Methi Pulao

I know it has been a very very long time since I have actually blogged a recipe. After my brief stint in Norway I headed back to India and got entangled into the corporate IT jungle and the hustle bustle of Mumbai life. I was itching to update my recipes, but could hardly find time as I was working almost 13-14 hrs a day on an important Govt. Project. 

After almost a year staying away from my husband, I was yearning for a normal life. Finally my husband made it back to India and shortly after that he got an assignment in the UK. Since both of us were working for the same company now, I tried for a project in the UK so that I could live with my husband. After a long haul over my release from the current assignment, I was finally successful in securing a project. In UK I had the opportunity and time to cultivate my culinary skills further and was happy noting each recipe I make to the details. Unfortunately, I never got the time to post them. My friends and colleagues there used to coerce me to post recipe to the blog I created almost 2 years back. Though I used to share the recipes personally with them, I never came back to writing a blog about the experiences. 

Now I am in Sydney, Australia. Been almost 3 years that I started this blog. I feel it was a negligence from my end that I am not pursuing my interest and have just been blaming time. With that thought in mind and the encouragement that I have being receiving from my husband, family and friends around the globe, I have decided that I will start posting recipes and my experiences with cooking - Indian as well as local recipes from the places I have traveled over the last few years. I hope you would live the experiences and enjoy them as much as I have the pleasure of posting them to you.

Having said that, let me tell you I am having some great times in a short while I have been in Sydney. Thanks to Deepak's Childhood Buddy Ashish and his wife Prachi who had made our stay in Sydney very comfortable from the time we have landed in the city. Since I have crowd here, it gives me the natural high to keep experimenting with food and try new recipes. I have the best critic - my husband as well as very supportive friends who encourage me to keep up to my passion.

So last weekend I had 3 bunches of methi (fenugreek leaves) brought from our local wholesale market. It was so fresh that I didn't want it to just wither away. 

Hence on Thursday night after dinner I started picking the leaves stem by stem and it took me almost 2 hrs to complete and was totally exhausted and cribbing to my husband what a waste of time picking methi was! Understanding my exhaustion, my poor hubby helped me pick the last bunch. 

Weekends here are usually spent with Ash and Pra and it was decided that they would come home for dinner on Friday night. Since I had a lot of methi leaves, the usual idea was to make curry out of methi accompanied by roti. But then I thought roti would be too usual and to have a great start to the weekend, I 

should make something different. Thus the menu was decided that I would make Methi Pulao, Dal makhani and Cucumber and Mint raita.

Methi Pulao is very easy to make if you have all the necessary ingredients handy. The main taste changer of the pulao is the home made Garam masala, which goes well with other pulao recipes too. So if you have this one ready then making any type of Pulao is an easy job!

Ingredients:

For Garam Masala

• 2 Bay leaves (tej patta)
• 2 small cinnamon sticks (dal chini)
• 2 cloves (laung)
• 2 cardamom (elaichi)
• 1 tsp poppy seeds (khus khus)
• 1.5 tsp fennel seeds (saunf)
• 2 tbsp corriander seeds (Dhaniya)
• 3-4 Dry red chillies (depends on how spicy you want) (sukkhi lal mirch)
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds (jeera)

For Methi pulao

• 2 Bay leaves (tej patta)
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds (jeera)
• 2 cups Basmati Rice (washed and soak for 10 min)
• 2 medium onions (cut into thin vertical strips)
• 1 medium tomato (finely chopped)
• 2 tsp crushed ginger and garlic (alternatively you can use ready made ginger garlic paste)
• 4 cups methi (washed and finely chopped)
• Salt to taste
• 4 tsp Oil
• Ghee (clarified butter) for flavor (optional)

How to Make:

1. Dry roast all the ingredients mentioned under Garam masala in low heat (for about 5 minutes). Let it cool down. Once cooled, grind them into fine powder.
2. Drain water from the rice and let it stand on a perforated vessel.
3. At the same time, keep 4 cups of water to boil. (Alternately you can boil the water in a kettle)
4. In a wok or kadhai, add 2 tsp oil. Once hot, add 2 bay leaves and 1 tsp cumin seeds. 
5. Once cumin seeds crackle, add the rice and saute it well for 2-3 minutes.At this stage the water in the rice is all absorbed.At this stage, add a tsp of Ghee (clarified butter) if required. 
6. Now add 4 cups of boiling water and salt. Mix well and cover the wok with a lid. Cook on low heat. The rice should be cooked in approx. 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the rice cool down a bit.
7. While the rice is cooking, in another non stick pan, heat 2 tsp oil.
8. Once hot, add ginger garlic paste and onion. Saute well till onion is clear.Add totmato and cook well till tomato is mushy and oil leaves the side of the side of the pan.
9. At this stage add chopped methi and mix well. Cook with lid covered for about 7-10 minutes so that methi is cooked properly. Add Salt at this stage as it would be difficult to mix salt once rice is added.
10. Once methi is cooked, add the ground Garam masala little by little ( as per the spice taste you desire) and let this cook for 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
11. Let this mixture stand for 5 minutes and then add this methi mixture to the cooked Basmati rice. Mix well and cook the Pulao n low heat (wok covered with lid) for 10 minutes.

Garnish with chopped corriander and delicious Methi pulao is ready to serve. This goes well with Dal Makhani and Cucumber and Mint Raita.

Tip: You can also add fried cashew nuts on the top just before serving.