Vegetable Pulao Recipe - Easy and Healthy

Vegetable pulao, which is also called pilaf is one pot meal made with rice and vegetables, can be prepared easily without spending long hours in the kitchen. It just need a few minutes to prepare. In this dish, spices, vegetables and rice is sauteed in ghee or oil and then cooked in pressure cooker. Super quick to make for meal with basic ingredients. One of the best way to add vegetables in your diet. There are different kinds of pulao like peas pulao, paneer-peas pulao, kashmiri pulao, Tawa pulao and so on.

Vegetable pulao is one type of basic pulao made often in many Indian homes and parties usually served with raita. Simplest recipe with very little preparations and there is no addition of any pulao or biriyani masala. This recipe gives you a joy of eating tasty and nutritious meal with minimum effort and time. Simple pulao with beautiful colors, aroma of the vegetables and whole spices which makes this recipe super excited.

Here I made pulao in pressure cooker which saves time and fuel. But you can prepare it in pot too.

You can serve this pulao with simple raita, boondi raita, cucumber raita or as it is.

1. Rinse and peel carrots. Cut off both the ends and chop into small sized pieces. Keep aside.
2. Shell fresh peas, wash and keep aside. (You can use frozen peas too).
3. Cut ginger and make paste. (You can use store brought ginger paste too).
4. In a bowl take rice and wash it for 2-3 times until water runs clear. Drain off the water and keep aside.
5. In a glass take 1 cup of warm milk. To this add few strings of saffron. Mix and keep aside.
6. In a pan, pot or cooker heat 2 teaspoons of ghee.
7. Add all whole spices i.e cinnamon, cardamom, clove, bayleaf and star anise. Fry until they begin to sizzle.
8. Add cumin and fennel seeds. Let them splutter.
9. Add ginger paste, saute until raw smell goes off.
10. Add carrot and peas ( add other vegetables also if using), saute for 2-3 minutes.
11. Add 1-2 teaspoons of pepper powder. (Adjust according to your spice level).
12. Add drained rice. Stir and mix.
13. Pour milk with saffron, mix.
14. Now pour 1 cup of water. (I used 1:1 ratio of milk and water. Adjust according to the variety of rice you are using). Add salt.
15. Mix and cover the cooker with lid. Cook on a medium to high flame for 2-3 whistles.
16. Switch off the flame and let the pressure release by itself.
17. When pulao is cooking, chop almonds and cashews.
18. In a frying pan heat 1 teaspoon of ghee. To this add chopped nuts. Fry till brown. Keep aside.
19. In the same ghee fry raisins too. Let them plumped up and keep aside.
20. When the pressure releases, remove the lid. Add fried nuts and raisins. Mix everything carefully without breaking grains.
21. Serve hot with raita, curd, pickle or as it is.

1. Here I used sona masoori rice for this pulao. Basmati or other kind of rice, short or long grained can be used. You have to adjust the water depending on the rice. Different rice requires different quantity of water.
2. Use correct quantity of water is very important to make fluffy pulao with separate grains yet well cooked. Adding more water and over cooking makes your pulao sticky and mushy. Rice to water ratio is very important. (Here I used 1 cup milk :1 cup water ratio for 1 cup of rice).
3. Here I used pressure cooking method to prepare rice. You can use pot or pan too. If you are using pot, add all ingredients, milk-water, cover and cook in medium flame till all the water is absorbed. Check for water in between.
4. Here I used only carrot and peas. You can add other vegetables like beans, potatoes, capsicum, tomatoes, baby corn, sweet corn etc.
5. You can add paneer to make it kid friendly.
6. You can alter the amount of spices as per your taste. Less spices gives you a less aromatic, mild pulao.
7. Frying spices and vegetables in ghee will enhances the flavor of your pulao. You can use both oil and ghee too.
8. Add garam masala for extra flavor.