This Navaratna Pulao or Navratan Pulav is one of the famous and ancient Indian recipes. It is made in different ways and materials in different places all over India. But all kinds of pulao are very tasty.
It is actually a type of rice recipe that contains a variety of vegetables and dry fruits. That is why this pulao is known as “vegetable rice” in some parts of India and in many places abroad.
The word “Navaratna” or “Navratan” originates from the time of King Vikramaditya of that ancient age. Then we know all the stories of the Mughal emperor Akbar who came, the nine jewel persons in his court who were called “Navaratna” or “Navratan” together.
From that time on, if a dish prepared for kings had nine ingredients, the word “Navaratna” or “Navratan” was added to the beginning of the name of the dish. Such as Navratan Dal, Navratan Korma, etc. In the same way, we have today’s recipe “Navratan Pulao”.
Q. What ingredients are needed in this Navratan Pulao?
A. Actually, we add 9 different ingredients in this pulao hence it’s called Navratan Pulao. Ingredients are:
- Potato
- Carrot
- French Beans
- Green Peas
- Cauliflower
- Cottage Cheese
- Raisin
- Cashew
- Almond
A brief description of Pulao-
Although pulao is an Iranian dish, different variations can be noticed in different places. In fact, pulao is a dish loaded with vegetables and vitamins, which can be prepared in one-pot and has a nice aroma of onion, ginger, garlic, and some spices. But today’s recipe is a little different. For more information click here.
Navratan Pulao Recipe | Veg Pulao | Vegetable Rice
Ingredients
- 250 grams Basmati Rice (80% cooked)
- 1 cup Potato diced (small)
- ½ cup Beans green beans (chopped)
- 1 cup Carrot diced (small)
- 20 grams Almonds soaked (2-3 hours)
- 1 cup Green Peas
- 10 grams Cashew Nuts
- 15 grams Raisin soaked overnight
- 1 cup Cauliflower small florets
- 100 grams Fresh Cottage Cheese diced (small)
- Refined oil for frying
Instructions
Fry the Vegetables
- Heat a frying pan with enough oil.
- Then add diced potato. Fry them in medium heat.
- You can also add a little salt to speed up the frying process.
- Add chopped beans and continue frying.
- At this time add diced carrots. Actually, these are the ingredients that can take a little longer to fry well. So we have to cook them first.
- Saute them for a couple of minutes until you realize that the vegetables are cooked at least 85-90%.
- After it's done, just strain the oil from these veggies and heat the same pan again for next.
- Add diced paneer (cottage cheese) and fry it for a little while.
- Then strain the oil and heat the same pan again for next.
- Add cauliflower florets and start frying.
- Also, add a pinch of salt to fry them quickly.
- Add soaked almonds and cashew along with soaked raisin.
- Continue frying. At last, add green peas and fry only for 3 minutes. (if the green peas are blanched)
Cook with Rice and final step
Video
Tips for the best and most delicious Navratan Pulao:
- In this Navratan Pulao, the veggies that are mostly used are cauliflower, potatoes, carrots, green peas, beans, etc. But you can go with capsicum, red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli, or any kinds of veggies.
- For this Navratan Pulao, you need to precook your rice before you add it to the Pulao. But keep remember, you have to cook the rice about 80 percent. If you completely cook the rice before, then the whole thing will be mashed at the time of mixing rice with other spices. So, it’s better to cook the rest of the 20 percent after mixing the spices with rice.
- Some people don’t like to add whole almonds, so you can also slice them before use. This also goes perfectly well.
- There is another option to make this Navratan Pulao completely Nut-free. Just omit the almonds and cashew, only use raisin. But we need to add 9 ingredients in this pulao, so add bell pepper and chopped tomato instead. This will be a completely Nut-Free Navratan Pulao.
Navratan Pulao Recipe with Step by Step Image
First, you have to procure all the ingredients according to the quantity. In this case, I have said before and I am still saying, if you have 1-2 fewer ingredients to make Navaratna Pulao, you can also make it.
All vegetables should be cut first. Potatoes, carrots, beans, cauliflower, all these should be cut into small dice. Cottage Cheese (Paneer) should be cut in the same way.
Cashews, raisins, and almonds should be soaked in water for at least 2-3 hours.
Green Peas should be boiled in water for 3 minutes and immediately soaked in cold water. This method is called blanching.
Basmati rice or any long-grain rice is used to make this pulao. However, cooking that rice is a little different than other rice. First, soak the rice for at least 30 minutes. Then boil the rice in boiling water in a saucepan for only 3 minutes and take it down immediately. Because to make this pulao we need 80% cooked rice.
Now heat 2 tbsp refined oil in a frying pan. First, we will fry the vegetables. First, we have to fry it with diced potatoes. This fry is a little time consuming so you can add 1/2 teaspoon of salt if you want.
Then add the beans and continue to fry. Add carrots and fry at the same time. Add a little salt to speed up this whole frying process. Then collect the fried oil in a bowl. You can sift the oil through a sieve because with that same oil we can do the next frying.
Now heat the same oil in the same frying pan and add diced cottage cheese or paneer. One thing to always remember is to fry the paneer separately. Although you can fry the paneer first if you want.
When the paneer is lightly fried, take them down and strain the oil in the same way. If fried too much, the panner will become like rubber.
Now heat the same oil in the same frying pan and add cauliflower florets.
This is my favorite part. Especially I recommend frying the cauliflower a little more until you see little red marks on the florets. You can also add a little salt to speed up the process. Trust me this type of cauliflower frying will increase the taste of your rice.
Thereafter add soaked almonds, cashew, and raisin. Fry them a little.
At last, add the blanched green peas and fry for 1 minute and turn off your gas.
All the frying process is complete. Now we will proceed to the final step.
Heat a wok with 2-3 tbsp of refined oil. Now, this is your choice, you can use clarified butter if you want more richness.
After the oil is heat enough, add 2 green cardamoms, 1/2 inch cinnamon, 2 cloves along with 1/2 tbsp of cumin seeds for temper.
Fry them a little until you get a nice aroma. Now I what tell you a secret. Many people add ginger garlic paste at this time and saute for a minute. But I would like to add this later.
Now add all the fried vegetables, nuts and paneer, and stir for a little. Now you add the ginger-garlic paste.
Mix them well and cook for 2-3 minutes.
After that add that pre-cooked rice and start mixing them. Until the mixup process is completed, keep the flame low.
After this, add 2 tbsp of sugar along with salt as per your taste.
Add 1/3 cup of saffron milk and 1/2 cup of ghee (this is optional).
Mix them well and cook for about 5-6 minutes on medium heat.
Your homemade Navtaran Pulao is ready to serve.
You can serve these recipes with Vegetable Rice:
- Restaurant Style Paneer Butter Masala
- Shahi Aloo Dum Recipe
- Shahi Chole Recipe
- Lauki Kofta Recipe
- Malai Kofta Recipe
- Aloo Matar Recipe
- Chili Chicken Gravy Recipe
- Chilli Soya Recipe
- Vegetable Manchurian Recipe
- Raita
Suggested Starters for you:
- Egg Devil with Tomato Sauce
- Paneer Pakora Recipe
- Paneer Tikka with Green Chutney
- Chili Chicken Dry
- Vegetable Manchurian Dry
If you like this article about Navratan Pulao Recipe, please share this with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Also, you can subscribe to my blog to get all the latest articles first on your mobile.
SHARING IS CARING!
FACEBOOK | TWITTER | PINTEREST
Did you like this recipe and make it later at home? SAVE this pin to your favourite board on Pinterest!
