Sunday Lunch with Veg Yakhni Pulao/Pilaf

Veg Yakhni Pulao/Pilaf

Since I was a child Sunday Lunch used to always be special.. Being a Bengali, Maa's favourite used to be Mangsho Bhaat as in Mutton Curry and Steamed Rice... Arpi (sis) and me used to finish off with our homework right in the morning and then kept playing till Maa's Mutton Gravy's aroma made our tummies growl with hunger and our mouths drool..
Many years have past and Maa still continues to make something special on Sunday and makes me miss her even more on these days..

Today being a Sunday, the Husband n Me decided to move our lazy bones and do something special with Rice and Mutton..

N (the husband) chose a Kashmiri dish - Mutton Kabargah (for the recipe click here), his patented dish which I am crazy about.. I decided to make a type of Kashmiri Pulao/Pilaf to go with it which I have never tried before..After browsing through the net I found a very interesting recipe. It was Veg Yakhni Pulao (adopted from http://www.vegrecipesofindia.com/vegetable-yakhni-pulao-veg-yakhn-pulao/)..Since we Bongs like our Pilafs slightly sweet, I added some sugar in the recipe. This one's extremely light on the palate yet very flavourful!! Hope you all like it!

Getting Started

Note: Yakhni means Stock in Kashmiri. Here the Rice is cooked in the vegetable stock, You can try this with Mutton or Chicken also.
Bouquet Garni refers to a bundle of herbs/spices tied together in a muslin cloth and placed in the pan of water with the vegetables/meat to enhance the flavour of the stock.

VEG YAKHNI PULAO / PILAF

Makes: 6-7 servings

Bouquet Garni

Ingredients

For the Bouquet Garni:
3-4 strands of mace
1 tbsp coriander seeds/dhania
½ tbsp caraway seeds/shah jeera
3 cloves/laung
2 inch cinnamon/dalchini
¼ tsp nutmeg/jaiphal
½ tbsp chopped ginger garlic

For the Veg Yakhni:
2-3 cups chopped veggies like cauliflower, carrots, beans, peas
5 cups water
salt

For the Pulao/Pilaf:

Vegetables chopped up

3 or 4 tbsp ghee
2 cups basmati rice, soaked for 30 minutes
1 tsp caraway seeds/shah jeera
1 tsp ginger garlic paste (optional)
1 large sized onion, sliced
1 inch cinnamon
3-4 green cardamom
3 cloves
1 cup curd/yogurt
Salt
Sugar - 4 to 5 teaspoons

For the Garnish:
1 small onion, thinly sliced and fried - also known as birista
½ cup fried cashew nuts (optional)

Procedure:

To make the Bouquet Garni:
1. Take all the ingredients mentioned above for the yakhni in a muslin cloth. Tie the muslin cloth securely with the spices inside it. this is the bouquet garni.

Preparing the Yakhni:
1. Heat 5 cups of water. add the chopped veggies and salt. and the Bouquet Garni
2. Cook the veggies till they are half done. (15 mins)
3. Squeeze the bouquet garni and discard away the spices.
4. Through a strainer strain the stock/yakhni and keep the veggies aside.

Preparing the Pulao:

Placing the final Rice-Vegetable Mixture
in the Rice Cooker with the Yakhni/Stock

1. Heat Ghee in a Pan/Wok
2. Add the caraway seeds and fry till they sizzle.
3. Add the sliced onions and fry them till they are browned.
4. Add the other whole spices - cloves, cinnamon, cardamom along with the ginger garlic paste.
5. Fry for a minute or till the raw smell of the ginger garlic disappears.
6. Now add the half cooked veggies and curd.
7. Mix everything add Salt and Sugar (We have already added salt to the yakhni. keep this in mind before adding the salt)
8. Add the drained basmati rice and mix the rice with the spices and curd.
9. Now pour 3.25 cups of the broth/yakhni. ( I did the last part in the Rice Cooker) and set to boil
10. Put the Mixed Rice in the boiling yakhni.
11. Mix well and cover.
12. Cook for 15-20 minutes or till it switched over to 'Keep Warm' mode
13. Garnish with fried onions and fried cashew nuts.
14. Serve Veg Yakhni Pulao Hot with Onion- Tomato Raita.

And so the Bongs enjoyed a scrumptious Sunday Lunch while remembering the good old days.. You can try the Pilaf with Mutton or Chicken.. I ll keep it for next time!! Thanks for reading! Ciao! :) :)

The Veg Yakhni Pulao with some Onion-Tomato Raita (and ofcourse N is frying the Kabargahs while I click this)