Receta Rice Recipes | Two Easy, Aromatic & Healthy vegetable Pilaf with Flax Seeds
Do you follow any particular recipe for making pilaf/pulav? I am afraid I don’t… If there is ample time and the cooking is for some special guests, my Pilaf will have a mix of home ground spices and some exotic ingredients such as poppy seeds, coconut & cashew paste. On a normal day it’s just a few whole spices, veggies, fluffy Basmati rice and my quick aromatic pilaf. And how versatile & flexible a recipe could get, you don’t need to follow any particular recipe and yet come out with some extraordinary results, yes such is the magic of Pilaf!
My favorite is always this simple and quick Pilaf or Pulav recipe, wherein the subtle flavors of Basmati rice, a mild punch of few whole spices and the real taste of fresh veggies could be enjoyed in best form.
Adding Flax seeds to most of the curries & rice recipes apart from baked goodies is a wonderful idea both in terms of flavors and health quotient of the recipe. I like the crunch and nutty flavor it provides to any recipe and for instantly increasing the health component of the same.
A Pilaf is a rice dish cooked with spices and veggies where the rice grain remain separate and fluffy, more about pilaf here. For this first vegetable pilaf recipe I served the dish with a small bowl of fresh roasted Flax seed alongside and sprinkled flax powder on individual demand, as I was not sure of children liking the taste of this new ingredient. I mixed Flax powder in the Spinach pilaf recipe before serving and the guests really enjoyed this simple way to make a meal healthy yet scrumptious.
Vegetable Pilaf with Flax Seeds
Colorful veggies make the recipe come alive..
Ingredients;
(serve 2)
- 1 cup Basmati rice
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil/ghee
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp. spring onion
- 1 tsp. crushed black pepper
- 1 green chilly
- Salt as desired
- 2 cups assorted veggies*
- 2 tbsp Flax seeds/powder
- Whole Spices
- 1 small stick cinnamon bark
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 cardamoms
- 2 cloves
- 1 star anise
Sprinkled with roasted Flax seeds..
Method;
Method;Wash and soak Basmati rice for 1 hour. Dice all the vegetables into fine pieces.
Rice; To cook rice for pilaf you can pressure cook the rice (1 cup rice: 3/4 cup water) for just one whistle or follow this method to get fluffy and long strands of rice.
Heat 2 cups of water and add washed rice, cook at high flame for about 7-8 minutes. Check if the rice is almost done but is slightly hard when pressed between two fingers. Take off the flame and drain excess water from the rice.
Heat oil in a wok/kadai and add cloves, cardamom bay leaf, star anise and cinnamon stick sauté for a few seconds.
Add sliced onion, slit green chilly and fry for 1 minute till becomes light brown in color. This will give a lovely brown hue to the rice, avoid this step if you like your rice to be white in color.
Add rest of the veggies, salt and cook for 3-4 minutes at high flame.
Add cooked rice and gently stir all the ingredients with a fork taking care not to break the long strands of rice.
Close the lid tightly and let it stand for 10-15 minutes to let the rice get fully cooked in its own steam.
Quick and easy way; To avoid cooking the rice separately and making it a lot more easy, use ‘Dum’ technique to cook pilaf as explained in this Biryani recipe. Follow the above steps till you add the veggies in the seasoning, add rice in the same and sauté for 2 minutes. Close the vessel tightly with a lid and place it on a hot tawa or girdle on slow heat. Cook for 10-15 minutes till the rice is done. Stir the pilaf gently once in the whole process of cooking.
Take off from the heat and add shredded spring onion, crushed black pepper powder and Flax seed powder and mix well. Serve hot with yogurt Raita.
Spinach Pilaf with Flax Seeds
Ingredients;
1 cup Basmati rice
2 tbsp. vegetable oil/ghee
2 cups water
1 small onion
Salt as desired
8-10 Cashew nuts
2 tbsp. Falx seed powder
Whole Spices;
2 cardamoms
2 cloves
3-4 peppercorns
1 star anise
Ground paste;
2 cups chopped spinach
1 green chilly
1 tomato
1” ginger
Method; Wash and soak rice for one hour.
Wash and chop spinach, ginger, tomato and onion. Grind chopped spinach leaves, green chilly, tomato and ginger into fine paste. Fry the cashew nuts in a little butter/oil till they turn golden brown in color.
Boil 2 cups of water, cover it and keep aside. Heat oil in a wok/kadai and add all the spices, sauté for a second. Add diced onion and fry for one minute. Add the ground paste, salt and cook for 5-6 minutes on low flame stirring it constantly.
Drain the water from the rice and add the soaked rice in the wok with spinach paste. Saute the rice for 4-5 minutes in the ground paste. Pour hot water and cook for 5 minutes on high flame. Reduce the flame and cover the wok tightly.
At this stage most of the water is absorbed by the rice and if you cook it on slow flame the rice will be very fluffy. Using the technique of Dum (slow cooking) is the best to get fluffier rice.
Heat a flat tawa or girdle on flame and keep the tightly covered wok with cooked rice over it. Cook the pilaf on slow flame for about 10-15 minutes.
Take off the flame and separate the cooked rice with a fork, garnish with fried cashew nuts, sprinkle powdered Flax seed and serve the healthy Spinach Pilaf with a fresh yogurt Raita.
How to Roast Flax seeds; The seeds get burnt easily when dry fried, to avoid this take one cup plain salt and heat it on a large wok and, add the whole Flax seeds in it. Dry fry it on low flame stirring continuously for about 5-6 minutes. Take off the flame and sift the salt with a mesh or filter to separate salt from the Flax seeds.
Use the roasted Flax seeds for any recipe or just enjoy them as a healthy snack.
Notes;
Dice beans and carrots into very small pieces, it will help cook all the veggies at the same time.
Add an extra green chilly if you like your pilaf to be spicier.
Dry roast the Flax seed on slow flame for 5 minutes and powder to get a wonderful nutty aroma and crunchy bite to the pliaf recipe.
A tsp of ginger-garlic paste will enhance the taste and flavors of the Pilaf.
Use tomatoes which are slightly sour while grinding with other ingredients for Spinach pilaf.
A teaspoon of lemon juice added to the cooked rice will give that extra zing and a lovely citrus flavor to the recipe.
Basmati rice is a prudent choice over other varieties of white rice as it has low GI which makes it longer to digest thereby releasing the sugar in the blood at a much slower rate.
Use brown rice to make this pilaf, I avoided as I was cooking for my guests and did not want to overload them with my fetish for healthy eating.
Use a pinch of Ajinomoto while cooking if you want your pilaf to get that restaurant kind of recipe feel. Ajinomoto gives a lift to any recipe but should be avoided due to harmful effects on health.
These aromatic Pilaf recipes are a part of wonderful Indian Food event started by a trio foodie friend, Barbara, Kathy and Prerna.