Alu Pulao

Alu pulao also known as tahiri is very easy to make and delicious to taste. Alu pilau can be served on its own or you can have it with kebabs, raita, salad and pickle of your choice….

Ingredients:

500 gm rice (soaked for 20 minutes)

2-3 medium potatoes (peeled and cut into quarters)

¼ cup oil

2 medium onions thinly sliced

2 medium tomatoes finely chopped

1 tbsp ginger garlic paste (mixed in ¼ cups of water)

1 tbsp Cumin Seeds

8-10 black peppercorns

4-5 cloves

2 black cardamom

1 inch piece of cinnamon

1 Bay leaf

1 tsp red chili powder/ red chili flakes

Salt (to taste, I normally use 1 ½ tsp for 250gm rice)

2 green chilies chopped

2-3 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Method:

Take a large pan and heat oil, (keeping in mind that the rice will double after cooking, plus potatoes are also added so you will need to have enough space in the pan), add onion and fry till they get golden brown then add ginger garlic paste (becarefull as the water we added in ginger garlic paste tend to splutter), fry it for a minute or two and add chopped tomatoes, cumin seeds, cardamom, black peppercorn, cloves, cinnamon stick, bay leaf and chili powder.  Fry for some time till the tomatoes dissolves, then add the potatoes, fry for 5 minutes. Now add 3 cups of water and salt, Let the water boil and taste the salt. You should be able to feel the saltiness, remember that the rice will need some salt too, so let the salt be enough that you can taste it to be a bit more than you would want, but don’t add too much.

Once the water starts to boil add the rice (remember to drain the rice first).  Let this cook on high heat for 2-3 minutes, stirring every now and then, then reduce the heat to medium and keep cooking covered until the water is almost dried, giving it a stir every now and then to make sure all the rice is cooked evenly and perfectly. Once there is very little water left in the rice, reduce the heat to as low as possible, sprinkle the chopped green chilies and chopped coriander, cover the pan by using a tight lid or wetting a kitchen towel and placing it over the pan then placing a lid on top of it. Cook on low heat, till the water gets absorbed and rice done, for about 10-15 minutes. Switch off the flame and Serve hot.

Note:

You can also use chiken cubes to give this pulao extra flavors of chicken, in that case keep in mind the amount of salt you add.

Some people don’t like to add tomatoes in pulao, in that case use 4tbsp of yogurt and add it in place of tomatoes.

Put the peeled potatoes in a bowl of cold water to  keep them from discoloring.