Jaipuri Vegetable Pulao

BM# 63: Journey through the Cuisines 

Week 2: Rajasthani Cuisine 

Day 10: J for Jaipuri Pulao
Today I have a easy to make, colorful and delicious rice dish. Being a south Indian, I am attracted to rice dishes like a magnet and so J is for Jaipuri Pulao it is. This is a great dish to make on a busy weeknight or to serve at a fancy party.

Recipe is from this You Tube video by Ruchi Bharani. Cooked basmati is tossed with colorful veggies and a freshly ground spice paste. So once you have the spice paste ready, the recipe comes together in no time.

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Bengali Mishti Pulao with Vegetables

I made this Bengali Mishti pulao to go with the Enchor Kofta curry. Typically this pulao is made using Gobindo bhog rice which is an aromatic short grain rice, very popular in Bengali households. I've never seen it in Indian stores here, so I used regular basmati rice. Soma says good quality jasmine rice can also be used instead.

Rice is rinsed, drained and dried for at least 30 minutes before making the dish. It is then sauteed with whole spices until aromatic and then cooked till tender. Care is taken to make sure each rice grain is separate and the dish doesn't end up becoming mushy.

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Green Mango-Potato Pulao

Sometimes I wonder if I would be this adventurous at making new dishes if I was not a food blogger. I saw the recipe for this raw mango & potato pulao on a Telugu cooking show one day and made it the same day because I had all the ingredients on hand. As I was making it, I started wondering if I would try this combination if I wasn't thinking about posting it on the blog.

After that I started wondering how the dish would taste and how the husband would like it. The dish ended up tasting pretty good, even though in hindsight I should have added a little more chili powder and green chilies to make it a little more spicy.

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Methi Chana Pulao (Fenugreek leaves and Chickpea Pilaf)

Blogging Marathon# 50: Week 2/ Day 2

Theme: Methi Dishes

Dish: Methi Chana Pulao

Apart from curries, lentil dishes and rotis, methi is great to use in rice dishes too. I have made spicy pulao with methi and paneer before, but today's pulao is quite mild with just a few whole spices. This recipe is my adaptation of my cousin's methi pudina rice. She usually serves the rice with a spicy curry, but I added some chickpeas to the rice to make it wholesome.

This is a one-pot dish and can be whipped up in no time (if you have the methi leaves all prepped and ready to go, that is). I usually store my cleaned methi leaves in an airtight container in the fridge once I get back from the store and then use them as needed during the week.

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Pudina Vegetable Pulao (Mint flavored Vegetable Pilaf) -- (Revisiting Old Recipe)

Blogging Marathon# 45: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Revisiting Old Recipes
Dish: Pudina Vegetable Pulao

One problem with blogging regularly is that I am constantly trying out new recipes to post here on the blog and don't usually find time to go back and cook old recipes. Whenever Valli has 'Revisiting recipes' theme for blogging marathon, I make sure to sign up for it so I get a chance to remake the dish and redo the photos.

This Pudina Vegetable Pulao is from my early blogging days way back from 2006 -- more than 8 years back. This was the fanciest rice dish I knew in those days and made it regularly until my pulao & biryani repertoire started growing and this simple one pot meal became a rarity in my house.

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Quick Paneer Pulao (Pressure Cooker Method)

We are celebrating Sapana's Virtual Baby Shower' today. Welcoming a new bundle of joy into the family is a very exciting time for the whole family and especially to the mom. So Sapana, here's wishing you 'All the very best for the new arrival'.

So our BM group decided to cook from Sapana to celebrate her Virtual Baby Shower. I picked a simple one-pot dish, Paneer Pulao from Sapana's blog. This dish was a hit with my family. I made minor changes to the original recipe to suit for taste preference.

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Sprouts Mixed Vegetable Pulao

Today's recipe is from a Telugu cooking show and I have made it a number of times since I watched the show. It is a healthy and delicious dish with sprouts, mixed vegetables and spicy masala paste. This is a great way to use sprouts and with the addition of mixed vegetables, it is a balanced dish to serve for lunch or dinner. It also reheats really well making it perfect for lunchboxes. 

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Udupi Vegetable Pulao

Blogging Marathon# 38: Week 2/ Day 2
Theme: Gourmet Rice Dishes 
Dish: Udupi Vegetable Pulao

For day 2 of BM# 38, I made this flavorful Udupi Vegetable Pulao. I saw this dish being made on a Telugu cooking show and really liked the coconut based spice/ masala paste that is added to the veggies. This is a one pot dish that is sure to wow everyone.

