Simple Vegetable Rice with no garlic or onion!

When I posted the pic of vegetable rice in FB, I got a good response from people. Also, they wanted me to share the recipe soon. Although, I have almost finished another post, I am holding it for the moment & going ahead with this vegetable rice recipe. This is a very simple pulao recipe & not a mixed rice (also known as bhath or kalasida anna). Let me bring out the difference between the bhath (mixed rice) & pulao

Mixed rice | Bhath is prepared the below mentioned ways. First the white rice is cooked & spread to cool. Meantime, the spiced up curry/gravy/palya/gojju is made. A tempering is done. The spiced curry/gojju, some salt, and tempering is added to the rice. It is mixed gently but thoroughly to ensure the spice paste is well coated on the rice.  Finally garnished with some cilantro (optional) or grated coconut and served! My blog does have many mixed rice recipes. To name a few...

Cluster beans rice
Coriander rice
Curry leaves rice
Coconut-mustard rice

For the pulao, a tempering is done, followed by the spices, veggies, rice, water, and seasoning. Then it is covered & cooked either in a pressure cooker/rice cooker or on stove top, until the rice is fluffy. Some pulao recipes are...

Rice and black eyed peas pulao
Dill leaves pulao
Beetroot rice
Coconut pulao

Now, coming to today's vegetable rice recipe! My mom is off to garlic (I might have told this a zillion times) & you all must have guessed why I try recipes with no garlic & onion :p A very simple, one pot dish that can be whipped up fast.

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cooking Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:
Basmati Rice: 2 cups
Chopped vegetables: 1.5 cups (I have used carrots, beans and green peas)
Water: 3 cups
Coconut milk: 1/4th cup
Salt: As needed

For the tempering:
Oil: 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
Bay leaf : 1 no
Cinnamon: 1 inch stich
Green cardamom: 2 nos
Star anise : 1 no
Cloves: 2-3
Green chilies: 3-4 nos, slit

For the garnish:
Coriander leaves: 2 tbsp, chopped

Method:
Wash the rice thoroughly.Soak the rice for 15-20 mins.
Meantime, heat oil. When the oil is hot, throw in the cumin seeds. 

When cumin seeds turn aromatic & brown, throw in the dry spices (bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and star anise). 

After the spices are sauteed, add in the green chilies.

Follow it with the vegetables & saute the vegetables until the oil is well coated on the veggies. 
In between, drain the water completely from the soaked rice.
Add in the water to the vegetables & let the water boil. 

When water starts boiling, add in the coconut milk, salt & soaked rice.

(After this step, I transferred the contents to the rice cooker & cooked it in the electric rice cooker. This step is completely optional. Refer notes to know why I do it!)
Cook it covered on a med heat until the rice is almost cooked. Do not keep mixing. The rice grains will break & the end product will become mushy.

When the rice is almost cooked, gently mix once & reduce the heat to low until the rice is cooked to perfection. (for about 5-7 minutes). 
Turn off the heat. Add in the coriander leaves. Keep it undisturbed for another 10 mins & then fluff the rice gently. 
Serve it with a side dish of your choice.

Notes:

• This vegetable rice is not spicy & dry like the jeera rice or peas pulao. It needs some spicy side dish like vegetable saagu | dal makhani | palak paneer. Raita might not go well with this rice.
• It is very important for the rice to get cooked undisturbed. If you keep mixing, the rice will become mushy. You don't want that, right?
• I transfer the contents to the electric rice cooker because I will be sure that the rice will not stick to the bottom & burn.
• Feel free to use a pressure cooker. If you are using a pressure cooker, then cook on medium-high heat for one whistle only. Then remove from heat & wait till the pressure is released. Remove the lid & gently fluff the rice.

Chapparadavare Palya (Indian broad beans stir-fry)

During my primary school days, when we were staying in Mysore, my mom used to plant vegetable seeds at the backyard. One such creeper was Chapparadavare (Kannada word for Indian broad beans). So, naturally, my mom used this vegetable very frequently in her dishes. In fact, we were so fed up with this vegetable that we used to pick the vegetable from the messy creeper & pass it to our neighbors & friends !! These memories are as green as the veggie itself ;)

I don’t remember eating much of that vegetable after we moved out of Mysore. Recently, when I called my mom, she said, she has again planted the chapparadavare creeper in our backyard (this time it is not in Mysore). I couldn’t wait long to eat that, hence, visited the Indian vegetable market here, picked tender chapparadavare (just like the way I picked from the creeper) & prepared it yesterday night. Do I need to mention, how much I relished it? I wont, I will leave it your imagination:-p

Ingredients:

Indian broad beans/chapparadavare kayi : 400gms
Green chilli : 2 nos
Curry leaves : 4-6 chopped
Cooking Oil : 1 tbsp
Mustard Seeds : ½ tsp
Urad dal : 1 tsp
Channa dal : 1 tsp
Salt : According to taste
Lemon juice : 1 tsp
Chopped cilantro : 1 tbsp (for garnishing)
Grated coconut : 4tbsp

Method:

• Wash the broad beans thoroughly in water, remove the tip of the vegetable (both ends, just like we remove for french beans or double beans),chop them into 1cm sized pieces (Keep a close watch on the vegetable as very few may contain worms)
• Heat a broad pan, add oil to it, when oil is hot add mustard seeds & then urad dal, channa dal, curry leaves in the same order, allow the dals to change the color.
• Add green chilli & add the chopped vegetables, cook the vegetables in oil for a minute. Then add ½ cup of water & allow the vegetable to cook on medium flame (Keep observing the water, if the vegetable becomes very dry & still not cooked, pour some more water).
• When the vegetable is almost cooked, add salt & continue cooking.
• Once the vegetables become soft & cooked properly, switch off the flame, add lemon juice, coriander leaves, coconut & mix well.
• Serve it as a side dish for rice or chapathi/roti.