South Indian
Vegetable Rice Pulav
MAIN DISH: VEGETARIAN
Contributed by Rangaprakash Deshpande
Postdoctoral Research Fellow
Brain & Spinal Cord Laboratory
Servings: determined by amounts you add!
Method
1. Grind the following items (use blender):
i. grated coconut
ii. green chilies
iii. ginger (cut 1.5 inch ginger into pieces)
iv. cinnamon (cut 1.5 inch long cinnamon into pieces)
v. garlic (optional, small quantity) and a bit of water.
2. Cut beans, carrots and onion (optional) into long (1 inch) pieces. Cut cilantro leaves. Keep them aside.
3. Keep pan on the stove (switch on). Add oil and heat for a couple of minutes. Then add black mustard seeds (2 tbsp splutters), curry leaves (and
optionally black gram and sliced chickpea, 1 tbsp each).
4. After couple of minutes, add onion (optional) and fry for a few mins. Then add cut beans, carrots and salt. Close the lid and let it cook.
5. Don’t add water (cooks in oil). Check every two mins so that it won’t get burned.
6. When it is cooked (veggies become soft) add the paste from grinder and let it cook for few more mins (until the moisture evaporates).
7. Then switch off the stove, add cilantro and leave it to cool for few mins.
8. Cook plain rice (1 cup of rice with 2 cups of water and 1 tbsp oil), and keep aside. Basmati rice works best for the recipe.
9. Finally, mix it with the cooked rice (add oil, salt if needed). Your South Indian Vegetable Pulav is ready!
It is not as sophisticated as it sounds. I have sometimes followed half these steps and still prepared something
delicious. The grated coconut and the grinding mix (step 1) are the key to good preparation. Grated coconut
(frozen) is available in all Indian grocery stores (for example, the Little India market in Somerville is only 3 miles
from Martinos).
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