Peas Rice: Matar Ke Chawal: Peas Pulav

So it was the hottest day of the year in London yesterday. People were freaking out, no one was happy with the sunshine. What do people want, I asked myself? When it is raining they sulk about it; when it is cold and windy they complain about it and yesterday they had problems with sunny weather too. No one seemed happy and everyone was just frowning-boy oh boy it is sooo hot!. Another funny thing, my Indian friends were going crazy too. Don’t you come from a place where it is more 40 degrees? How can they not tolerate 30C? Anyways moving on, I totally loved crisp clear sky, lots of sunshine and cold water shower for a change :)

Those of you follow me on instagram would know, I treated myself with some beautiful lilies and these lilies are now blooming, giving amazing fragrance in my hall. That fresh aroma, pink beauties and lots of sunshine helped me to complete this book. By the end of the day I was totally relaxed but was in no mood to slave myself in the kitchen cooking some elaborate meal. It had to be something quick and not spicy or hot.

Yeah yeah, pasta was my choice too, but Mr. Husband had pasta in lunch so I knew he wouldn’t eat it. So I did some quick search on my blog and decided to do something with rice. Rice and lentils. Daal Chawal. Simple yellow daal (no onion or garlic) just pressure cooked. For rice I made Matar Pulav. Green Peas Rice. Ah the comfort food!

What to pair with Peas Rice? Check these out:

Panchmel Dal

Simple Kadhi

Lehsuni Daal

Daal Makhani

Green Peas Rice or Matar Ke Chawal is one step ahead from the very basic jeera rice. I would say it is one beautiful rice dish but with least efforts. Just throw in some frozen peas, cooked rice, some spices and you are done. It is like a quick makeover or leftover rice magic too, infact leftover rice works perfectly fine :). I tried to keep it simple with fragrant whole spices.

There are many variations you can do in this recipe. You can add other veggies such as potatoes, capsicum, carrots, beans, onion and what not. In that case it will be very much like veg pulav which is a meal in itself, just pair it up with any riata. Then, you can also use Indian spices like turmeric (for colour) or red chilli powder. Some people also like to add nuts such as cashews (kaju) or raisins (kismis). As mentioned already, I crafted it real simple.

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked rice

1/2 cup green peas/matar

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

4 cloves/laung

2 black peppercorns/kali mirch

2 bay leaf/tej patta

1 teaspoon cumin seeds/jeera

1 tablespoons ghee or oil

Method:

Heat oil in wok or a pan. When oil gets hot, add bay leaf, cloves and peppercorns. Roast for 5 seconds.

Add cumin seeds. Let it crackle. Reduce heat to low.

Add ginger garlic paste. Sauté it for 1 minute.

To it add frozen peas. Cook till peas get soft.

Mix in rice. Stir properly. Do not apply pressure, else rice will get mushy.

Cover and let it sit for 2-3 minutes. Serve hot.

Notes:

You can omit ginger garlic paste.

If using fresh peas, boil it before using.

See all instructions on how to cook rice here.

Use a good quality indian basmati rice for best results. I used Tilda Basmati Rice.

Serving suggestion:

Serve as side with any indian curries.

Serve with lentils and dry curries.

Mix with salad, chutneys and stuff in tacos or burritos.

Corn Peas Rice/ Makkai Matar Ke Pulav- In Microwave

Okay!..One more dish that you can cook in microwave. Well I have started enjoying Microwave cooking now. Just add in everything together ,mix and here it is ready. Corn and peas needs very little time to cook in microwave and so i always prefer to cook Peas Corn Rice in microwave.

Ingredients:
1 cup rice (soaked for 1 hour)
2 cups water
1 tbsp ghee/butter
1/3 cup corn
1/3 cup peas
1/2 tsp turmeric/haldi
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp lemon juice
2 chopped green chillies

Method:
Take a microwave safe bowl and add everything together. Mix all well.
Cook covered for 12 minutes
Cook another 5 minutes uncovered.
Serve hot with raita chutneys or dips.

Notes: I used frozen peas and corn, you can use fresh also but then pre-boil them.
Any kind of rice can be used- I used basmati rice.
Click for Recipes of rice. 

Methi Mutter Pulav / Fenugreek Peas Rice

This is recipe is just my experiment. The idea came from my husband who loves methi and matter, but not very fond of rice; So he challenged me to make rice with methi and matter such that he could love and relish it. And guess what?- He did love it!... Its simple, quick and healthy.

Ingredients:

Rice -2 cups cooked

Onion-1 sliced in rings

Tomato - 3 chopped finely

Boiled sweet corn- ¼ cup

Capsicum – ½ chopped in small cubes

Green Chilli-2 slited

Dry Fenugreek Leaves / Kasuri Methi Leaves – 3 tblspn

Boiled Peas - 1 cup

Fennel Seeds / Saunf- 1 tsp

Mustard Seeds / Rai- 1 tsp

Red Chilli Powder/Lal Mirch - 1 tsp

Coriander Powder / Dhaniya -1 tsp

Turmeric powder / Haldi-1 tsp

Salt to taste

Oil-2 tblspn

Lemon Juice-to taste

Method:

Soak kasuri methi leaves in water for 2 minutes. Drain it and squeeze well. Set this aside.

Heat oil and add in mustard and fennel seeds and allow it to crackle.

Add in onions, boiled sweet corn, green chilli and cook till translucent.

Add in chilli powder, coriander powder, turmeric and mix well.

Then add in tomatoes, capsicum and salt mix well. Cook till it turns mushy.

Add in the drained kasuri methi leaves, peas and toss well.

Lastly add in rice and toss well. Cook till rice is well heated and had soaked the flavours

Squeeze some lemon juice and mix once for the last time.

Serve hot with chutney , side dish, curry.

Patties From Leftover Rice

Do you have leftover rice and do not know how to use it? Whether it's white rice or brown, don’t throw it away! Turn leftover rice into easy starter. You'll be surprised, because you won't even recognize it as leftovers. I made patties/dumplings using leftover rice and it turned out to be awesome. 

Ingredients:

·1 cup cooked rice(Chawal)

·1/2 cup chickpea flour (besan)

·1 tbsp ground peanut (moongfali)

·A pinch of turmeric powder (haldi)

·1/2 tsp green chili paste or adjust to your taste

·1/4 tsp garlic paste(Lasan)

·1/4 tsp ginger paste(Adrak)

·5 tbsp oil

·Salt if needed only as rice is cooked with salt

·1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro (dhaniya)

·1 tsp finely chopped curry leaves

·1 tbsp lime juice

·A pinch of sugar

Method:

1.Take a bowl and combine all ingredients in it (add only 2 tbsp oil)

2.Sprinkle water (if needed only) and mix all well. Keep mashing rice while mixing.

3.Make small balls or patties of the shape and size you desire.

4.Heat remaining oil in non stick pan and cook them on medium heat on both sides till golden brown.

5.Crispy ,Tasty rice patties is ready.

Serve hot with tomato-garlic chutney or mint-chilli chutney

Linking this for Leftover Makeover And Giveaway event at Cutchi Kitchen