Vegetarian Pulao

I have this memory. I am in school and its lunch hour. We're all seated together and open our lunch boxes. Everyone who remembers school tiffins knows the standard fare - 2 chapatis, vegetables and maybe some fruit.  I open my lunch box and this yummy aroma rises. Fragrant glistening basmati rice with carrots, peas, potato wedges, onion slices, sprinkled liberally with roasted cashews and lovingly drizzled with ghee. It's my Mum's pulao. I can still taste it.

Today, when I pack lunch for my daughter, with the clock ticking and alarms set 10 minutes apart for every single before-school checklist, I cannot imagine this. This dish that for me symbolizes relaxed noons and cooking at a leisurely pace cannot be part of the hectic morning routine. And yet, it was! Aai dished it out to us at regular intervals brightening up the regular school lunch hours. I enjoyed it then but I cherish it even more today when I realize the effortless effort it has been. It’s the warm hug that I still feel.

So, that's it. Let's cut the nostalgia and get down to business. As is standard practice, I had the partial recipe with game-changing tips missing for over 10 years. But the enticement of the blog has worked or so I hope. I now have a complete recipe and I can vouch for it. I did try it and it was delicious!

Ingredients:

·        3 cups basmati rice (long-grained and fragrant)

·        All vegetables for this are sliced lengthwise wherever possible. So yes, leave out the peas

·        1 large onion sliced lengthwise

·        2 carrots chopped lengthwise (2-3 inch sticks)

·        1 cup french beans (1 inch pieces)

·        1 cup of cauliflower florets

·        1 medium potato wedges (skin on)

·        1 cup green peas

Spices:

·        5-7 black pepper corns

·        5-6 cloves

·        2-3 masala cardamom (black cardamom)

·        2-4 bay leaves

·        3/4 thin cinnamon sticks

·        1 green chilly minced

·        Half-inch ginger (grated) -- For Pu.La. fans, takes half inch of आलं and कीस it ;)

Cooking Time:

I had a lot of help since I was working with sous chef hubby. But I guess it would be about 1 - 1.5 hour for the first time

Serves:

It served 8 when we had other main dishes. As the sole dish, would be 6.

Recipe:

1) Wash the basmati rice and soak it for at least 15 minutes.

2) Heat oil in a kadhai (wok) and deep fry all the vegetables one variety at a time

3) Lay the fried vegetables on a tissue paper and tap off the excess oil

4) Sprinkle the minced chilly, grated ginger, कच्चा मसाला(*1),  salt on the veggies. It works like a dry marinade

5) In a kadhai (wok), add ghee then pepper, cloves, cardamom, bay leaves and cinnamon.

6) Drain the rice and add in the wok. Stir fry

7) Heat 2.5 times the water (i.e. 7.5 cups for the 3 cups rice) and add to the rice

8) Add a little salt and let the rice cook

 "भात एका कणी वर राहीला असताना भाज्या त्यात मिसळून एक दणदणीत वाफ आणणे"

9)  Decoding - When rice is almost done, stir in the veggies and cover with a lid for about 5 minutes till the steam cooks the rice and covers your glasses when you open to check on it :)

10)  Stir in about 1 tablespoon of ghee and cover for another 5 minutes

11) Now the aroma should drive you crazy and you'll definitely know rice is done.

12) Sprinkle with coriander and grated coconut and you're all set (*2)

*1: “Kachcha masala” is a spice mix that my Mom makes at home. I will, at some point, put down the exact recipe for making this. For making this pulao, just cumin powder, coriander powder would suffice.

*2: Coriander and grated coconut are indispensable ingredients in Mum-recipes. There've been incidents where absence of coriander has triggered a cancellation of the dish. Yep, that's Aai!

:This is a typical “Mumma” expression. I will provide decodes to help non-marathi readers. For marathi readers, this is the most important Mum-tip :)

Do let me know how it works.