Vegetable Pulav

Watch Video here: 

Ingredients:

1. Carrots (thinly cut)- 1 cup
2. Beans (cut inch size)- 1/2 cup
3. Onion thin slices- 1 cup
4. Beetroot(thinly cut) - 1/2 cup
5. Potato (thinly cut)- 1/2 cup
6. cauliflower - a few florets (optional)
7. Green Peas - 1/2  cup ( fresh / frozen)
8. Garlic - 10 cloves
9. Ginger - a quarter size ( finely chopped 1 teaspoon)
10. Grated coconut - 1/2 cup
11. Green chillies - 6-7
12. Coriander leaves - a small bunch
13. Mint leaves - a handful
14. Roasted Channa dal ( pottu kadalai) - 1 table spoon
15. Saunf ( sombu) - 1 teaspoon
16. Star anise - 1 (optional)
17. Clove - 2 pieces
18. Oil - 4 tablespoon
19. Basmati rice - 1 cups
20. Water - as required to cook the rice.
21. Salt - 1 teaspoon or to taste.
22. (Optional) Leftover bread pieces - diced and fried in ghee ( 1 cup) 

Pre-preparation:

1. Wash the beans and peas and wash and peel the beet, potato and the carrots. 
2. Cut all the vegetables into thin pieces of an inch or so and keep aside.
3. Soak the rice for 10 mins.
4. Put the soaked rice in a vessel of boiling water and cook in the pot like olden days. 
5. In a spoon of oil sauté garlic,saunf,cinnamon,ginger and the green chillies.
6. Grind the coconut, ginger,channadal, chillies, garlic, Saunf, cloves, mint leaves, coriander leaves without adding water.

Preparation:

1. Using the rest of the oil, fry the onion till it just turns golden brown ( if you have the star anis, break into a few pieces and add now) and add rest of the vegetables till they are cooked. Add the salt. Using a low flame to sauté will retain the color of the vegetables.
2. Add the ground masala mix with the vegetables and mix thoroughly. Sauté for another 10 minutes till the raw fragrance of the ground masala goes.
3. The rice should have been cooked by now.
4. Let the rice cool for a few minutes.
5. Add the vegetable-masala mix to the rice and mix thoroughly using salad fork or something light without mashing or breaking the cooked rice. Mix thoroughly so that each grain of the rice is coated with the vegetables- masala mix.
6. You can warm it again in the rice cooker or microwave to serve hot.
7. Add the fried bread pieces and mix once more.

Note: you can also add double beans (overnight soaked and cooked if they are dried double beans), cauliflower florets along with other vegetables.