Thursday, May 17, 2007

Beetroot Pulav

Sure, it has an enticing color, but it leaves it's mark on everything it touches, the hands, knife, cutting board, cooking pots and the like, yes it is the beloved Beetroot! Well known for it's nutrition content, though I guess the jury is still out on it's curative properties for anemia, it is widely used in salads, raita, pachadi, koshimbir and wherever you need to get the dark pink color naturally.
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I try to make different kinds of pulav once a week, they make a well balanced meal with a side of yogurt/raita and some prefer a pickle as well. As you all know beetroot has a sweet taste, when using it in savory dishes it is imperative to use good amount of your favorite spices. Let's go straight to the recipe of Beet Pulav.
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1 cup rice
1 beetroot finely cubed
1 onion finely chopped
1/2 green bell pepper chopped
1 tbsp ginger/garlic paste
1.5 tbsp oil
2 green chili (as per taste)
mustard seeds, cumin seeds, curry leaves, hing(asafoetida), 1tbsp cashew
turmeric powder, chili powder, garam masala (as per taste)
1 tbsp lime/lemon juice
Garnish: Fried Moong dal
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1. Soak rice for 1/2 hour. (I soak the rice for a minimum of 10 minutes and a maximum of 1hr). I do this while I'm chopping the vegetables and getting everything else ready.
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2. Mince the green chili along with the ginger/garlic paste.
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3. Chop all the vegetables.
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4. Heat oil, add mustard seeds, jeera, let splutter. Add hing, curry leaves, cashew and chopped onion. Once the onion turns translucent, add minced items along with chopped bell pepper and beetroot, saute for a few minutes.
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5. Add salt, all the masala powders and soaked rice. Add water and cook till done. You can use whatever method you prefer to cook rice, rice cooker, sauce pan or pressure cooker. I made it in a pressure cooker using 1:2 ratio for rice:water and cooked it for 2 whistles. Squeeze lemon juice and garnish with fried moong dal just before serving. I chose this garnish for a little variation from the good old coriander leaves, you may use either :) Just saute soaked moong dal in a tsp of oil till done but still crunchy.
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6. Enjoy colorful Beet Pulav with any raita or plain yogurt and your favorite pickle/chutney!
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7. I use the same process for most kinds of Pulav.

32 comments:

DEEPA said...

wow!!!!Beetroot ..Pulav..Must try this one ...Have beetroot at home ...will surely try ....thks for sharing

bee said...

the dish looks great, but the garnish looks greater.

Richa said...

do try it deepa, it is a quick one with pretty colors :)

bee, i knew you would like the garnish :o) it's nice n' crunchy

TNL said...

Ketlo saras color che.....Fried moong daal ni garnish paan nice che......must add such a nice crunch.

Sig said...

Wow Rich, beautiful color combination.... Love that yellow garnish... great idea to make pulav with beetroot... I picked up some beetroot the other day to make a dish which I never got around to... so I will try the pulao with it before it goes bad...

Mythreyee said...

Adding bellpeppers are sure a twist to the usual. Your version is wonderful.

sra said...

i like the garnish idea! v original.

Anonymous said...

Love the color. Got to try this for sure!

Lata said...

My husband loves Beetroot. He will be happy if I make this one.

Bong Mom said...

Beetroot Pulav looks good and the colour is very pretty

FH said...

It is a beautiful sweet veggies and yes,it's menace,leaves everything red!:))
Pretty contrast and dish.

Richa said...

thanks trupti! try karjey, chokrao matey interesting colors che :o)

thanks sig :) yeah that garnish really worked out fine and if your daily protein intake is limited, moong dal shud do it heh!heh!
don't let that beet go bad...

thanks myth! yeah bell pepper blended quite well and never harms to get more veg into ur diet :)
enjoy


thanks sra! garnish sure is nice n crunchy :)

Richa said...

thanks hema! yup the color attracts, literally everything it touches ha!ha!

thanks lata, do lemme' know if u make it for ur beet loving hubby

thanks sandeepa! beet makes one helluva' interesting pulav

thanks asha! that's true many more things including the pulav get that pretty color heh!heh! yeah that moong garnish was a nice contrast & healthy at that :o)

Ramya's Mane Adige said...

Beetroot Pulav!!! that sounds really healthy!!! Thanx for the recipe :)

swapna susarla said...

hi richa'
pulav color is beautiful.I always use beetroot in the pulao.

Swapna said...

Richie Rich,
That's such a rich color:)..Yeah, the garnish is diff and looks gr8..
Nice recipe

Roopa said...

looks wonderfull richa,i too love this pulav the garnish with moong absolutely yumm....

Richa said...

thanks ramya. it is a nice way to get colorful veg into our diets, you can add spices as per taste. do try it.
enjoy.

thanks swapna. so nice to know you too make it, do post ur recipe as well, it is good to know variations.

thanks swapna. richie rich LOL! heard that after a long time, remember those cute comics :)
enjoy & do add the garnish that u liked so much.

thanks roopa! would love to know ur variation to the pulav as well. do let me know if try this new type of garnish :)
enjoy

archana said...

Full of nutrition and very colourful.The garnish of mung dal is gr8 .Chav pan nakki chaan asel awadla pulav :)

Coffee said...

What a lovely colour!!!! And great contrast with the garnish!!! I must try this variation since I am always looking for variations of rice dishes for quick dinner! Thanks RIcha. :)

musical said...

Awesome pulaav, Richa :).

hugs,
musical.

Sia said...

like this dish and love the garnish richa:) i have love n hate relationship with beet. love to eat it but hate it for leaving my cutting board to look like i have spilled some red colour on it:( so i have kept separate cutting board for beets;)

Chinni said...

Wow...Beetroot pulav is looking colourful and tasty....

Richa said...

thanks archana. chav chan hoti. kahi tari vegli garnish asavi mahnoon me fried moong try kele :)
have a great wknd!

thanks coffee! yup it is a quick colorful healthy one ;)

thanks musical!
kuch jaldi banan vaastey pulav+dahi changa haega :o) have a fun weekend sweetie :) hugs to you too


thanks sia, you are right about the beet color, it's best to wash off the cutting board as soon as one finishes cutting the beet.
enjoy ur wknd dear

thanks chinni! glad you liked it.
enjoy

Sharmi said...

loved the look of that pulao. never heard of this before. very healthy recipe.

Kribha said...

Dear Richa,
I love beets but I rarely use it in veg biryani's as it changes the color of the rice. But a pulav with just beets sounds really great. Adding bell pepper is also intresting. Nice presentation. Adding roasted moong dal adds a nice touch to the pulav. Thanks for sharing.

Cynthia said...

I like how the colour of the moong dal and it's texture contrasts with the pulav. Nice work.

Chef Jeena said...

Nice recipe and lovely picture to go with it :)

Suganya said...

Beetroot pulav!....amazing one..Nice healthy dish. Great picture.

Richa said...

thanks sharmi, do try it.

thanks kribha, yup if u like beet, this is one to be tried. crunchy moong makes a good contrast.

thanks cynthia, jeena & sukanya. glad you liked the pulav & hope you try it.
enjoy...

Kajal said...

Great pic with healthy beetroot pulav. Nice recipe keep it up my dear.:))))

Naveen said...

Very nice...a different dish...Tried it....it came out real good...