Peas Pulao with Bengali touch - Pure Veg

My most ardent critic i.e. my husband always told me that I have too many side dishes in my blog but no cereal. So I decided to put together some. The goal is always to find something easy and healthy. Bengalis have a lot of variety of fried rice stuff but the one with peas caught my eye as being healthy.

Green peas are a very good source of vitamin K, manganese, dietary fiber, vitamin B1, copper, vitamin C, phosphorus, and folate. They are also a good source of vitamin B6, niacin, vitamin B2, molybdenum, zinc, protein, magnesium, iron, potassium, and choline.

Hence here is a recipe of pulao /fried rice with a lot of healthy stuff but easy and tasteful.

Preparation Time: - 15 min

Cooking Time: - 20 min

Servings: - 2~3 persons

Ingredients:-

1. 2 cup Basmati Rice /jeera Rice /Gobindobhog ( I used Basmati rice)
2. ½ cup Green peas or Koraishuti
3. 4 cup water
4. 4 Bayleaves
5. 2 tsp whole Cumin seeds or Jeera
6. 2 ½ tbsp vegetable oil ( I used Sunflower oil but you can use any vegetable oil)
7. 1 ½  tbsp Ghee
8. 1 inch stick Cinnamon
9. 5~6 cloves
10. 2 tsp Kewra water / Rose water / Screwpine water /Meetha attar
11. 1 tbsp Garam Masala powder
12. Handful of cashew nuts/ peanuts
13. Handful of raisin
14. 3 tbsp sugar
15. Little bit of salt

Preparation:-

1. Wash the Basmati rice thoroughly and soak it in water for 15 min.
2. Cook the rice in a pan with some salt and 2 bay leaves. Please do not overcook – the rice should not be sticky in the bottom of the pan. It took me 6 minutes but the time can vary according to the quality of the rice.
   
3. Drain the rice and keep aside.
   
4. Heat 2 ½ tbsp oil + 1 tbsp ghee in a non-stick kadai
5. Add the remaining bay leaves, jeera, cinnamon sugar and cloves in it. Sauté for 2 min in medium heat. 
6. Once Jeera crackles and the sugar is caramelized turn the knob of burner to lowest level.
   
7. Add cashew nuts, raisin with the green peas. Stir for 1 min. Now take out the raisin and keep aside so that it does not burn.
   
8. Add in the boiled and drained Basmati rice along with the Garam Masala, Kewra water /Rose water and salt as per taste. If you use meethha attar instead of Kewra or screwpine water then use only 1~2 drops. Otherwise the smell will be too much. I personally used kewra water.
9. Continuously stir to mix in everything together.
10. If you find the rice is not yet soft you can sprinkle water on it and stir for some more time.
11. Now add the raisins kept aside in step 6.
12. Add the remaining ghee and mix.
13. Cover and leave for 3~5 min. Once the aroma fills the kitchen your pulao is ready.
    

Please note that if you want to cook in no time then you can use pressure cooker instead of kadai. In that case no need to boil the rice earlier. You can put everything together and cook till 2 whistles. The important thing to consider is the amount of water will always be 2:1 to the rice. This is applicable for any type of rice anytime.

Serve hot with chicken/ Mutton curry. If you are vegetarian then you can eat with cholar dal or Chanar Dalna. You can find my recipe of chicken curry, cholar dal or chanar dalna here.

As always please feel free to comment, criticize and seek if any help is required. I am all ears.