Mushroom Coconut Pulav Recipe

Pulav is a very popular rice dish all over  South Asia. Generally rice and different vegetables are cooked in fresh ground spices  and served with either a curry or raita.

This particular pulav as the name says it uses coconut milk as the base. In addition to the coconut milk I  have added different veggies and a good amount of mint and coriander leaves to it. I made it slightly less spicy than usual cos i was serving the pulav with egg curry which had tandoori masala in it. You can also make the pulav spicy and serve it with some cooling raita.

Some side that go with the pulav:

Potato Kurma
Egg curry using Tandoori Masala
Soya chunks and Peas Kurma
Cucumber raita with coriander mint chutney

Coconut Pulav Recipe:
(Serves  4 people)

Ingredients:

1.  Basmati Rice- 2 cups
2. Coconut milk- 2cups
3. Water-  ( if cooking in the rice cooker 1 ½ cups or use 2 cups if cooking in the stove top)
4. Mushrooms- about 15 sliced
5. Green bell pepper- 1 sliced thin
6. Lima beans and Green Peas – ¼th cup each
7. A big bunch of mint and coriander leaves (chopped finely)
8. Green chilies- 4 chopped fine (use 2 chilies for less spicy)
9. Medium tomatoes – 3
10. Cloves- 4
11. Cardamom- 4
12. Whole Black pepper- 7
13. ½ inch cinnamon stick
14. Small bay leaves-  3
15. Ginger garlic paste- 1tsp
16. Onion- 1 sliced thin
17. Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Soak the basmati rice in water for 15 minutes.
2. In a pot put few teaspoons of oil, add the cloves, cardamom, black pepper, cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Fry for few seconds then add the green chili and onion and cook till the onion becomes soft. Now add the ginger garlic paste.
3. Now add the bell pepper, Lima beans and peas. Saute for five minutes. After a minute add the tomato and cook till they become nice and soft.
4. Add the mushrooms and saute for two minutes.
5. Add the chopped mint, cilantro and cook for couple of minutes. Now add the rice and cook for five minutes, so that the rice can absorb the flavors of all the spices. Then add the coconut milk with water and salt and let it come to a boil.
6. At this point you can finish cooking the pulav in the same pan or you can transfer the whole thing to a rice cooker and finish the cooking in there.
7. We finished our pulav in a rice cooker. I prefer it this way, I just feel this way I don’t have to keep an eye on pulav while cooking.
8. You can also finish cooking the pulav in the same pan. Instead of 1 ½ cups of water add 2 cups of water
9. Once the pulav is done, let it sit for few minutes before serving.
10. Enjoy this pulav with any curry or raita of your choice.