Veg Pulao....The Bong Way!!!!

Hello all, wish you a Merry Christmas and a prosperous new year ahead. I hope you all are enjoying this Holiday season and ready to say a "Bye Bye" to the year 2015. Undoubtedly, this festive mood fills my heart with ecstasy. Everything becomes bright colored and sparkling like stars. You can see decorations and fairy lights all around. Even if you don't celebrate this festive season it's very hard not to get enticed from these lights and decorations. 

When it comes to this time of the year, I am sure you are no far from baking; that's the way of celebrating this season at least. The aroma of freshly baked cookies and cakes embarks holidays. I have baked some Vanilla Cupcakes and a simple vanilla cake with lots of dry fruits and tutti-frutti but couldn't click any pics; may be next time.

If you're looking for some holiday special recipes of cakes, cookies and desserts, please check out these links:

• Eggless Mango Mousse
• Cardamom Flavored Cookies
• Strawberry Swiss Roll
• Strawberry Shortcake Shooters
• Strawberry Mousse Cake
• Palmiers
• Skinny Mango Cheesecake
• Créme Caramel
• Raspberry Pannacotta
• Carrot Fudge
• Vanilla Cupcake

As I was already having so many holiday special recipes so I decided to post Bengali style Veg Pulao which I paired with a very simple Chicken curry. Local markets are usually flooded with lots of winter special veggies, so making a Veg Pulao is no big deal; adding few dry fruits give extra punch to it.

So, let's begin with the recipe:

Ingredients:

1. Basmati Rice: 1 1/2 cup

2. Black Cardamoms: 2-3

3. Green Cardamoms: 4-5

4. Black Peppercorns: 5-6

5. Shah Jeera (Black Cumin): 1 tbsp

6. Bay Leaf: 2

7. Cloves: 4-5

8. Cinnamon: 1 (1 inch stick)

9. Ghee (clarified butter): 2 tbsp

10. Veggies of your choice (carrots, capsicums, french beans, cauliflower, peas etc)

11. Dry fruits of your choice (cashew nuts, raisins, almonds)

12. Saffron a pinch

13. Salt to taste

14. Sugar to taste

15. Oil as required

Method:

1. Wash and soak the basmati rice in water for 10-15 mins. Drain out the water and spread the rice on a clean plate. 

2. Take warm milk in a small bowl and soak the saffron strands. Keep it aside. 

3. Heat oil and ghee in a heavy bottomed pan on medium heat and toss the veggies (except peas) very lightly. Take them out on a plate lined with paper towel to soak the excess oil.

4. Gently stir fry the dry fruits for a minute and keep it aside.

5. In the same pan add more oil/ghee if required. Let it melt and then add in the black cardamoms, green cardamoms, black peppercorns, shah jeera, bay leaf, cloves and cinnamon. Let them release their fragrance but take care not to burn them. 

6. Add the soaked rice and stir it gently ensuring it doesn't break. 

7. Add required amount of water, peas, salt & sugar to the rice. Bring it to boil. Cover and cook till the rice is almost done.

8. Open the lid and check whether the rice is done or not. Check the seasoning and adjust it as per your taste.

9. Add the dry fruits, saffron milk and fried veggies. Cover the lid and cook for another 5-6 mins.

9. Serve with the curry of your choice.

Note:

For regular updates just click the "Like" button on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Flavors-Of-My-Plate/737185573034586?ref=hl

You can also follow me on:

Instagram: http://instagram.com/ananyabhowmick

Twitter: https://twitter.com/flavorsofmyplat

If you want the recipe in Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Urdu (or any other language) click on the Google Translate button on the left side.