Black-eyed Peas Pulao (Pilaf)

For day 3 of BM, I have yet another protein packed rice dish and this time the protein happens to be black eyed peas (check out my Egg biryani and Pudina Paneer Pulao recipes). 

All of the 3 rice dishes I posted this week involve 3 different cooking methods. For the biryani, rice is cooked ¾th of the way and then finished cooking “dum style” with the masala. For the pulao, I cooked the rice separately and then mixed it with the spiced vegetable mixture. For today’s pulao, I cooked the rice with the masala to make it a one-pot dish. 

My preferred method of cooking rice has always been the pressure cooker and I've had trouble cooking it any other way in the past. But in the recent past, I’ve had some luck with cooking rice using the open-pot method and I’ve been making one-pot dishes for the dish-washer’s delight (which happens to be-----ME). 

Here’s how I made the dish. 

Ingredients: 

Black Eyed Peas – 1 cup, soaked for 1hour and cooked until tender (or use 1 16oz. can) 

Basmati Rice – 1½ cups, soaked for 30minutes

Onion – 1 large, thinly sliced 

Ginger+garlic paste – 2tsp

Tomato paste - 2tbsp

Tomatoes - 2 medium, chopped

Green chilies - 2, slit

Bay leaf - 1

Cinnamon - 1" piece

Cloves - 3

Jeera - 1tsp

Turmeric - ½tsp

Red chili powder - 1tsp (or to taste)

Garam Masala - 1tsp

Salt - to taste

Method:

• Heat 2tbsp oil in a large saute pan; add the whole spices - bay leaf, cinnamon stick, cloves and jeera. Once the spices start to smell fragrant, add the onions and green chilies; saute until onions are lightly browned around the edges.
• Add ginger+garlic paste and cook for 1 minute.
• Next add the tomato paste and chopped tomatoes; cover and cook until they turn mushy, about 3-5 minutes.
• Add red chili powder, garam masala and salt. Mix well. 
• Add the black eyed peas, basmati rice and 2½ cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil on medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low, cover and cook for 15-20 minutes. Absolutely no peeking. Turn off the heat and let sit for at least 10 minutes.
• Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve with raita.

I served mine with some plain yogurt and spicy Punjabi mixture. My son had his with an omelet.

Lets check out what my fellow marathoners have cooked up for BM# 18.