Matar Pilau/ Pulao, a simple beauty
The dish is essentially a rice pilaf infused with peas (matar in Urdu). The green peas add a subtle sweetness to the rice, they also add to the visual allure of the dish.
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, sliced
- 1750 ml water 5 mugs
- 800 grams basmati rice 3 mugs
- 235 grams green peas I use frozen peas
- 2 green chillies, sliced down the middle optional
- 1 tomato (roughly chopped) optional
Spices
- 2.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 tbsp coriander seeds
- 5 cloves
- 5 black peppercorns
- 3 cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon bark
- 2 black cardamoms
Instructions
- Firstly wash the rice until the water runs clear and leave to soak in cold water. Soak for at least 30 minutes. The longer you leave the rice to soak, the quicker it will cook
- Heat 4 tablespoons of oil in a large sauce pan. Then add the onions and brown You will need to brown the onions until they are a dark brown, the colour of the browned onions dictates the colour of the pilau rice. The darker the onions, the richer the colour of the rice. If the onions start to stick to the pan, add small splashes of water.
- Once the onions are browned, add the water and all the spices. Stir through. Next, bring the water to boil. Turn the oven on at 100C, fan assisted.
- Next add the rice and peas (green chillies and tomato if using) to the water and stir. Then cover with the pan lid and turn the heat down to low. Keep checking the how the rice is cooking, once the water had nearly dried out put the pan in the oven for "dham"/ steaming for 30 minutes. You can alternatively do the steaming on the hob, turn the heat to the lowest setting and cover the pan with a thin tea towel and then put the pan lid on top.
- Serve with yoghurt/raita and enjoy!
