Corn Pulao

Ingredients:
1 cup long grain (basmati) rice,
1 cup sweet corn,
1 onion; cut into half and thinly sliced,
2 red chillies,
1 tsp ginger-garlic paste,
A handful of coriander leaves,
1 small green chilli, deseeded,
12-15 cashew nuts,
2-3 drops of yellow color or saffron dissolved in little milk,
Salt to taste,
Oil for tempering,

Whole Garam Masala-
6 peppercorns (kali mirch),
3 cloves (laung),
2 1″ sticks of cinnamon (dalchini),
1 bay leaf.

Method:
Wash rice and soak it in 3-4 cups of water for 15 minutes. Then add salt, 3 peppercorns, 2 cloves, 1 stick of cinnamon and bay leaf and keep it on flame till the grains are cooked but firm. Do not over cook the rice else it will turn soggy and break while mixing. Before draining the rice, add yellow food color to it, mix with the spoon and drain. Set it aside. Boil the sweet corn with little salt for around 10 minutes. Do not add too much water while cooking the corn.
In a blender, blend together coriander leaves (reserve some to garnish), green chilli, ginger-garlic paste, 8 cashew nuts to form a paste.
Heat oil in a pan, add red chillies, cashew nuts and the sliced onion and saute for 3 minutes. Then add the ground paste and let it fry for few minutes. Now add corn to this masala, little salt (since we have already added salt to rice and corn) and cover and cook for a minute. Then add in the cooked rice, and slowly fold into the corn mixture. Cover with a lid and let it be on flame for 1-2 minutes. Garnish with chopped coriander leaves and serve with any raita of your choice.

TIP:
This recipe can be eaten as a low calorie diet, omit cashew nuts.

Minal

Minal is a designer, mother, cook, dancer, enthusiast and a creative soul. She is the founder of foodatarian.com.