickle and roasted papad (a crisp thin Indian snack).
About Vegetable Pulao
Called by various names such as pilaf or pulav, veg pulao is one of the most common rice dishes in India, the other being Veg Biryani.
You will find many different veg pulao recipes on this blog including Peas pulao, Kashmiri pulao, Tawa pulao, Paneer pulao and more. However the recipe I share here is my favorite and how I almost always end up making it.
What I like about making veg pulao is that it comes together quickly. Use a food processor for chopping the veggies and it will really come together fast.
Why this Pulao Recipe Works
- Spices: This recipe uses whole garam masala spices, rather than adding any pulao or biryani masala. Thus the aroma of the spices is distinctly felt in the dish.
- Rice: I usually like the texture of the rice to be a little soft in pulao, rather than being al dente, which is the way it is typically served in restaurants. So if you are like me, you will love this recipe. Read on below for tips on making the perfect rice for you pulao.
Tips for Preparing your Rice
The most important thing in a pulao dish is that the rice grains are cooked perfectly without sticking or becoming mushy. The rice grains should be separate and non-sticky after being cooked.
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Below you will find some tips and suggestions to help you prepare the perfect rice for your pulao.
Type and quality of rice for Pulao
- Basmati rice is usually used to make pulao. The basmati rice should be fragrant and long-grained to get good results. Aged basmati rice will give you the best results.
- You can also use other types of long-grained rice and short-grained Indian rice varieties like seeraga samba, sona masuri or ambe mohar. These rice varieties can often be purchased on Amazon.
- In some parts of Tamil Nadu and Kerala (Southern Indian states), seeraga samba rice is widely used to make pulao and biryani.
- Even parboiled basmati rice (sella basmati) can be used to make this recipe.
Sticky rice grains vs. separate rice grains
Now that you have the correct rice, follow these steps to ensure you have separate rice grains in your pulao:
Soak the rice – It is always better to soak your rice for 20 to 30 minutes before cooking. Soaking rice grains gives them a better texture when they are cooked. If you do not have time to soak them, then just rinse the rice before adding it. Note that if you only rinse the rice, you will need to add some more water as presoaked rice grains require less water for cooking as compared to rice grains which are not soaked.
Add the right amount of water – Be sure that you do not add too much water, especially if you have presoaked your rice as recommended above.
Sauté the rice – After adding the rice grains to your pan, sauté them for 1 to 2 minutes on a low to medium flame, so that they are coated with fat (oil or ghee). The rice grains have to be separate & and yet well cooked in a pulao or biryani. Adding lemon juice also helps make the rice grains fluffier.
Rice to water ratio
For most rice varieties, the rice to water ratio is generally 1:2. However, this ratio can vary depending on the particular type of rice used or the cooking method used:
- Example 1 – organic basmati rice requires more water while cooking and parboiled basmati rice will need more water as compared to regular basmati rice. For this reason, I recommend when cooking pulao, to use rice which you have cooked before. This way you will already know how much water to add.
- Example 2 – when cooking pulao in a pressure cooker, generally less water is added. The steam generated in the cooker helps in cooking the rice grains. However, the amount of water to be added will depend upon the size of the cooker. For example, in larger cookers, more water has to be added.
How to make Vegetable Pulao Recipe in a pot
Preparation
1. 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.
2. After 30 minutes strain the rice of all the water and keep aside.
3. While the rice is soaking, prep the veggies. Rinse and chop them. Make sure to chop the vegetables in small cubes. For cauliflower, chop them in medium-sized florets. Peel, rinse and slice 1 large onion thinly.
4. Keep all the whole spices aside. From the below list of spices, you can skip black pepper, black cardamom, star anise and mace.
5. 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.
6. 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.
Frying spices and onions
7. Heat 3 tablespoons ghee or oil in a deep thick bottomed pot or pan.
8. 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.
9. Add 1 cup of thinly sliced onions.
10. Mix the onions with the ghee and begin to sauté them.
11. Sauté the onions on a low to medium-low flame. First, the onions will become light golden. Stirring often continue to sauté.
12. Sauté onions until golden.
13. Once the onions become golden, add crushed ginger + garlic + green chili (chili pepper) paste.
14. Stir and sauté for some seconds until the raw aroma of the ginger & garlic goes away.
15. Add ½ cup chopped tomatoes.
16. Mix and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
17. Now add all the chopped veggies. You will need about 1 to 1.5 cups of mixed chopped vegetables.
18. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons of chopped coriander leaves (cilantro). At this step, you can also add 2 tablespoons of chopped mint leaves.
19. Mix and sauté again for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
20. Add the rice.
21. Mix rice gently with the rest of the ingredients.
22. 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.
23. 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.
24. Add ¼ teaspoon lemon juice.
25. Season with salt. Mix very well. To figure out if you have added the right amount of salt, check the taste of the water. You should feel some saltiness in the water. This means the amount of salt added is right. If the water does not feel salty, then you need to add some more salt.
Cooking Veg Pulao
26. Stir and tightly cover the pot or pan with its lid.
27. Cover and cook the rice until all the water is absorbed. Cook on a low to medium flame. Usually, in the beginning, I cook on a medium-low or medium flame and then halfway through, I lower the flame. Check a few times during cooking to ensure there is enough water. Depending on the quality of rice, you may need to add more water. With a fork, you can also gently stir the rice without breaking the rice grains.
28. Once the rice grains are cooked, fluff them and let the rice stand for 5 minutes covered with the lid.
29. Serve pulao garnished with coriander leaves (cilantro), mint leaves or fried onions and fried cashews or fried raisins.
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