When Lataji said she was disappointed that the Cauliflower Peas Pulao I posted was not made in microwave, I promised her that I will make a dish specially for her. So since it was off for me yesterday, I decided that I will make a combo meal for hubby dear in the microwave and please two birds in one shot. Meaning hubby dear says I am not using the microwave enough in actually cooking as such in making pulaos or curries. Imagine his pleasant surprise knowing that both the dishes were out from the microwave.
It was a hectic day at home, with kids wanting me to make them muffins and biscuits. I made both and it all vanished within minutes. One new version I made with baked biscuits I had sense enough to click picture and the muffins turned out super crumbly that I ate more than my share.
Microwave Subz Pulao with Carrot Kofta Curry ~ Our Lunch
Coming back to the Pulao, the Microwave oven came with a recipe book by Nita Mehta and has colourful pictures of dishes made completely in Microwave. I decided I should first try out all those recipes listed. Surprisingly this is the only vegetarian rice recipe in the book. It has many gravy ideas, most of them look really drool worthy.
This Pulao is very interesting as it uses Saboot Masala in a bag. The spice bad concept sounds very nice and I might be trying it out for my kid's pulao as we have tough job parsing all the spices from their plate. As I always say, cooking in microwave leaves your mind hassle free. Not that you don't have to worry what happens, yes you do have to. Yet somehow you can think of doing other chores as it gets cooked.
Update: Saboot by definition means whole and in this pulao it should be used as whole spices. The book asks us to crush the spices, I seem to have misunderstood and almost powered it. But even otherwise, it is supposed to be used as a whole spice mix. Thanks Niv for the clarification.
In my case it works out great because I won't have the work on getting the spice out for the kids.
Subz Pulao with Saboot Masala in microwave Recipe.Ingredients Needed:Basmati Rice - 1 & 1/2 cup
Ginger Garlic paste - 1/2 tsp
Turmeric powder a pinch
Red Chilli powder 1 tsp
Salt to taste
Oil - 2 tspWater - 3 cupsVegetables:
Potato - 1 medium
Carrots - 1 long
French Beans - 5 -6
Tomato 1 medium
Green chillies 3 cut into thin strips
Mint leaves 5 leaves
Coriander leaves 5 -6 twigs
Spice Bag (crush together & tie in a piece of muslin cloth)
Black pepper corns - 10
Fennel seeds - 2 tsp
Green cardamom - 4
Black cardamom - 4
Cloves - 4
Cinnamon - 2 sticksMethod to prepare:
Wash and soak rice for 20 - 30 minutes. When cooking in microwave, more it soaks it gets well cooked.
Then clean and chop the vegetables.
Pulse the spices in a mixer for couple of times. Take the spice blend in a muslin cloth and tie it together.
In a microwave safe bowl, take oil, ginger & garlic paste, potato, carrots and beans. Microwave for 3 minutes.
Drain the soaked rice. Add the rice, 3 cups water, turmeric powder, red chilli powder & salt to the bowl. Mix well. Add the spice bag. Microwave covered for 6 minutes.
Stir in between to make sure the rice is mixed well.
Then add tomatoes, mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chillies. Stir gently with a fork. Microwave for 7 minutes.
Let it rest inside the oven for 5 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Remove spice bag.
Serve with raita. I served with carrot Kofta curry
Notes:
The original recipe calls for 5 tbsp of oil, which I don't think I will ever be able to add. You can add cauliflower, peas and lemon juice which I didn't. You can also cook the pan covered after adding the tomatoes, I didn't.
Since the rice tends to be spicy on its own, you can simply serve this with raitha.
Since the rice tends to be spicy on its own, you can simply serve this with raitha.
Sending this to Lataji who wanted us to make a lunch box menu using Microwave for Microwave Easy Cooking event that she is guest hosting this month. Have you sent in yet?
Happy Sunday to all!
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