Brown rice pulao is a tasty and wholesome rice dish made with brown rice and vegetables. Pulao is a very tasty and easy to make rice dish made in India. It is very mildly spiced and is suitable for people of all ages. We all know that brown rice is better than white rice, but due to the taste of white rice, we all prefer white rice over brown rice. There are more differences between white rice and brown rice rather than just the color. When you consider a rice grain, it has several layers and only the outer layer is removed to produce brown rice which prevents the loss of nutrients that occurs while further processing. Brown rice is an excellent source of manganese, a good source of selenium, phosphorus, copper, magnesium and niacin.
I have followed the normal procedure for making pulao. You have to take care of two things: One is to soak brown rice in hot water for 30 – 40 minutes and the second one is while cooking, add two to two and half cups of water and cook for 15 minutes on low flame.
Now over to the recipe..
Ingredients
- 1 cup Brown Rice
- 1 cup Onion, thinly sliced
- 1-2 Green chillies, slit
- 1 tsp. Ginger garlic paste
- 1 small Tomato, chopped
- ½ cup Mixed Vegetables (Carrots, beans, cauliflower, green peas etc.)
- Mint leaves, fistful
- 2 tbsp. Coriander leaves, chopped
- 1 tsp. Biryani masala
- Salt, as needed
- 2 ½ cups Water
- 1 tbsp. Fresh Lemon juice
For the seasoning
- 1 tbsp. Oil
- ½ tsp. Fennel seeds
- 1 Bay leaf
- 2 Cloves
- 1-inch piece Cinnamon
- 2 Cardamoms
- 1 tbsp. Ghee
Method
- Wash, clean and soak brown rice for 20 minutes. Drain the water and keep it aside.
- In a pan, boil water. After the rice has boiled turn off the flame and add the boiled water to washed brown rice. Keep it aside for 30-40 minutes.
- Drain the rice after 30-40 minutes.
- Meanwhile, wash peel and chop the vegetables and onion and keep aside.
- Heat oil in a pan, then add fennel seeds, when it splutters, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and bay leaf.
- Sauté for a few seconds, then add thinly sliced onions, slit green chilli and cook until onions turn transparent.
- Add ginger garlic paste and sauté for a few more minutes.
- Next add chopped tomatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add chopped vegetables, coriander leaves, mint leaves, biryani masala and salt needed.
- Mix well, add water and lemon juice. When water starts boiling, add soaked and half cooked brown rice. Mix well and check for salt by tasting the water, if the water is slightly salty, it will become perfect once the rice is cooked. Lower the heat and cook covered until rice is done. You can pressure cook rice or cook rice in a pan with lid or use the rice cooker.
- Brown rice pulao is ready. Serve it with any raita of your choice.