Vegetable Pulav

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice 2 cups
Water 3 1/2 cups
Carrots sliced thin 1/2 cup
Beans chopped 1/2 cup
Potato chopped 1/2 cup
Fresh/Frozen Green Peas 1/4 cup
Onions chopped lengthwise 1 cup
Soya chunks soaked in hot water 1/4 cup(optional)
Oil 3 tbsp
Bayleaf 1
Bread 4 slices
Salt to taste

To Grind:
Green Chillies 5
Garlic 5-6 pods
Ginger 1" chopped
Pudina leaves 3/4 cup
Coriander leaves 1/2 cup
Cinnamon stick 1"
Cloves 5

Method:

• Make a coarse paste out of the ingredients mentioned under ' to grind' by adding little water.
• Clean the rice and soak it in water for 10 mins.
• In a Nonstick kadai heat oil and add bay leaf and then add onions and fry it till it becomes soft and add all the vegetables except soya chunks and fry the vegetables until its half cooked.
• Add the ground masala and fry well until the raw smell disappears.
• Meanwhile change water in the soya chunks 2-3 times and squeeze the extra water each time in soya chunks.This helps in removing the smell from soya chunks.
• Add rice and fry it for some time and also add the soya chunks and salt and fry it a bit and then add water.Now pour this mixture either into a rice cooker bowl or a microwave bowl and cook it.
• Otherwise it can be done in pressure cooker , cooked for 2 whistles.If it is done in rice cooker or microwave the rice granules will be separate.
• Cut the bread into cubes and tawa fry until golden brown.You can even deep fry them which tastes far better.
• Add the fried bread pieces to the pulav at the end and give a stir.I did not add bread pieces as I was not having at that time.

Serve hot with onion raitha.

Notes:

1. If we avoid pudina and corriander leaves in the pulav,the colour will be white in colour.
2. I added double beans instead of soya chunks in this.