Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Spinach Carrot Pulao & Paneer Fry

One dish meal is always a life saver. Served with a simple raita, can make a very good satisfying meal. This pulao can be made in a jiffy. Not much chopping required. If you have the chopped veggies at hand, this is very simple and no grinding of masalas needed. I wanted to make a tasty one dish meal with minimum work and finally it turned out to be the way I wanted. It was very flavorful with the whole spices and crunchy while biting into the crisp carrots.

Ingredients

Chopped spinach - 2 cups

Carrots chopped into small cubes - 1/2 cup

Rice - 1 cup

Onions sliced - 1 nos

Red chilly powder - 1/4 tspn

Ghee/oil - 1 tblspn

saunf - 1 tspn

Cardamom - 2 pods

Cloves - 3 nos

Cinnamom - 1"

Poppy seeds - 1/2 tspn

Wash and soak the rice in 2 cups of water for 30 minutes. If you are hard pressed for time, you can avoid soaking. Still it comes out well.


Heat ghee/oil in a pan. Add all the spices. Roast till fragrant. Add sliced onion and suate till they turn pink. Add chopped carrots and cook till it is tender but crisp. Add chopped spinach and cook till the they wilt. Drain the rice and reserve the soaked water. Tip off the soaked rice. Saute for 5 minutes. Add salt and red chilly powder. Add the reserved water. Cover and cook in the same kadai. Stir the rice in between. Rice will be cooked in 20 minutes. You can either microwave for 25 minutes or pressure cook for 2 whistles.


I have served with MW roasted papad, pan roasted paneer and cucumber raita.


Cucumber Raita

Grated cucumber, 3 slit green chillies, a teaspoon of jeera/cumin powder and salt is mixed to a cup of whipped curd. Garnish with some chopped coriander.


Paneer fry

Cubed paneer - 15 nos

For marinade

Hung curd - 1 tblspn

Tomato sauce - 1 1/2 tblspn

Pepper powder - 1/2 tspn

salt

Beat all the ingredients of marinade till smooth. Marinate the paneer for 30 minutes. Sprinkle few drops of oil on a tawa. Place the paneer pieces and cook on low flame. When one side is browned, flip the paneer and cook the other side too. This makes a good starter too.


Spinach Carrot Pulao is going to

Srivalli's Rice Mela

JFI:Carrots hosted by The Cooker

Sapadu Ready Event hosted by Aartee of Nalabagham