Paneer Pulao

Today I have another cooking post. I like to cook and I normally “don’t have time” to do so but since staying at home I have a lot of free time on my hands. The other week I made Paneer Pulao for dinner. Before I get on to the post here are the links for the other cookings posts just in case you missed any:

1. Pea and Cottage Cheese Curry
2. Pav Bhaji
3. Garlic Prawns – Desi Style
4. Spinach and Cheese Pinwheels
5. Indian Semolina Pudding | Halwa
6. Mexican Sweet Potato Boat
7. Gluten-Free and Vegan Homemade Ravioli with Tofu and Spinach
8. Vegan Mushroom Gravy
9. Dum Aloo Curry

Just in case you have missed my other isolation posts, I have linked them below:

1. 10 Things to Do While At Home
2. Dum Aloo Curry
3. Getting Fit | Ways to Get Fit While At Home
4. Ways to Spend Time Alone While at Home
5. Things to Consider for Your Home Desk
6. 6 Quick and Easy Isolation Snacks

Now let’s get on to the post:

What is Pulao?

Pulao also called pilaf or pilau is a dish consisting of rice or wheat cooked in stock or broth. Flavoured by spices, this dish can contain vegetables and/or meat. For more head over to this Wikipedia page: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pilaf

What is Paneer?

Paneer “is an unaged, non-melting soft cheese made by curdling milk with a fruit- or vegetable-derived acid, such as lemon juice.”

The Process for Paneer Pulao

I started of with cooking rice: I used a rice cooker. Once that cooked, I removed it from the cooker pot and let it cool down to room temperature. While it was cooling I cut the paneer up into cubes and toasted it so it wouldn’t crumble later on and for a change in texture. I heated up a hot plate with oil and shallow fried the paneer cubes till golden brown and set them aside.

Now for the base of the pulao: I heated a wok with oil and cooked the onion, minced garlic, minced ginger and spices. Once the room started to smell like spices (3 ish minutes), I added tomatoes. I used diced tomatoes from a tin but use fresh tomatoes would work just blend them up (into a puree) before adding them. Once the tomato smell was converted to the smell of spices (5-10minutes), I added salt, frozen peas and paneer and let that simmer (3 ish minutes).

This is where it gets messy: add your cooked, cooled rice from before to the curry you just made. Mix it thoroughly through and make sure that the rice is coated with the curry. Ta Daaaaa!!! You have paneer pulao!! Serve with raita ( flavoured yoghurt) or mintu chutney or any chutney that does you fancy.

Reflection

This was a great dish. The 2 things I would do is add more flavour (masala and spices) to the curry before adding the rice and make more curry as a whole. I think the main thing was the ratio to curry to rice was off so I personally found that the Pulao was kind of bland. However, if you eat it with raita (flavoured yoghurt) then it is 100% better. This is a quick and easy way to revamp day or 2 old rice 🙂

I hope you enjoyed this blog post!!!! If you try this recipe let me know and post them on Instagram or Facebook. Don’t forget to tag me!!!

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As always, thank you for being the Samosauce to my Garam Samosa!!!

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