OMG I could not believe how delicious this turned out! I was so excited I snapped a picture right on the pot. Now, this is one of my longer posts but stay with me. I'm not a big fan of over the top spicy food so pulao and biryanis are rare occurrences in my household. I like my rice mild yet flavorful. Double bonus if it's kid friendly so I don't have to make separate meals for adults and the kid at home. Triple bonus if it's easy to make which IMHO pulao's rarely are because of the 27 different ingredients and all the presoaking, chopping etc. I hate chopping vegetables and I managed to make this without using my chopping board or knife. TBH I did have chopped onions in the refrigerator ready to go - full disclosure. I didn't do any kind of pre-soaking either and still managed a grainy texture. I used by mini rice cooker and it always gives me the perfect rice every time.

The steps to making a great pulao boils down to 3 things - cook the rice separately with whole spices, saute the veggies while the rice cooks and then just mix it all together. Sticking to simple ingredients, using substitutes without guilt and doing things in parallel is the secret to reducing cooking time. For example, I didn't really have whole spices so where possible I substituted with a powdered version. I didn't have ginger paste so I skipped it. I feel like it turned out better without ginger.

Ingredients:

For the rice

1. Rice - 1/2 cup

2. Water - 1 cup (or slightly less)

3. Salt to taste

4. Bay leaves - 1

5. Cinnamon powder - 1/4 teaspoon or 1 stick

6. Cardamom powder - 1 pinch or 1 cardamom whole

7. Black Pepper - 2 whole corns

For the vegetables in the vegetarian

1. Frozen peas and carrots - (2.5 cups)

2. Onions - 1 chopped

3. Spice mixture - 1 teaspoon each of coriander powder, cumin powder, garam masala, turmeric powder)

4. Cashews - a handful

5. Ghee - 1 tablespoon

6. Cumin seeds - 1 tsp

7. Garlic paste - 1 tsp

8. Mint - 4-5 leaves

9. Cilantro leaves - 1 small handful (chopped)

Procedure:

1. Throw in rice along with water and the spices in to the rice cooker and let that cook.

2. Meanwhile, heat some ghee, add in cumin seeds and cashews. When the cashews start to roast add in the onions, garlic paste.

3. When the onions become translucent, add in the vegetables and the spice mixture along with salt.

4. Continue to cook this with a sprinkle of water and some mint leaves for a few minutes until cooked. Alternatively, you can steam carrots and peas in the microwave while the onions are getting cooked and then add that to reduce cooking time.

5. Spread cooked rice on a plate and let that cool for a bit. Fluff up with fork as required.

6. Once the rice is cooked, toss it in with the cooked vegetables, sprinkle with cilantro leaves and serve with raita.