The front of the packet said 'Red Rice from Sri Lanka', the flip side had a huge label 'Brown Rice'. This I had to try!Not having any experience cooking red rice, I treated it as I could brown rice.
The addition of red radish made it a legit 'R' dish for Nupur's blog event.
Don't let the blah appearance fool you, the pulao was quite tasty. The radishes added a nice crunch. The nuttiness and the texture is like brown rice. The benefits of using such an hulled rice are well know. More about that here.
Radish & Red Rice Pulao
Ingredients
2 cups red rice, washed and soaked in warm water for 30-45 minutes
4-5 red radishes (halved and sliced into crescents)
2 tbsp tomato paste, thinned with a bit of water
3 tsp oil
1 tsp garam masala (or your choice of masala)
salt, to taste
4-5 stalks of cilantro, chopped
4+ cups water, warm
Method
Heat a tsp of oil in a kadai (wok), when hot add the radish.
Cook the radishes slightly. With a slotted spoon transfer the radishes to plate/ dish.
Add the rest of the oil to the kadai.
Drain the rice and add to the oil along with the masala and tomato paste. Saute a bit.
Add the water and mix well.
Cook covered for 6-7 minutes.
Add the radishes and salt. Continue cooking for another 5-6 minutes.
Do a taste and texture test. The rice should be slightly chewy (it will never seem fully cooked the way white rice does).
Add more water or salt, as required.
Garnish with cilantro.
Enjoy!
Serving Suggestions
We enjoyed our pulao with a raita.
But since the pulao tastes good even at room temperature, it would make a nice appetiser if you serve small balls of the pulao in lettuce cups like this:
Variations
Instead of tomato paste, you can use lemon juice. The redness of the pulao will be slightly reduced.
Any vegetable can be substituted for the radish.
Add some beans and you have a one dish meal.
This is my entry for Nupur's A-Z of Indian Vegetables series.
