Vegetable Pulao

This is one of the things I absolutely love as it's so easy to make, tastes delicious and is a meal on its own!


Ingredients (serves 4):
1 cup rice
2 bay leaves
12-15 long green beans
1 red onion sliced in long wedges
2 tsp ginger-garlic paste
1 tbsp vegetable oil or ghee
2 green chillies
Salt to taste
Pulao Masala:
4 cloves
2 cardamoms
2 small sticks of cinnamon
1 tbsp cumin
Vegetables:
Mixed vegetables( peas, lima beans, corn, carrots)
Cauliflower cut into bite size pieces (optional)
Potatoes cut into cubes (optional)


Preparation:
Heat a cooking pan on medium heat, and add the oil.
Add onions, green chillies and ginger garlic paste, bay leaves, stir till onions turn brown.
Grind the pulao masala ingredients in a coffee grinder to a fine powder.
Add to the cooking pan, stir for a 1 min.
Add the vegetables mentioned above and stir till the water from the vegetables evaporates.
Wash the rice under water, drain and add to the cooking pan with the rest of the ingredients.
Stir for 3-4 minutes under medium-high heat.
Add salt, mix.

Alternative 1: In a rice cooker, add this mix from the pan, 3.5 cups water(Tip for good Pulav/Biryani is to always add less water than usual to give a dry consistency to the finished rice). Add 2 drops of Kewra water.
Cook until done.

Alternative 2: This is handy when you have left over rice. Once the vegetables & spice mix is done, mix the rice in and stir for 2-3 minutes until well mixed.

Serving suggestion:
Serve hot With yogurt raita