Vegetable Rice Pulao - Recipe

 Vegetable Rice Pulao / Pilaf - Instant Pot Pressure Cooker

Vegetable Rice Pilaf or Pulao is an easy one pot rice dish mixed with a variety of vegetables and mildly flavored with various spices. We will make this in the Instant Pot. You can also use the same recipe to make it in a traditional pressure cooker. As you can imagine, this is a one pot dish and hence it is super quick and easy. 

The best part is that this is not only a quick meal, it is also very nutritious similar to Spinach Rice and Khichdi.  We are adding loads of vegetables and you can choose to add veggies of your choice.  I added a mix of carrots, green beans, green peas, edamame and corn.

INGREDIENTS

  

1 cup Basmati Rice (1 cup=250ml) rinsed

1 tablespoon Ghee or Oil

1 Green Chili Pepper (optional)

½ cup Onion sliced

½ tablespoon Ginger minced

½ tablespoon Garlic minced

½ cup Tomato chopped

1 Potato medium, cut into small peices

2 cups Mixed Vegetables (Carrots, Green Beans, Peas, Corn, Edmame) frozen or fresh

1 ¼ cup Water

Spices

½ teaspoon Ground Turmeric (Haldi powder)

½ teaspoon Cayenne or Red Chili powder

½ teaspoon Garam Masala

1 teaspoon Salt

Whole Spices

1 Bay leaf (Tej Patta)

1 teaspoon Cumin seeds (Jeera)

1 stick Cinnamon (Dalchini)

1 Star anaise

4 Cloves (Laung)   

Steps to make Perfect Rice Pilaf in Instant Pot 

1.Start the instant pot in sauté mode and heat it. Add ghee, whole spices and sauté them for 30 seconds until the cumin seeds change color.

2.After they start to splutter, add the green chili, onion, ginger and garlic. Sauté for 2 minutes until onion turn transparent.

3.Add tomato and spices. Mix well.

4.Add potato and mixed vegetables. Mix well. 

5.Add the rice and water. Mix the rice with the vegetables. If anything is stuck to the bottom of the pot, deglaze it. Close the lid with vent in sealing position.

6.Change the instant pot setting to MANUAL or pressure cook mode for 4 minutes at high pressure. 

 

7.When the instant pot beeps, do a 10 minute NPR. This means let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, then release the pressure manually.

8.Fluff the rice gently. Vegetable Pilaf is ready. Enjoy with homemade yogurt or raita.

Note: Remove the insert from the instant pot, so the lower layer of rice does not overcook from the hot base.

Rice Pilaf with vegetables can be a complete meal for busy evenings similar to my Instant Pot Vegetable Biryani.  Serve it with yogurt, which helps to compliment the spice in the pilaf.   

Final Result