The No Nonsense Vegetable Rice

One morning I woke up really late. My hubby had to leave for work in half an hour and I was perplexed as to what lunch should I pack for him. Obviously, there wasn’t enough time to do anything laborious. In such situations, I generally rely on quick easy dishes made with rice; be it khichdi or pulao.

But this time, I didn’t want to make either of the above. Didn’t feel like using any spices and wanted the cutting part to be minimal. I opened my refrigerator, chose the veggies I’d be using and the rest is as follows :)

Ingredients

Carrots – 1 cup, chopped

Beans – ½ cup, chopped

Green Peas – ¼ cup, either frozen or fresh

Mint Leaves – 2 to 3 tbsps. / ¼ cup, chopped

Coriander Leaves – 3 to 4 tbsps. / ¼ cup, chopped

Chilies – 3 to 4 medium sized, cut vertically

Cumin Seeds – ½ tsp.

Asafetida – 1/8 tsp. (optional)

Oil/ Ghee – 1 ½ to 2 tbsps.

Rice – 200 grams/ 1 ¼ cup

Water – 2 ½ cups

Salt – to taste

Note – The amount of veggies used can be altered as per one’s convenience.

Method

1. In a pressure cooker, put oil and add cumin seeds once the oils heats up a little.

2. When the cumin seeds change color, add chilies, carrots, beans, green peas, mint leaves and coriander leaves.

3. Sauté the vegetables for about 5 – 7 minutes on medium flame.

4. In the meanwhile, wash the rice and keep ready. I used sona masoori rice, but the dish tastes even better when made with basmati rice.

5. Add the washed rice and water in to the pressure cooker.

6. Add salt and mix all the contents well.

7. Pressure-cook the rice.

8. When done, take it off the flame and serve hot with any raita.