Beetroot Pulao | Pink Pulao

Summer was hectic this year and as a result I had to miss the first week of Blogging Marathon this month! The holidays were great and hectic actually.[Wonder how that sounds!]We visited a couple of places ,had a couple of potlucks and a housefull of guest and ofcourse Lil Angel at home who seemed to be bored all the time in spite of the travels, get togethers',loads of people at home and her favorite cartoons!!

Anyways, I did enjoy it amidst the intense heat wave, power cuts and loads of work.But,I was not ready with a single post and was not in a mood to rush up with the clicks and write up for last week's theme.So I gave it a miss.

This week I had signed up for - Cooking with colors. I have lots of ideas bit was able to execute one of them just yesterday.

As soon as the term 'color' was mentioned, beetroot and spinach came to my mind instantly.  I made this simple beetroot pulao for lunch yesterday and as always, Lil Angel seemed pleased with the color.

I used:

Beetroot,grated - 1/4 cup
Basmati rice - 1 cup
Ginger garlic paste- 1 teaspoon
Saunf - 1 teaspoon
Cardamom-1
Cinnamon- 1" pices, broken into bits
Onion- 1, sliced
Mint leaves- a handful
Pav bhaji masala - 2 teaspoons
Green chilies -2, slit
Salt to taste
Ghee- 1 tablespoon

1. Wash the rice and let it drain on a colander.
2. Heat a pressure cooker with ghee.
3. Add the saunf, cinnamon, cardamom.
4. After a minute, add onion, green chilies and ginger garlic paste,mint leaves.
5. Saute till the onion turns translucent.
6. Add the beetroot and cook for a couple of minutes till the raw smell goes off.
7. Put in 2 cups of water and bring to a boil.
8. Add the rice, salt and pav bhaji masala and cover and cook for 2 hisses.
9. Once the pressure releases fluff with a fork and transfer to a serving dish.

Note :

• The beetroot that I used was very sweet and in spite of the chili and the masala , the rice was not very spicy.
• Use the amount of water that you normally use to cook your preferred brand of basmathi rice
• Oil can be used instead of ghee
• Garam masala can be added instead of Pav bhaji masala.Next time I want to experiment with sambar powder!
• Adding mint leaves is purely optional.
• You can saute the drained rice with a little ghee in a separate pan before adding it into the cooker. I did not follow this step yet my rice was fluffy.

Bon Appetit...