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Cabbage-Pudina Pulao (Cabbage Mint Pilaf)

Can't believe there's only 10 days left for Christmas. But the weather here has been sending quite a few signals that it is almost winter and holiday season is just around the corner. We had 2 snow storms this week and the temperatures are below freezing. Can't wait for winter to end even before it started :-)
After that brief weather report, here's what's cooking in my house. I made this quick and easy (almost) 1 pot dish for one of our meals last week. Recipe is from a Telugu cooking show. I already have 2 cabbage rice recipes on the blog, but this one has whole garam masala spices and ground masala that gives a nice flavor to the dish.

In the original recipe, rice was cooked with the veggies in the pot making it a 1-pot dish, but I cooked the rice separately and added it to the veggies at the end. All in all it is a tasty variation to regular pulaos and can be prepared in short amount of time.

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Corn & Rajma (Kidney beans) Pulao (Pilaf)

Blogging Marathon# 35: Week 1/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking with Corn
Dish: Corn & Kidney beans Pulao

After using sweet corn in this uggani and baby corn in this masala curry, I'm combining both of these corns in a rice dish today. Recipe idea is from a Telugu cooking show. Original recipe used baby corn and rajma (red kidney beans), but I put some sweet corn that I had in the fridge.

If you have cooked rice and beans on hand, this dish takes literally minutes to complete. I made this for my lunch today. I had very little time to cook before I had to go pick my daughter from her play school. As I said this is a super quick dish to make if you have everything ready. I was able to cook, click and then go pick my daughter right on time.

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Semya Pulao (Vermicelli Pilaf)

BM# 34: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking from Sapana's blog
Dish: Semya Pulao (Vermicelli Pilaf)

It has been a busy day and I'm very late for the 3rd day post for BM# 34. I was busy prepping for the Thanksgiving party and also finishing up the necessary shopping. Weather was lousy today, gloomy, cold and rainy -- totally uninspiring and dull.

I was planning to make one of Sapana's Chole recipe. I had already soaked the chickpeas, but by the time we came back from shopping, we were starving and I didn't have time to cook the beans and make the curry. Instead I made this quick to make Seviyan Pulao. 

I make semya pulao often, but the addition of tomato, garlic masala paste is new and added lot of flavor to the pulao. Also using carom seeds in tempering is a different element. It tasted great and we had a filling lunch.

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Pineapple Sweet Pulao

This post has been in my drafts for exactly 9 months. It's waiting to see the light of day (or the light of your monitor) for way too long. It didn't fit any of the BM themes till now. I saw the recipe being made on one of the Telugu cooking show.

As the name suggests this is a sweet pulao made with pineapple chunks and basmati rice. Addition of whole garam masala is the interesting part of the dish. All in all it is a simple dish packed with flavors. Give it a try if you are looking for a different dish. 

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Zafrani Pulao/ Saffron Rice/ Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter Z
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian dishes from Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Zafrani Pulao/ Saffron Rice/ Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao

I can't believe today's the last day for our month long Blogging Marathon. This month flew by so fast and I've enjoyed cooking dishes from my home state of Andhra Pradesh. It has been quite a culinary journey that involved learning new dishes that I've never known or made before (like Vegetarian Haleem or Sheer Qurma) and making some traditional dishes that I've grown up with (like Lauju or kobbari kura or these comforting dals).
A big THANKS to Valli, our gracious host and organizer for the amazing ideas and being the driving force behind all of this action. Thanks to ALL the lovely ladies who did this month long marathon for your constant support. Thanks to ALL my blog readers. Last but not the least huge thanks to my family for all your ideas and encouragement.

For the final letter Z, I made Hyderabadi Zafrani Pulao. This dish was almost set in stone and never changed throughout the marathon planning. I couldn't think of any other dish with Z and was happy the minute I found this recipe on Vahrehvah site.

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Yakhni Pulao (Hyderabadi Vegetable Yakhni Pulao)

Blogging Marathon# 32: Letter Y
Theme: A-Z Vegetarian Dishes of Andhra Pradesh
Dish: Yakhni Pulao (Hyderabadi Vegetable Yakhni Pulao)

Letter Y means we are almost close to the finish line, that is we are almost at the end of the month long marathon. Y was a little find a dish for and as I was discussing with my mom, she said make something with 'Yam'. Yam in India means Kanda (Telugu) or Suran (Hindi). But Yam in US is a variety of sweet potato. Because of all this ambiguity, I wanted to make something else.

Once I found this recipe for Yakhni Pulao, my search ended. Yakhni means 'Stock'. Traditionally Yakhni Pulao is made with stock made with meat, but I used vegatables to make stock. Recipe adapted from Veg Recipes of India and Paaka Shaale.

