Matar Pulao – a simple yet flavourful rice dish made with basmati rice, few aromatic whole spices and green peas. Matar is the Hindi word for peas and pulao is a popular Indian rice dish where rice is cooked with aromatic whole spices and vegetables.
Matar Pulao is one of the popular North Indian rice dishes and is very easy to make. It can be made in pressure cooker, regular pot or microwave. I have used pressure cooker to make matar pulao. This one-pot dish is quite flavourful and does not necessarily need any sides with it and hence is a perfect option for school or office lunch box. However matar pulao pairs perfectly with boondi raita, pomegranate raita, cucumber mint raita, paneer makhanwala, sabut masoor usal, dhaba style egg curry, Butter Chicken, Methi murg, matar paneer and so on. When you are entertaining guests at home and wish to make a special rice dish, matar pulao is a good option.
In winters, when fresh green peas are available in plenty, it’s the best time to make matar pulao. Having said that, you can also use frozen peas to make this pulao. This easy to make pulao gets made in less than 30 minutes excluding the soaking time of rice. You can either use oil or ghee to make the pulao. However ghee lends a good aroma to the dish. So, to sum it up, basmati rice, ghee and the whole spices makes this pulao quite flavourful and aromatic.
Step-wise recipe with pictures:
Firstly wash the rice well and soak rice in water for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, drain the water and keep aside.
Heat ghee in a pressure cooker.
Add cumin seeds, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms and cashew nuts. Saute for few seconds.
Add thinly sliced onions. Saute for few seconds.
Add ginger garlic paste and saute again for few seconds.
Now add green peas and mix.
Add soaked rice and mix.
Add salt and garam masala.
Add water and close the pressure cooker.
Cook for two whistles.
Once the pressure cooker cools down and the steam has escaped completely, open the pressure cooker. Fluff up the rice using a spoon.
Serve hot.
Recipe :
Matar Pulao
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- ¾ cup fresh green peas/ frozen peas
- 2 tbsp ghee/ oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1 1 bay leaf (tej patta)
- 3 cloves (laung/lavang)
- 2 to 3 cardamoms (elaichi)
- 8 to 10 cashew nuts
- 1 medim sized onion, thinly sliced
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- salt to taste
- 1 tsp garam masala
Instructions
- Wash the rice and soak it in water for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, drain the water and keep aside.
- Heat ghee in a pressure cooker.
- Add cumin seeds. When the seeds start crackling, add bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, cardamoms and cashew nuts. Saute for few seconds.
- Next, add thinly sliced onions and saute till it starts changing its colour.
- Now, add ginger garlic paste and saute for few seconds.
- Add green peas and mix.
- Now, add the soaked rice and give a quick mix.
- Add salt and garam masala.
- Add 1 ½ cups of water.
- Close the pressure cooker and cook for 2 whistles.
- After the pressure cooker cools down a little and when the steam has escaped completely, open the pressure cooker.
- Using a spoon, fluff up the rice.
- Serve matar pulao as it is or with raita or paneer gravy or chicken curry or egg curry .
Video
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