Kale Vegetable Pulao
A note if you choose to not use a pressure cooker:
Pre- cooked rice will not blend well with the ground masala without taking an additional step.
Place the mixture in an oven proof casserole covered with foil. Poke a few holes in it. Broil with low heat in the oven for 10 minutes or until you get a nice aroma. This creates a partial ‘Dumm‘ effect. ‘Dumm’ means cooking with trapped steam on a low flame. Dumm avoids the need of excess water and helps the spices fully penetrate into meat, rice or vegetables.
Kale Vegetable Pulao
Ingredients
- Rice – 1 cup Basmati rice, washed and drained.
- Onion – 1/2, chopped into small thin long slivers and halved.
- Potato – 2 small , diced.
- Carrot – 1 ,chopped into small thin triangle pieces.
- Kale – Bunch, washed thoroughly and finely chopped.
- Frozen/ fresh Peas – 1/2 cup.
- Oil/ Ghee – 2 tbsp.
- turmeric – 1 tsp.
- Salt – to taste.
- Hot water – 2 cups.
Seasoning
- Star Anise – 2
- Cinnamon – 1 small sticks
- Bay leaf – 1
- Cardamom – 3
- Cashew nuts – 4 , broken into small pieces.
Ground Pulao Masala
Grind the below ingredients into a fine paste with a 1/4 cup water.
- Shredded fresh / frozen coconut – 1 tbsp.
- Cloves – 3
- Cinnamon stick -1 small piece
- fresh mint -1 cup, washed and thoroughly drained.
- cilantro -1 cup, washed and thoroughly drained. coarsely chopped.
- Green chilie -1 (optional), cut into small pieces.
- Garam masala – 1 tsp.
- red chillie powder – 1/2 tsp
- Onion – 1/4 piece, sliced
- Ginger – 1 inch
- Garlic – 2 cloves
Alternative to the Ground paste you can use 1 tbsp of Biryani masala powder.
Method
- Heat oil/ ghee in a pressure cooker or a regular pan if not using a pressure cooker,
- Add bay leaf, Star Anise, cinnamon and cardamom to the heated oil/ ghee.
- When the spices give out an aroma add cashew nuts and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add onion and sauté till it turns transparent.
- Add Kale and sauté until Kale is tender.
- Add carrot, potato and peas sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add rice and sauté for 5 minutes. (skip this step if using pre cooked rice without the pressure cooker)
- Add salt and ground pulao masala/ Biryani masala powder, mix well.
- Add 2 cups of hot water. Mix the contents and place the pressure pan lid. When steam blows out of the cooker place the whistle.
- Let the pulao cook for 15 minutes or when the whistle blows 1 time.
If you’re not using a pressure cooker, ignore steps 7,9 and 10. Add the contents into pre cooked rice and allow them to meld as per the note in the side column.
*When the cooker cools the Pulao is ready to be served with raita or vegetable gravy.
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