Good old peas pulao

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I got a little tired of making south-Indian stuff every day the whole of this week. And it so happened that I was trying out new dishes daily and not so sure about the quantities, so ended up with extra for the night, which meant that we had a repeat of the morning items many days. Plus yesterday a friend of mine suggested I must write on some north-Indian dishes too. That steeled my resolve to steer clear of anything to do with rasam, curry or sambhar this morning.

When we were inBangalore, I had this Gujarati neighbour who was a lovely cook. My enthusiasm for cooking ‘fancy’ food, extensive use of coriander in almost everything, preference for fine-chopping certain vegetables instead of puree-ing them, using milk instead of cream to make dishes richer etc. are all inspired by her.

This pulao that I made today is a take on her style of cooking. She cooks with less masala, but her dishes are always bursting with flavour. It was she who taught me the foolproof method of preparing superb dal makhni (I’ll write a post on that one of these days). I’m no longer in touch with her these days, but I think I just must pick up the phone and give her a call. Who knows, I might end up with another fantastic recipe!

Incidentally, I also made palak paneer today, but the outcome, though tasty, did not taste like a proper north-Indian palak-paneer should. So, although I did take some pics to break the monotony of looking at just pulao, I’m not posting the recipe. I’ll post it later when I perfect it.

PEAS PULAO

Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

Peas – ¼ cup

Basmati/Jeera rice – ½ cup (you can use any rice, but using aromatic rice really increases the flavour of the dish)

Jeera – 2 tsp

Garlic cloves – 2 (finely chopped)

Ghee/oil – 1 tbsp (one of the few dishes where I’m generous with the oil)

Chopped coriander – 1 tsp

Salt

Saboot/Khada masala:

(Saboot means full/not broken in Hindi. These and other spices are ground in various proportions to make different kinds of curry powders used in north-Indian gravies)

Tej patta (Bay leaf/brinchi ilai) – 1-2

Dalchini (Cinnamon/pattai) – 2 inch piece

Badi elaichi (big black cardamom/elakkai) – 2

Laung (Cloves/krambu/lavanga) – 4-5

Kali mirch (black pepper/milagu) – 4-5

Badian (star anise/anasipu/anashuppu) – 1

Red chillies – 2 (halved)

Method:

Wash rice in three changes of water and cook separately in less water than usual so that the grains do not stick. Cool and keep aside

Heat oil/ghee in a pan. Add jeera and all whole spices

Add garlic when the spices look bloated and fried (not more than 15-20 seconds)

Add peas and salt when garlic turns golden-brown

Add rice. Mix well. Garnish with chopped coriander and serve

Alternative method:

Wash rice in three changes of water and drain

Heat oil/ghee in a pan/pressure cooker

Add jeera and all whole spices

Add garlic when the spices look bloated and fried (not more than 15-20 seconds)

When garlic turns golden-brown, add rice, peas and salt. Sauté for a minute

Add water (Rice to water ratio not more than 1:2 for normal rice and as suggested for basmati, usually 1:1)

Close cooker lid and cook till 2 whistles or close pan with a lid and cook till water’s absorbed

Top with chopped coriander and serve

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