A nutrient packed, flavourful one pot meal – pulao made with dill leaves/ Sabbasige soppu.
Dill leaves are popular as herbs and known to have been an effective antioxidant. They also posses disease preventing and health promoting properties. Being low in calories it’s rich in many vital vitamins and minerals. They are very light on your stomach – Very effective in curing digestive disorders.
Dill leaves are slightly pungent and bitter(to some). It’s this aroma of the leaves that makes them stand apart from other spices – In fact the seed, seed oil and the whole plant is used in culinary world.
This recipe is adapted from my aunt, who served us this delicious pulao when we visited her. Immediately I had decided this recipe is going to feature in our ‘Ricelicious’ episode. It took me a while to try this recipe at home and then post it. Better late than never, here comes the third recipe, go on.
Steps:
In a kadai, heat ghee on medium flame. Add jeera, black peppercorns, cardamom, bay leaf, garlic cloves and sauté for 1-2 minutes .
Add Green chillies and finely chopped onions and sauté for 2-3 minutes.
Add tomato and fry for a minute.
At this stage, add in the veggies if using.
Add salt and mix well. close the lid and cook for 5 minutes. 1/4 cup water can be added if needed.
Drain excess water from the rice and add it to the pan.
Add 1.25 cup of water / Milk / Coconut milk and stir. Adjust salt. increase the flame and let the rice come to a boil.
Close the lid tightly and let the rice cook on med-low flame for 10-12 minutes. Switch of flame and wait for another 5-10 minutes. Gently fluff the rice with a fork and serve with raitha.
Ingredients
- Basmati rice 1 cup
- Dill leaves chopped 1/2 cup
- Onion 1 small
- Tomato 1 small
- Green chilli 1 large
- Mixed vegetables 1 cup (optional)
- Garlic 12-15 cloves
- Jeera/cumin seeds 2 tsp
- Black peppercorns 1 tsp
- Cardamom pods 2
- Bay leaf 1
- Coconut milk (optional) ½ cup
- Salt to taste
- Ghee 1tbsp
Method
- Wash and clean basmati rice and soak it for 20-30 minutes.
- Clean Dill leaves thoroughly and finely chop them.
- Finely chop the vegetable them if using – I used carrot, beans and green peas.
- Chop onion, tomato, green chilli and garlic cloves
- In a kadai, heat ghee on medium flame.
- Add jeera, black peppercorns, cardamom, bay leaf, garlic cloves and sauté for 1-2 minutes
- Now add onion and green chilli – fry till light brown.
- Add tomato and fry for a minute.
- At this stage, add in the veggies if using. Add salt and mix well. close the lid and cook for 5 minutes. 1/4 cup water can be added if needed.
- Drain excess water from the rice and add it to the pan. Add 1.25 cup of water and stir.
- Adjust salt. increase the flame and let the rice come to a boil.
- Close the lid tightly and let the rice cook on med-low flame for 10-12 minutes.
- Switch of flame and wait for another 5-10 minutes.
- Gently fluff the rice with a fork and serve with raitha.
Note
1. Using vegetable is optional. If not using you can increase the quantity of Dill leaves.
2. Coconut milk tends to lower the strong flavour of dill leaves and lends a sweet-ish hint to the pulao. Totally optional, still good to use 🙂 I used 1/2 cup of coconut milk in the preparation. You can even use dairy milk in place of coconut milk.
3. I soaked rice for 30 minutes and the ratio of water used in 1:1.25. So I used 1/2 cup of coconut milk and 3/4 cup water.
4. Please also refer to the cooking instruction on the rice packet. Usually there is a ratio of 1:2 of rice and water. While the rice absorbs water in soaking period, water quantity can be reduced while cooking.
5. Cooking basmati in closed pan method suits me best, so that I keep a check on rice and water level.
6. This pulao can be pressure cooked as well, see the instructions on the rice packet for same.
