Vegetable Pulav (No Onion No Garlic)

Here is a really quick and simple recipe to prepare delicious vegetable Pulav with normal rice using no Onion and Garlic. I want to defy the notion that Pulav can only be prepared with Basumati rice and can never be tasty without onion and garlic :)  

Ingredients:

Normal rice (Sona Masuri) – 1 cup

Cinnamon – 1 small piece (1 inch)

Bay leaves – 2 leaves

Cloves – 2-3

Poppy seeds - ½ teaspoon

Salt to taste

Oil – 2 tbsp

Ghee (Crystallised Butter) – 2 tbsp
Cashew - (Optional)

Vegetables: You can use any vegetables you like. I have given a combination which work fantastic for me! After chopping into small pieces, the vegetables should be around twice the volume of the raw rice. In our case it should be 2 cups.

Beans

Carrot

Cabbage

Capsicum

Peas

Sweet corn

Potato

Masala Purie:

Add little water and grind the below ingredients to form a purie.

Tomato - 1 medium size

Coriander leaves - 1/2 cup 

Mint leaves - 1 cup

Green chilli - 4-5 

Ginger - 1 tbsp chopped

The consistency of the purie should be like that of a tomato sauce.

Procedure:

1. Wash rice twice. Allow it to soak in 2 cups of water for at least 15mins before cooking.
2. Keep a cooker on the stove and add 2 tbsp of oil.
3. When oil is hot, add spices - cinnamon, cloves, bay leaves and poppy seeds. Sauté the spices for 30 seconds till they give out their enchanting aroma!
4. Add Cashews and fry till golden brown (Optional).
5. Then add all vegetables to the cooker and fry them for 2-3mins.
6. After 2-3mins of cooking, pour the masala purie into the cooker.
7. Sauté the mixture in cooker for 5mins till raw smell goes out and mouth watering pulav aroma starts filling the kitchen.
8. Add salt and add the soaked rice including the 2 cups of water into the cooker.
9. Keep cooking the mixture in open (without closing the lid) till the rice is 3/4th cooked.
10. Now add ghee & pour 1/4^th cup of water and close the cooker lid. Cook it for 1 whistle and turn off the flame.
11.  let it cool down by itself.

Your appetizing vegetable Pulav is ready to be served hot now!! The Pulav goes very good with traditional Raita.