Multi-color Capsicum/Bell pepper Pulao

Pulao or Pilaf or Pilau refers to rice (usually Basmati) cooked with spices and vegetables. You can sure to find varieties of Pulao rice being served in Indian restaurants throughout the world.

The other day, I was so fascinated to see these FRESH and colorful bell peppers at Fairprice (a super market chain at Singapore). They had such blemish-less skin and I was too tempted to take them home. On the way back, it got me thinking as to what am I gonna do with them!

I like to use capsicum in Hakka noodles, and that was one of the handful things that I knew to cook, back then, when I was schooling! After moving to Singapore, we have had a variety of noodles, like Kway teow, Ho fun and I didn't want to make noodles at home as well. Then, I decided to make a colorful pulao with these multi-color capsicums and some green peas. This is pretty quick to prepare, especially, if you've chopped the bell peppers and frozen them, like I did.

So colorful! :)

You Need -

Capsicum/ Bell pepper - 1 each in every color possible
Green peas (frozen is fine too) - 1 cup
Onion (sliced) - 1 (big)
Green chillies - 4
Ginger-Garlic paste - 3/4 tsp
Cumin Seeds (Jeera) - 1 tsp
Fresh coriander leaves/ Cilantro - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 1 tbsp
Cashewnuts - 10 to 12
Salt - to taste
Pepper - 1/2 tsp

Whole Spices or their powder - Bay leaves , cinnamon, cardamom, cloves

And well, Basmati rice, of course!

Green peas , chopped capsicum frozen

 How To -

• Wash and soak the basmati rice in water, until you get the rest of the stuff ready.
• In a kadai, heat ghee, allow cumin seeds to splutter and add the spices. I'd remove the bay leaves after a while, as I don't want it to choke my throat when I'm relishing the meal! Powdering all the spices together and adding that is another option.
• Add slit green chillies followed by sliced onions and fry till onions turn pinkish.
• Add ginger-garlic paste.
• Now comes the hero (or heroine) of this recipe - the bell peppers. I like to chop them very finely. You may choose to slice them longer, as we do for noodles.
• Add the frozen green peas now, then add Salt. Mix them well for about 3-5 minutes.
• Drain off the water from rice and add the rice to the kadai/pan. This is to ensure the rice gets coated with the flavor of ghee. Mix well for 5 minutes.
• You can now add water and cook it in the pan itself (closed), or transfer everything to a rice cooker or pressure-cooker or microwave-cooker to cook the rice.  I use one and a half cups of water for every cup of rice. You may reduce the quantity of water if you've soaked the rice too long.
• After it's done, garnish with ghee-roasted cashews and fresh cilantro! :)

Serve with any raitha (mixture of onions, tomatoes and cucumber (or other stuff) in yoghurt, salted and spiced with hing and chat masala). If you have enough time or have invited some guests over to your place, make paneer-butter masala to go with this. These two would make an amazingly yummy main course!