Easy-Peasy Pulao- vegan

Adapt the seasonings to suit your own taste, or follow my suggestion for a mild and family-friendly  side dish

I didn't go into my kitchen tonight with the intention of recording my efforts, but as soon as I had washed the rice and put it in the pan, I knew it was going to be a crowd-pleaser worth writing down... we often make this- or variations on this- as our kids don't really enjoy their rice plain. However they don't like pieces of chilli or whole spices either, so I have to be careful to make sure the pepper and cardamom are ground. (I left the cloves whole though, as they are so obvious.) What made tonight's effort different was the addition of some grated veggies- when feeding youngsters it's always a good idea to cram in as much "hidden" veg as possible! Anyway, the end result was so colourful that I'm sending this to Chandrani's "Festive Food" event at Cuisine Delights. Her event is open until Diwali and rapidly filling up with delicious contributions, so do stop by there for some inspiration. I am sure I will end up cooking this at Diwali, Christmas and family celebrations as it's so easy and looks so bright and festive.

This recipe serves 6+ as a side. 

1 1/2 cups (250ml) basmati rice

1 level tsp turmeric (haldi)

1-1/2 tsps seasalt

1/2 tsp compound hing

1 large pinch coarse black pepper

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp powdered green cardamom (elaichi)

10 whole cloves

olive or ricebran oil for sizzling the spices

150g veg (such as courgette, sweet potato and/ or white cabbage)

1/2 a yellow bell pepper

1 tab peas

1 tab sweetcorn kernels

• First grate all the veggies apart from the peas and sweetcorn. (I used the fine attachment on my Magimix.)
• Wash the rice and place in a pan with 3x 250ml cups of water, the salt and the turmeric.
• Put the lid on, bring to the boil then turn down and simmer gently until the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked through. Be careful not to overcook it or it will become sticky and stodgy and the grains will break up.
• Meanwhile, heat some oil in a small pan and throw in the rest of the spices. When the aromas are released (don't overbrown) add the grated veggies, peas and sweetcorn.
• After a couple of minutes stirring and heating the veg through add them to the rice (which by now should be virtually done). 
• Your pulao is now ready!

PS: Next time I'm going to toast the spices and in the rice pan, then add the rice, turmeric salt and water- I think this will make it even more aromatic. To prevent sogginess though, I will still add the separately-cooked peas and sweetcorn at the end, once the rice is done. (I only did it separately this time because I'd already put the rice pan on to cook when I decided to make it a pulao!) 

http://riappyayan.blogspot.co.uk/2012/01/announcement-of-my-event-spotlight.html