I know Indian food is considered a delicacy to many and eating at an Indian restaurant here in the U.S. does turn out to be expensive. But with a few essential ingredients in your pantry, you can bring Indian food off your stove and onto your family’s table…
and through this year, I hope to help you do just that with a few “Indian Soul Food with EBMommy” recipes!
As a child, for birthdays, my Mama would ask if I wanted something specific whipped up for my big day. My answer was always the same…
Pea Pilaf.
There’s just something about a bowl of pea pilaf that makes my heart sing!
This recipe is my quick-fix way of making a pea pilaf and honestly, the flavor in this dish rides on 5 essential ingredients (excluding the peas ofcourse)…
1. Basmati rice 2. Cardamoms 3. Cloves 4. Cinnamon and 5. Bay leaves.
All set?
Then lets get a-cooking!
- 2 cups cleaned Basmati Rice
- 3¾ cups water
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 small onion (chopped)
- ½ small green chilli (chopped)
- 1 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 1 cup cilantro (chopped)
- 1 tsp garam masala (can be bought at any Indian store/most grocery stores)-optional
- 3 whole cardamoms
- 3 cloves
- 1 1″ cinnamon bark
- 2 bay leaves
- Salt to taste
- 1 tbsp Olive/coconut oil or butter (for saute)
- In a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) grind the whole spices- cardamom, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves.
- Take a large pan (if you’re cooking your rice in the pan, get one large enough to hold the rice in) and add in the ground spices. Saute this till you get the aromatic fragrance of the spices.
- Throw in the chopped onions and chilis. Saute till the onions turn golden brown.
- Add the ginger-garlic paste and fry for 3-4 mins.
- Now add in salt to taste, garam masala (optional) and saute for an additional minute before taking the pan off the stove.
- Cool the mixture for a few minutes before spooning this out into a blender with the fresh cilantro leaves.
- Blend this mixture to a puree (add a little water to the mixture if you find the mixture isn’t pureed well)
- Now put your saute pan back onto the stove and add a little oil/butter to it.
- Take your Basmati Rice and fry the same lightly, on a low-medium temperature, for 2-3 minutes. (Don’t brown the rice)
- Add to the rice, the pureed cilantro blend and mix well.
- If you’re cooking your rice in a rice cooker, take the ingredients from the pan and put it into the cooker. Add to this the water (3¾ cups) and the peas.{ If you’re continuing to cook the rice in the pan, add the water and the peas to the mix}
- Taste the water to see if the salt seasoning is sufficient. If not add as much salt as is required.
- Now leave the rice alone to cook.
- Once the cooker buzzes letting you know the rice is done (or once the water has absorbed into the rice in the pan), set this aside for about 10 minutes to allow the pilaf to marry in the flavors.further.
- And voila, there you have it…pea pilaf!
This rice pairs well with any curry…especially a heartening bowl of butter chicken.
Yum!
Is there an Indian dish you’ve eaten and wished you could re-create in your kitchen?
About Marina
Oh we love Indian foods and make some lovely curries which will marry up nicely with this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
Now that is a dish my husband would LOVE! Thanks for sharing!
Amanda Taylor recently posted..Nutrisystem Week 17: I am Thankful
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says:
Thanks for sharing your yummy recipe.
amber whitehead recently posted..January 2013 Menu #MealPlanMonday
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I have to be honest, I’ve never had Indian food. But I think this would be a healthy meal for my son. He loves rice and we’re always trying to get him to eat more vegetables.
Joyce recently posted..Video Review: 2013 Kia Soul
I don’t think I’ve ever had Indian food, but this looks yummy!!
Terin Garrett recently posted..GIVEAWAY – Shirt from Heads Up Designs
Twitter: MommyMomentBlog
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Ooh, I love how easy this looks! I LOVE basmati rice, so I’m going to have to try this! Thanks for sharing!!
Jody recently posted..Easy DIY Mug
This looks delicious. I will have to try it.
JDaniel4′s Mom recently posted..ABC’s of Exploring Books with Children: A-H
I really wish my boyfriend liked peas. I love peas, and this looks delicious!
Shary recently posted..Hotslings Review
Oh that looks amazing! We love indian food! I need to give this a try! Thank you!
Amber Edwards recently posted..Homemade Salsa; Fresh Salsa Recipe Kid friendly, plus Spicy Alteration.
Crazy enough, I’ve actually never had any Indian food. This sounds good though.
I have had Indian food once and I don’t mind paying for good food. Not sure though I liked it enough to go back, but you never know….We pay good money for food when we go out, b/c we don’t do it very often anymore!!
This looks absolutely delicious! I love Indian food and this looks like a great idea for a dinner!
mel recently posted..Small World Toys New Years Review-Giveaway
You are such a Good Cook …thank you for sharing
xxx
Twitter: newlywedsurvive
says:
I swear, sometimes I think I have lived a sheltered life…I have NEVER had Indian food before! I will have to ease my way in.
Stacey recently posted..Hoarding Statistics Infographic – How do you Stack Up to a Hoarder?
Great recipe!!! I love basmati rice. Thanks for sharing =)
Oriana recently posted..Do You Want to know What my Gift is After the Holidays?
I’ve never really eaten Indian food but I’m anxious to try! Thanks for sharing your recipe.
Sarah recently posted..Decorating With Vinyl Wall Stickers from My Wonderful Walls
Thanks for sharing, the pilaf looks so good! I’d love to get my butter chicken to turn out like our favorite Indian restaurant’s recipe does. And their rice pudding too, while I’m at it
I am always looking for new side dishes, and this recipe looks great. Thanks so much for sharing!
Emily recently posted..Four Must Have PlugIns for your self-hosted WordPress blog
Twitter: Elleberra
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That sure looks good. However…since I never even heard of some of the things in that recipe…I’m kinda scared to try it.
I’m not a great cook and recipes with more than a few ingredients intimidate me.
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