Green Pulao with Coconut Milk
Prep Time : 15 mins
Serves: 2
Recipe Category: Rice- Lunch
Recipe Cuisine: South Indian
Author:Padhu Sankar
Ingredients needed
Basmati Rice – 1 cup
Onion – 2 thinly sliced
Ginger-Garlic paste – 1 tsp
Salt needed
Turmeric powder – 1/4 tsp
Beans – 5-6
Carrot – 1 medium size
Cauliflower – 6-7 florets
Peas – 1/3 cup
Coconut Milk – 1 cup
Water – 1 cup
For Grinding
Coriander leaves – fistful
Mint Leaves – fistful
Cashew nuts – 5
Green Chillies – 2
Lemon juice – 1/2 tsp
For the Seasoning
Oil – 1 tbsp
Ghee – 1 tbsp
Cinnamon – 1 inch piece
Cloves – 2
Fennel seeds/sombu – 1/2 tsp
Bay Leaf – 1-2
For Garnishing
Ghee – 1/2 tsp
Cashew nuts – 5-6
Preparations
Wash and soak basmati rice in hot water for 30 minutes.
Grind mint leaves, coriander leaves, cashew nuts and green chillies to a fine paste with little water. Add few drops of lemon juice to retain the green color.
If using fresh peas, parboil it and keep it ready. Blanch cauliflower florets and keep it aside.
Extract thick coconut milk and mix it with 1 cup of water. Alternatively you can use readymade coconut milk and mix it with a cup of water and keep it ready. You can check how to extract coconut milk.
Method
Heat oil + ghee in a pan, add the ingredients mentioned under seasoning. (fennel seeds/sombu is optional but adding it gives a nice flavor).
Add thinly sliced onions and saute until onions turn transparent. Add a little salt to speed up the process.
Add ginger-garlic paste and saute for a few more minutes.
Add the ground paste/green masala and saute until the raw flavor goes.
Add all the vegetables and mix well.
Add soaked and drained basmati rice. Mix well, so that the rice is evenly coated with the green masala.
Add coconut milk (coconut milk + water mixture), needed salt and mix well.
When it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and close the cooker. Place a small stainless steel cup (as shown in the picture below) instead of the whistle/weight to prevent the steam from escaping.
You can open the cooker to check inbetween and stir gently.
Once the rice is 90% cooked, turn off the heat. Heat a tawa, place the cooker on the tawa and cook on very low heat for 5-6 minutes. Turn off the heat. Let it sit for another 5 minutes. (If you do not prefer cooking on top of tawa, cook the rice fully in the cooker itself and skip this step).
Then open the cooker and mix the rice gently. Fry cashew nuts in a little ghee and add it to the pulao along with the ghee.
Serve pulao with raita/pachadi or chips or papadams.
Note – Adding lemon juice and turmeric powder gives a nice colour to the pulao.
Our Simple and Healthy Lunch Menu – Green Pulao with coconut milk, seasoned curd rice, onion pachadi and salad.
Wow…what a presentation. Nice job. I am sure it tastes good too.
Hello Padhu – I have been complimented for my cooking skills from near and dear ones but the credit goes to you completely! I follow your recipes to the T and the green pulav has come out really well! Last week i made Okra Onion Garlic puli kuzhambu and it tasted out of the world with curd rice! My festivals and even daily cooking are imcomplete without you and keep it going girl! More Power to you!!
Awesome taste padhuslove your recipes
I am using canned coconut milk. Should I mix 1 cup of that coconut milk with 1 cup of water? That would make 2 cups of liquid to cook just 1 cup of already tenderized rice. Wouldn’t that be soggy? Or should it be one cup of coconut milk and water together? If so, how much canned coconut milk should I mix with the 1 cup of water?
Thanks so much for the lovely recipe and the great pictures!
Mala
You can use just half cup of coconut milk and mix it with 1 1/2 cups of water for 2 cups of liquid. I always use homemade coconut milk. So I do not know how thick the canned coconut milk will be.