Vegetable Pulao with Onion Raita

Vegetable Pulao with Onion Raita

Another one pot meal, easy to make and handy when there is less time. Well its not only made there is less time but also for parties, pot luck get togethers and accompaniment to masala curries or chicken dishes :). For me its a saviour when there is less time like today when I am stuck in outdoor activities almost for the whole day. Well why not when it has all the veggies and rice in one dish and it will be eaten with raita and I don't have to make any other side dishes.

I used crispy bread too, to give it an extra touch. And the masala powder I used is not the typical biryani masala powder. It's a version of homemade curry powder and I used it with dry garam masala. It can be made with regular biryani masala powder too.

I made this very easily. I sauted the veggies for couple of minutes on the stovetop and put everything together in the electric rice cooker and let the cooker do its magic!!

Ingredients:

2 cups Basmati rice (washed and soaked for atleast 1/2 hour)
1 small potato, chopped big
1 cup cauliflower florets
1/2 cup chopped carrots
1/2 cup chopped beans
1/4 cup corn
1/4 cup peas
2 bread slices (shallow fried to crispy)
Salt to taste

Dry masala;

6-8 cloves
4-6 one inch pieces cinamon sticks
6 cardamom pods
1 anise star
1 tsp shahi jeera or kala jeera
1/2 tsp jeera
4 bay leaves

Masala powder: (grind to powder)

1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
3 dried red chillies
1 tsp black peppercorns
1/4 tsp fenugreek seeds

1 large onion juliened (cut lengthwise)
4 green chillies (I used less to make it less spicy, adjust to your taste)
2 tbsp ginger-garlic paste
4 tbsp oil
3 tbsp chopped coriander

Method:

Wash rice and soak for atleast 30 minutes. When cooking in the electric cooker and that too with uncooked veggies I put less water, like for 2 cup basmati rice, I put 4 cups of water, but in this condition I put only 2 1/2 to nearly 3 cups of water. This is because the veggies have enough water to sustitute the remaining needed water to cook the rice.
Grind the masala powder ingredients to powder.
In a pan, heat the oil, add the dry garam masala. Add onions and green chillies. Saute only for few seconds and add the ginger-garlic paste. Saute for 10 sec and add all the veggies and saute for couple of minutes with salt and add the masala powder. Don't add the whole amount of the powder, if you think its too much. Add only as required. Add this whole veggie mixture to the soaked rice and adjust the salt by tasting the water. The water should taste a bit salty. Add the chopped coriander leaves and cook in the rice cooker.
Meanwhile shallow fry the bread to crispy. You can bake it too. drain it on napkin and cut to pieces.
After the rice gets cooked, add the bread pieces and some more coriander leaves and mix it up with the rice.
Serve with an curry or with raita. I served it with simple onion raita. Enjoy!!!

Onion raita recipe:

Ingredients:

1 large red onion, chopped small
1 green chilli, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
salt to taste
enough yogurt to suit your consistency

Method:

Mix everything together and serve. Enjoy!!

This is going to Pari from Foodelicious's 'The Combo Event'