It really happens seldom to get a chance to enjoy something cooked by a complete non foodie. When I said seldom, it actually spells once in a decade. . It was my 4th marriage anniversary and luck by chance, my papa was here in Pune with us. I convinced him to cook a pulav for us by bribing methi-paratha, boondi-raita and chholey ki subjee and his all time fav- suji ka sheera. Nevertheless, the bet was still simple for me as what I got is a precious gift, all worth for my efforts in the kitchen that day. What else, could have I asked for?
And it was a safer bet too, because I remember, Papa saved my life( ahem, well, actually my respect among the classmates) when I was a kiddie, in class 6th something or 5th may be or 4th(??) , my mom was out of station and suddenly came up a school picnic, which I never wanted to miss, not even at the cost of going empty handed. But papa assured me that he will not let me down and saved me with a super hit pulav. That was the day I never forget, and I always sing tunes of it to Romesh, to his utter jealousy or frustration or whatever!!
Time: 45 mins
Serves: 3 (may be 2 if you are a pulav lover like me)
You need:
1 cup basmati rice, washed and soaked for 20 mins
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 tomato, roughly chopped
3-4 french beans, cut into small pieces
1 small potato, peeled and cut into small pieces
1/2 cup cauliflower, cut into florets
1/4th cup peas
1 tbsp. oil
2 tsp. ghee
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. Jeera / cumin seeds
a pinch black pepper
salt as per taste
water for cooking
Coriander to garnish
2 chopped green chilies
How to:
- Heat oil in a wok/pan.
- Splutter jeera and then add onions and chilies, roast them to light brown.
- Add tomatoes and sauté until they are wilted.
- Add all the vegetables and salt and cook covered.
- Cook for 2-3 mins.
- Add some water to speed up the cooking (My dad’s way to hurry up the process . You can obviously skip this.)
- Once the vegetables are cooked and water dries up, removed them from flame.
- Heat up ghee in a pressure cooker.
- Add the bay leaves and after a minute, add the rice.
- Roast the rice, add 1.5 cups water and add all the cooked vegetables.
- Add a pinch salt and mix well.
- Cook for 1 whistle at low flame.
- Once the steam cool downs, sprinkle black pepper and garnish with chopped coriander.
- Relish with Chholey or any spicy curry.
Parting Notes:
Papa didn’t use much spices, powdered or whole, and it came out delicious to my surprise. I remember, he used to add turmeric also earlier which is skipped this time.
And of course, you can skip the addition of water to the veggies, no doubt .