“Food is our common ground, a universal experience.” – James Beard.

When all you want to do is wind up cooking as fast as possible, the dish I go to and make is a simple pulao or biriyani – it’s quick , easy and tasty. All you need is Basmati rice and a peep into the fridge to see what vegetables are there- to try out new combinations!

Mushroom and cucumber Pulao – a very rare combination that works well together at the end – there are a lot of varied flavours -cucumber, celery, mushroom, capsicum – surprisingly, as a single dish it pleases the palate. What more?

Weekends I do love trying out new recipes but like to keep it simple and fast. Its the only day you get to sit around and share news with the family, put up your feet- so cooking should be done and over with as fast as possible. This is a pulao I make often – sometimes with cheese- both the variations are good! We love both. The cheesy Pulao is kind of rich but very very tasty. All you need is a raita, some pickle and pappad.

Sharing the recipe with you:

Ingredient:

• Rice -3 cups
• Garlic-12 cloves Chopped
• Cucumber-1 cup chopped ( without seeds)
• Celery -2 stalks chopped
• Tomatoes -3 chopped ( without seeds)
• Capsicum -1 big chopped
• Mushrooms- 1 cup chopped
• Grated cheddar cheese – 1 cup ( optional)
• Salt and Pepper
• Onions – 4 sliced

Method:

• Wash and soak Basmati rice for 20 minutes. Boil plenty of water with salt. Add the drained rice. Do not overcook.
• Heat a mixture of oil and butter/ ghee, add mushrooms and fry on high heat for a couple of minutes, remove to a plate.
• To the same oil, add sliced onions and fry till golden brown.
• Add chopped garlic and fry well.
• Add cucumber, capsicum, celery, tomato and fry well. Remove and add the mushrooms to it
• In a casserole, layer the rice and vegetable mixture alternately- the top layer should be rice.
• Sprinkle with grated cheese (optional ) and bake for 20 minutes before serving.
• If you are not using cheese, sprinkle a tablespoon of ghee on top and bake for 10 minutes.

Chefs tips:

• In the place of mushrooms ,you could use baby corn.
• In the place of cucumber you could add diced apple.
• The rice should be of good quality and should not be overcooked.
• If you retain the seeds of cucumber and tomato the vegetable mixture could get all soft and mushy.
• For the non- vegetarians you could add a cup of shredded chicken/ prawns.
• Serves 6-7 people.

Till my next post,

Cheers

Rose