Mattar Paneer Pulav

Ingredients :

2 cups Basmati Rice
2 cups Paneer diced (bigger pieces)
1 cup frozen peas
1 medium size green Bell pepper diced (optional)
1 cup onion diced
1 cup tomatoes diced
2 tsp freshly grated ginger
2 tsp freshly grated garlic
2-3 green chillies slit and cut lengthwise
Clilantro finely chopped
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground red chilli
1 tsp ground cumin-coriander
6-7 peppercorns
4 cloves
1 bay leaf
1-2 sticks of cinnamon


Preparation:

1) Wash and Soak 2 cups of rice in 4 cups of water. You will not need to add anymore water to make the pulav. Just use this rice with the water. Keep this aside for around 15-20 minutes.

2) In the meanwhile you can cut and chop all the vegetables.

3) Now heat some oil in a pan . Now once the oil has warmed up add cloves, peppercorns, bay leaf, and cinnamon sticks. Then add onions. Roast it till it gets golden brown in color . Now add the garlic paste. Next add ginger, green chillies and tomatoes. Let it cook for about 2-3 minutes. Then add turmeric, salt, red chilli, cumin/coriander powder. Now add the paneer, peas and bell pepper. Let is cook for about 2 minutes. Now add the chopped cilantro and then add the rice with the water which we had kept aside earlier.

4) Let this cook uncovered on medium flame. Now when you see that most of the water has dried up (like 85-90%) set the stove to the lowest flame and c0ver the pan with a lid and cook for about 5 minutes.

5) Its ready to serve. Serve with Raita and pickle. The entire process should not take more than 35-40 minutes.