Vegetable Pulao Recipe | Veg Pulao | Pulav Rice
Super easy and simple, this colorful, fragrant vegetable pulav recipe is the ultimate dressed up rice side dish that goes with pretty much everything. We use basic vegetables in this recipe but you can be as creative as you like.
Servings: 8 people
Calories: 278kcal
Ingredients
For the fried onions (biresta)
- 1 small onion thinly sliced
- 4 Tablespoons ghee or butter
For the Rice
- 2 cups basmati rice 400 grams
- 4 cups boiling water
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 5 cloves
- 3 cardamom smashed
- 1 bay leaf
- 1½ teaspoons salt
For the Vegetables
- ½ cup peas
- ½ cup carrots cut into small dices - size of the peas
- ½ cup green beans thinly sliced
- 1 cup cauliflower cut into small florets
Instructions
- Rinse and soak. Begin by rinsing the raw basmati rice under cold running water until the water runs clear and all the excess starch is removed. For enhanced flavor and texture, especially for aged basmati rice, soak the rice in a large bowl for at least 30 minutes before cooking, or for an optimal outcome, overnight. Drain the soaked rice, and allow it to air-dry for about 10 minutes.
- Fry the onions. While the rice drains, fry the onions. In a large stainless-steel saucepan or Dutch oven set over medium-high heat, melt the ghee. Add the sliced onions and fry till golden brown. Remove the fried onions and set aside on a paper towel.
- Fry the rice. Add whole cardamom, cloves, a cinnamon stick, and a bay leaf, then stir gently until fragrant - about 3 minutes. Add the rinsed rice, cauliflower, beans and carrots into the pot. Fry for 3-4 minutes.
- Cook and steam. Carefully add 4 cups of boiling water and a teaspoon of salt to the pot. Stir. Increase the heat to high from medium heat, allowing the mixture to come to a vigorous boil. Once boiling, cover the pot with a lid (tight-fitting lid is preferable) and reduce the heat to its lowest setting. Allow the rice to cook covered and undisturbed for 15 minutes. Do not peek! After this initial cooking period, turn off the heat and cook the rice in the residual steam for an additional 15 minutes.
- Fluff and add the peas. Using a fork, gently fluff the cooked rice to separate the grains. Add the green peas and mix lightly. Cover and allow the rice to rest for about 10 minutes. This allows the grains to evenly absorb the water and plump up. When ready to serve, garnish the fried onions and serve hot.
Video
Notes
- Substituting different vegetables. Feel free to experiment with different vegetables. Note that if they need to soften (e.g., broccoli, potato, green chilies, baby corn, or beans), sauté them with the drained rice before adding the boiling hot water. If the vegetables are ready to eat or cook quickly (e.g., peas, spinach, coriander leaves) add them after the rice has steamed.
- Rinse the rice with cold water. Rinsing the rice removes the extra starch which makes the cooked rice sticky, contributing to very fluffy basmati rice. If you do not rinse the rice, you could end up with a sticky film on top of the cooked rice. Use cold water so that the rice does not begin cooking and throw off your cooking time.
- Make sure you soak aged basmati rice. Premium, aged basmati rice is more dry and brittle than the 'fresh crop,' non-aged rice that you typically buy at the grocery store. It is aged for 1-2 years and is much more flavorful and aromatic than non-aged basmati rice. You need to soak aged basmati rice to ensure that the grains do not break during the cooking process.
- Use a fork for fluffy rice grains immediately after cooking the rice. Scoop the rice with a fork from the outside of the pot towards the middle. Do not use a spoon or a whisk. Freshly steamed rice is very soft and will easily cut into smaller pieces.
- Cooking time varies by rice type. A general guideline is 15 minutes to cook and 15 minutes to steam white rice. Brown rice takes longer to cook about 30 minutes to cook and 15 minutes to steam.
- Rice-to-water ratio. I use a 1:2 ratio of rice to water for soft, fluffy, and long, fully expanded grains of basmati rice. Use 1:1.5 ratio of rice to water for al dente rice.