Vegetables and Legumes Pulao

When I signed up for a membership with Tarla Dalal’s web site, they sent me two of her lovely cookbooks. I read them like how a child would read bedtime stories. Most recipes work out just excellent. She has put in her comments for each, which by themselves, are interesting . Whenever I try a recipe I add my comment under them with the date that I tried it first.
This pulao is adapted from her “ DESI KHANA- The Best of Indian Vegetarian Cooking “ book. She has a write up of vegetable and lentil pullao. The masala was different from my usual and it was a baked dish. That intrigued me and I substituted the thuvar dhal she had used in the original recipe by legumes of my choice and availability. This was the first time I made this and of course my notes are going on the book for later reference. Incidentally the same book has a pulao with legumes too.




Ingredients:
For the rice:
½ cup uncooked rice
1/3 cup soaked legumes of your choice ( I’ve used whole moong, black chick peas, fava beans, green peas and black eye beans.)
¼ cup vegetables (carrots, beans, cabbage, cauliflower, bell pepper – cut as thin long strips and boiled.)
1 onion sliced fine and fried.
(Tarla Dalal had added some saffron to the rice.)
Salt to taste.
For the curry:
½ cup curds
1 tablespoon ghee
1 teaspoon sugar (optional.)
To be ground into a pate for the curry:
1 onion
Few kasmiri chillies
1’’ piece of ginger
1clove garlic
1 teaspoon cooking poppy seeds (khus-khus)
1 cardomom
1 teaspoon coriander seeds
Other ingredients:
1 teaspoon ghee for greasing the baking dish.





Method
Cook the rice until tender but grains are separated. Cool on a flat dish.
Cook the legumes until tender. Add some salt and mix with boiled vegetables. Keep aside.
Heat ghee in a pan and cook the curry until raw flavour subsides and ghee starts to separate. Cool and add the yoghurt. Mix well.
Preheat oven to 230 degrees C.
Grease baking tin with ghee. Spread fried onions in a layer. Then, make layers of the rice, legumes and gravy alternating them until all of each is used up.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Turn the baking dish over on a flat dish and serve hot with any raita of choice.
The yoghurt is used to give the pulao a tangy taste. The end dish had also the feel of having used crumbled paneer/tofu.
Using yoghurt is optional, the masala by itself is aromatic and sufficient. And by substituting ghee, a thoroughly vegan version can be enjoyed.

I would love to send this pulao to MLLA-13 Event, hosted by Harini of Sunshinemoms blog initiated by Susan.