mixed vegetable tahiri recipe | making rice meals low glycemic
If you plan a rice meal for lunch and that too a one dish meal, it becomes challenging as you don't want a high carb meal lulling you to sleep immediately after the meal. One pot rice meals are a great comfort food in my household on the other hand . Many khichdis and tahiris have been devised to include more and more vegetables and proteins . Rice meals need not be carbohydrate heavy, and can be optimized for a medium GI meal (if not low GI), more so if you use brown rice.
The first thing to do is chop as many vegetable as you like and as hungry you feel. I use a lot of cauliflowers, peas, carrots, beans, potatoes cauliflower and broccoli stems and soy nuggets or paneer cubes.
Also the specialty of this vegetable pulao is that the cooked vegetables are almost three times of the cooked rice in volume. It is a light meal and a nice refreshing raita makes it even more healthy. I make bathua raita or a simple cucumber onion raita or even zucchini raita with it, making the meal very low on fats too.
ingredients...
cauliflower florets chopped in small pieces 2 cups
cauliflower and broccoli stems chopped in small pieces 2 cups
fresh green peas 2 cups
boiled and squeezed soy nuggets 1.5 cup or cubed paneer100-120 gm
french beans chopped very finely 1 cup
cubed carrots 1 cup
cubed potatoes 1 cup
chopped fenugreek leaves or coriander leaves 1 cup
cooked rice 1.5 cups (cooked freshly or leftover)
ghee 1.5 tbsp
finely chopped ginger 2 tbsp
chopped green chilies as per taste
cumin seeds 4 tsp
crushed black peppers 4 tsp
4 pc. of cloves
2 pc. of green cardamom
1 tsp turmeric powder
salt to taste
preparation...
This pulao is easy to assemble. Cook the rice as you normally do. Meanwhile on the other burner, heat the ghee in the kadai and start assembling the vegetables for the pulao.
Throw in the cumin seeds first, the whole spices just a few seconds later and then the chopped ginger and the crushed black pepper. Add the potatoes almost immediately after this, as the whole spices are prone to getting charred.
The potatoes are cooked along with a bit of salt so that they get seared as well as take some salt into them, no need to cook them for long if you cut very small pieces of potatoes. Arvind likes big pieces of potatoes in any pulao or tahiri, even I have started liking them this way. The potatoes need to be 3/4 done before adding the other vegetables. Add the turmeric powder, mix well .
The beans and the stems of cauliflowers and broccoli go into the cooking mix, after the potatoes are 3/4 done, along with the green peas and the soy nuggets if using. Peas can be added earlier if they are not tender. Toss the vegetables to sear and let them get glossy, low flame is a must have as there is less ghee being used.
So if you are using cauliflowers for a pulao or tahiri, go by this method.
As the vegetables turn glossy and half done (the potatoes almost done), pour the cooked rice above them, add paneer cubes now if using mix lightly, cover and cook for a couple of minutes. Let it be covered for a while before serving. This time can be used for making a raita to go with the pulao/tahiri.
Bathua raita is really delicious and adds nutrition value in terms of minerals and vitamins apart from fiber. You can serve this tahiri with any raita you like and anything that is in season.
Using chopped fenugreek leaves, dill leaves or coriander leaves ensures there is enough flavour even if onion and garlic etc have not been used. You can add a few whole green chilies to get the mild flavour but avoiding heat at the same time.
You can always use some lime juice to balance the taste of the cooked tahiri.
Making tahiri is not much of a skill but a sense of combining flavours works wonders if you are putting together a bunch of seasonal vegetables. Most home cooks rely on a tahiri when they want a relaxed meal that doesn't make then toil in the kitchen too much.
Tahiri fits the bill even though it is full of vegetables and required proteins is so desired.
Love the idea of this Pulao..
ReplyDeleteSangeeta, this looks amazing! Sarah and I have been experimenting more and more recently with Indian food, we just love all the flavors and variation. We just bought a tagine (Moroccan clay pot)... it seems like many Indian dishes would work well prepared in this vessel, but I'm having a hard time finding resources. I guess I'll just have to keep experimenting!
ReplyDeleteWhoa,just what I would like to do with my pulao,rice dishes too!You could try making this with red rice too,but I guess red rice khichdi will work better,since it is quite difficult to cook the red rice just right for a biryani or pulao.
ReplyDeleteI was also planning to try red rice bisi bele bhath.I'll let you know when i really do that.
Yeah, this kind of something which i always make, though shrivaas(son) is little fussy about too many vegetables, sundar loves vegetables in any form. he will even offer to lots of vegetables and gets a major share of them,
ReplyDeleteLove this pulao. will try sometime..
ReplyDeleteLove the healthy pulav!
ReplyDeleteLooks delicious, I make tahiri like this with onions/tomatoes sans beans, as I dont like beans that much :) But will try finely chopped beans next time. We love the soy nuggets in my tahiri as it adds to the flavour as well as for the protein content :). Next time I'll try this pulao for sure... :)
ReplyDeleteWonderfully prepared. Looks so yummy.
ReplyDeleteI just loved the idea of a zucchini onion raita.
ReplyDeletevery nice dish..simple and healthy..thanks for sharing..first time here happy to follow u
ReplyDeleteHi Sangeeta, my name is Milli. i have a 6 yr old son. we live in USA and due to all of the surroundings he doesn't like indian food. (can't blame him with pizza, pasta all round). you have stated that you have a daughter around this age - mithi. IS IT POSSIBLE THAT YOU POST SOME CHILD FRIENDLY DESI RECIPES OR ideas on how to encourage indian food into a child. I don't want to give him a hard time about indian food... after all he is a kid and do not want to force it down.
ReplyDeletefyi - i have used many recipes from your site and enjoy that you make them healthier and are creative with your ingredients. THANKS MUCH!
I think you should let the kid eat all the food you all eat as adults. There should be no boundaries of kiddie food and adult food. Give him whatever she likes and stop eating junk food yourself so there is no junk at home and environment of the junk being liked or praised or even craved for. This is what works in the long term.
DeleteApologies for a late response, I was traveling.
Thanks for connecting through my blog and letting me know you have been trying and liking my recipes.