Red Pulao with Sprouts Raita

     This pulao looks weird. No doubt about it. We're used to Basmati rice grains emitting a wonderful aroma (this one does too though). The white colour of the rice mingling with colourful veggies. Well, try this recipe out and the flavour sells itself. Sure it tastes different from white rice but it's just different not worse or better. Stop comparing red or brown rice with white - they will never taste the same but these whole grains will always be more nutritious. Again, a snapshot of the magazine article shows you what the pulao can look like.

INGREDIENTS FOR PULAO:

Red Rice – 2 cups

Carrots – 200 g

Cauliflower – 100 g

Green Peas (shelled) – 100 g

Sweet Corn (off the cob) – 100 g

Onions (chopped for garnishing) – 1 medium

Red chilli powder – 1 tsp

Salt – to taste

SEASONING – Oil- 1 tbsp, mustard, jeera, cinnamon, bay leaves, nutmeg, turmeric, ginger, garlic and curry leaves.

METHOD:

1] Because red rice takes longer to cook, do this first either in a rice or pressure cooker with just enough water for a fluffy texture (usually 1:2.5 of water is enough).

2] Lightly boil the cleaned cauliflower, carrots, green peas and corn in some water with a pinch of salt and turmeric for ten minutes. Afterwards, drain the excess water (read tip).

3] Remove the rice from the cooker, drain excess water (if any) and leave it to cool.

4] In a kadai, heat the oil and add the chopped onions and all the other seasoning ingredients with the red chilli powder. You can vary the amount of each of these spices depending on which flavour you want should dominate.

5] Once the onions turn golden brown, add the boiled vegetables, salt and mix. Cook for 5 mins, add the red rice and fold everything in together lightly so as not to end up with a gooey mash.

6] Serve hot. Roasted Punjabi pappads also go well with this dish.

Serves: 4                              Cooking Time: 1 hour

INGREDIENTS FOR RAITA:

Sprouts – mixture of whole methi, moong and channa sprouts – 2 cups

Curd – 2 cups

Tomatoes (finely chopped) – 3 small

Onion (optional, finely chopped) – 1 medium

Jeera – 1 tsp

Coriander – for garnish

METHOD:

1] Mix the sprouts, tomatoes and onion together with curd.

2] Garnish with jeera and coriander leaves.

Preparation Time: 5 mins

Nutrition Tips –

• Retain the drained vegetable stock to use in other items like soup or rasam (you can even store it or drink it plain) since it is full of nutrients.
• To increase this recipe’s protein content (pulao) you can add sprouts or boiled grams in addition to veggies.
• Try adding tofu, marinate in lemon juice and add it to the seasoning before mixing in the veggies.

  This recipe combo was published in Parent Circle, August, 2012.