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Mango Coconut Pulao (Pilaf)

After trying Mango curry, I was ready to expand my raw mango recipe repertoire. So when I saw this recipe for Mango-Coconut Pulao on a telugu cooking show, I promptly noted it down.

With Summer being in full swing in our neck of woods, fresh green mangoes are widely available in the Indian groceries. I always make sure that I get a few, so I can use them to make pappu (dal) or this aam ka panna or this masala curry. But this mango coconut pulao is simple to make and is perfect one-pot meal for weeknights.

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Brown Rice Green Pulao (Brown Rice & Mint Pilaf)

I love the nuttiness of Brown Rice and cook with it quite often. I usually make plain brown rice and make side dishes, like Thai Panaeng Curry or Tempeh Rendang. Basically I like to pair brown rice with spicy Asian dishes and rarely with Indian curries. So when I saw this recipe for flavored brown rice recipe on one of the Indian cooking shows that I'm obsessed with, I know I had to make it. The original recipe used cilantro, but I used mint instead. A combination of mint and cilantro would be yummy too.

This is a very flavorful and healthy one-pot dish. Soak brown rice for at least 5-6 hours or even overnight for better taste and texture. Right now my mint plants are growing wild and I'm looking for variety of dishes to use as much of it as possible. This is the first in the series of mint/ pudina recipes that I've been trying in the quest for using up my excess herb.

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Corn Pulao

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 4/ Day 3
Theme: Miscellaneous - Cooking Rice on Stove top
Dish: Corn Pulao/ Pilaf

I made this one pot Corn Pulao for my lunch today. Rice is cooked along with the veggies. There was a time when I tried to cook rice using the open pot method, it would either end up uncooked or burnt at the bottom. I have gotten better over time and now I make decent rice dishes without using the pressure cooker.
This corn rice has both corn kernels and baby corn. It is lightly spiced, so I served it with some tomato raita. It makes for a filling and delicious weeknight meal. Add some paneer or soy chunks or other protein to make this a complete meal. This is another recipe adapted from the Telugu cooking show I have been talking about a lot in my previous posts.

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Bagara Rice (How to cook Pulao/ Pilaf in Pressure Cooker)

Blogging Marathon# 27: Week 4/ Day 1
Theme: Miscellaneous - Tips to cook Pulao/ Pilaf in Pressure Cooker
Dish: Bagara Rice

We are in the last week of our Blogging Marathon# 27 and the theme for this week is 'miscellaneous" and 'arts & crafts'. I've to say that I'm a little crafty. No, I guess I have to say I was crafty more than 10 years ago and now I can't even think of anything fancy for my kindergartner's projects. 

When Valli announced that the theme for the last week is arts & crafts, I started watching a Telugu cooking show that had a segment on food carvings. I made note of quite a few and started trying out my crafting skills. After seeing my creations -- Tomato tulips/ Strawberry flowers & Cucumber Chinese fan, my husband decided to start cooking himself because of the amount of time and energy I was spending on trying to precisely cut the fruit/ veggie to get the right shape. Oh, mind you none of what I made actually looked what they were supposed to look like and it seemed waste of resources to the husband. After hacking away a week's worth of tomatoes for one trial, I had to agree with him and accept my failure.

So for the next few days, I'm going to post some quick and easy rice recipes. Also I'm planning to post  what I learnt in my Wilton Cake Decorating course later on in the week.

Today, I have a very simple and tasty rice dish. It is spiced with whole garam masala (spices), mint and cilantro. I cooked it in the pressure cooker. Recently couple of my blogging buddies have asked me how my pressure cooked pilaf/ pulao's come out so fluffy. There was a time when my pressure cooked pilafs were either mushy, burnt at the bottom or uncooked. So after some experiments, I think finally I've started to make some decent rice dishes in the cooker.

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Goda Masala Pulao with Kokum Kadhi

Blogging Marathon# 25: Week 2/ Day 3
Theme: Cooking from a Book
Dish: Goda Masala Pulao with Kokum Kadhi

Cookbooks are great resource when you are looking for a recipe with a specific ingredient. It can be an ingredient that is used daily and needs to be transformed into something new or a completely new ingredient that you are not familiar with and need ideas for a dish. I recently saw "Goda Masala" at the Indian grocery  and bought it on impulse with no specific dish in mind. As I was looking through the cookbook "Sukham Ayu" for a dish to make this week, I saw this one pot dish "Goda Masala Pulao" and made it right away to use the new spice powder I bought.

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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. 

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