Kicking off with K..!!

K is for Kumbh Pulao

I never considered Kumbh or Mushroom a 'real' vegetable back in India. I used to love them on the tomato mushroom pizzas at Nirulas. (One of those occasional royal treats out, long before we got Pizza Hut, or any other real Pizza chains.), but that was about it. Clearly Mushrooms were never a part of my aai's or aaji's home cooking. Even living in Delhi, they always stuck to the usual gilki ( ridge gourd), bhopla( pumkin), vange(Eggplants) type of vegetables ( I hated all of these as a kid) apart from the usual aloo gobhi bhindi etc.

I started experimenting with Mushrooms only after coming to the US, after a friend here gave me a recipe for kumbh matar malai. It came out pretty decent actually. Well Mushrooms are still not a part of my weekly grocery list, but I use them more often now .

I got this very easy and quick recipe for Mushroom Pulav at Recipe Junction.I changed it a bit to make use of all the vegetables I had - my entry for K of Indian vegetables on Nupur's blog.



Ingredeients ( For 2 to 4):

Basmati Rice ( 1 cup)
1 Pack of Mushrooms
1 Onion(thin slices)
Grated ginger ( about 1 Tbsp)
Fresh Garlic chopped ( 2 cloves)
1 capsicum sliced into thin strips
1 carrot( small round thin slices)
2 green chillies

fresh tomato puree ( medium sized tomato)

1Tbsp Soy sauce
Pepper powder
Jeera seeds
Red chilly powder
Salt to taste
Olive/vegetable oil

Soak Basmati rice in water for half an hour. Cook the rice and keep it aside.
Heat 1 tsp of oil and add the cumin seeds. After the seeds start spluttering, add the green chilies, ginger and garlic. Fry for some time and add the onions. Add the rest of the vegetables and soy sauce after the onions turn golden brown. Once the vegetables are semi cooked, add the tomato paste, mushrooms, pepper powder and salt. Cover the pan and let everything cook for a while. On a slow flame add the cooked rice and mix well. Kumbh Pulav is ready to serve.

We had it with Boondi Raitha and Lemonade, quite a hearty meal after a busy day at work :)