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Pea Pilaf

Course Rice
Cuisine Indian
Servings 3 -4
Author Marina J

Ingredients

  • 2 cups cleaned Basmati Rice
  • 3 3/4 cups water
  • 1 cup frozen peas
  • 1 small onion chopped
  • 1/2 small green chilli chopped
  • 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
  • 1 cup cilantro chopped
  • 1 tsp garam masala can be bought at any Indian store/most grocery stores-optional
  • 3 whole cardamoms
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 1 " cinnamon bark
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt to taste
  • 1 tbsp Olive/coconut oil or butter for saute

Instructions

  1. In a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) grind the whole spices- cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves.
  2. Take a large pan (if you're cooking your rice in the pan, get one large enough to hold the rice in) and add in the ground spices. Saute this till you get the aromatic fragrance of the spices.
  3. Throw in the chopped onions and chilis. Saute till the onions turn golden brown.
  4. Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for 3-4 mins.
  5. Now add in salt to taste, garam masala (optional) and saute for an additional minute before taking the pan off the stove.
  6. Cool the mixture for a few minutes before spooning this out into a blender with the fresh cilantro leaves.
  7. Blend this mixture to a puree (add a little water to the mixture if you find the mixture isn't pureed well)
  8. Now put your saute pan back onto the stove and add a little oil/butter to it.
  9. Take your Basmati Rice and fry the same lightly, on a low-medium temperature, for 2-3 minutes. (Don't brown the rice)
  10. Add to the rice, the pureed cilantro blend and mix well.
  11. If you're cooking your rice in a rice cooker, take the ingredients from the pan and put it into the cooker. Add to this the water (3 3/4 cups) and the peas.{ If you're continuing to cook the rice in the pan, add the water and the peas to the mix}
  12. Taste the water to see if the salt seasoning is sufficient. If not add as much salt as is required.
  13. Now leave the rice alone to cook.
  14. Once the cooker buzzes letting you know the rice is done (or once the water has absorbed into the rice in the pan), set this aside for about 10 minutes to allow the pilaf to marry in the flavors.further.
  15. And voila, there you have it...pea pilaf!