Corn Peas Pulao

Corn Peas Pulao are rice cooked with aromatic dry spices. You can also add your other favourite vegetables to this recipe. My mom serves it with sesame and peanut gravy, which is completely optional.

Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 30 to 40 minutes

Ingredients

Corn Peas Pulao

• 2 cups of rice
• 1/2 cups of peas
• 1/2 cups of corn
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 inch cinnamon stick
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon caraway (shah jeera)
• 2 to 3 star anise
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 5 to 6 coriander sprigs chopped
• salt to taste

Sesame Peanut Gravy

• 1/4 cup of blanched peanuts
• 1/6 cup of sesame seeds
• 8 to 10 dry red chillies broken into halves (adjust according to spice preference)
• 1/4 cup of tamarind water (soak 1/8 cup of tamarind in 1/4 cup of hot water for 15 minutes and extract the juice, increase tamarind if you want to increase the tanginess)
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 teaspoon garam masala or ground spices
• salt to taste

Procedure

Corn Peas Pulao

• Start cooking rice in a pot.
• In a pan, add butter and once it has started melting add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.
• Add the caraway (shah jeera) and once, they have crackled add the cinnamon stick, bay leaves and star anise, stir for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the corn and peas and cook until they are a bit soft.
• Add the cooked spices, corn and peas to the rice still cooking with. Stir it well.
• Once the rice are cooked, garnish with coriander.

Corn Peas Pulao is ready. It can be served on it's own or with your favorite curry. I enjoy it with sesame and peanut gravy which can be made as below:

Sesame and Peanut Gravy

• In a pan, dry roast peanuts and roast for 2 to 3 minutes. (Make sure they don't turn golden)
• Add the sesame seeds and red chilles and dry roast it until the sesame seeds and peanuts turn golden.
• Finely powder the roasted peanuts, sesame seeds and dry red chillies.
• In a pan, add oil and once the heated, add the mustard seeds and let them crackle.
• Then add the cumin and once, they crackled. Add the powdered sesame seeds, peanut and dry red chillies with tamarind water.
• Add salt to taste and garam masala.
• Cook it for 8 to 10 minutes. Stir during the cooking and add water for desired consistency.
• Once the oil has separated from the gravy, it is ready to serve.