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Thursday, September 1, 2016

Rice Dishes ~ A for Achari Chole Pulao

 
It's time for another mega marathon. Readers who follow my blog may have noticed that I do participate in an event called blogging marathon based on preset themes and this month, there are going to be 26 recipes posted here as part of that event. Participants had a choice of picking any one ingredient or one category for each week of  the month or the entire month. I chose to base my recipes on one ingredient for the entire month. I picked 'rice' as my ingredient and my focus mainly remained on Indian based one pot meals that can be put together quickly and easily. And of course there is some sweet stuff thrown in the mix.

The first one in the series is going to be achari chole pulao. Achar in the title refers to the Indian style spicy pickle that is being used in the cooking and chole are the garbanzo beans. In India, serving a spicy pickle along with rice based dishes like a khichdi (a savory porridge) is norm but this pulao is unusual in the sense where a pickle is part of the cooking. It lends an interesting base to the dish whereas garbanzo beans add nutrition to the dish. If you have the garbanzo beans ready, this pulao makes a quick one pot meal. If using canned beans, rinse thoroughly before using. Serve it along with yogurt to make it a quick meal.
Ingredients:
1 cup Basmati rice
3/4 cup soaked and partially cooked garbanzo beans / chana
2 tsp. ghee/oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
Whole spices - I used 10 black peppercorns, 2 cardamom pods, 2 cloves, 2 bay leaves, 1 star anise
1 tsp. ginger paste / minced ginger
1 onion, sliced lengthwise / minced
1 tomato, chopped
2 tbsp. mango achaar / pickle
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. garam masala (optional)
1/8 tsp. turmeric powder
Minced cilantro to garnish
1.5 cups water
 
Method:
* Soak rice in water for about 10-15 minutes and drain.
* Heat oil / ghee in a pan or a small sized pressure cooker directly. Add cumin seeds and the whole spices and saute until cumin seeds start to turn a shade darker. 
* Next add ginger and onion to the pan and saute until done. Next add tomatoes and cook until mushy.
* Add salt, chili powder, turmeric powder and garam masala if using. Saute for few seconds and next add mango pickle to the pan and stir.
* Finally add rice and garbanzo beans, saute for few seconds and add the required amount of water. 
* Transfer the contents to a pressure cooker, cover the lid and cook for 3 to 4 whistles.
* If not using a pressure cooker, cook on low flame covered, until the rice grains appear done. (A little extra water may be needed if not using cooker.)
* Let cool a little before serving and fluff t with a fork if needed to separate the grains.
* Serve it along with yogurt to balance the flavors.

Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 68.



Comments

23 comments:

Sandhya Ramakrishnan said...

Love the idea of rice dishes! Are you doing them alphabetically as well? Love the spicy one pot pulao. Would work great for lunch boxes as well.

Smruti Ashar said...

Wow that is an interesting theme you have for the month. I loved your first dish. Waiting to see the remaining rice dishes!

Harini R said...

Avakaya annam is old, adding chana to it and making it as a pulao is totally new and innovative!!

Srividhya said...

This is an amazing theme. Love the one pot meal ideas.. perfect for any meal.. Between this is a great recipe. Do we need to use any specific mango achar or whatever in hand would work?

Nalini's Kitchen said...

Interesting theme,I love rice dishes esp.the one pot meal.Achari pulao sounds interesting.Perfect for lunch box.

Suma Gandlur said...

Vidhya, you can use any brand achaar. In fact, you can use any other achaar than mango.

Kalyani said...

Great theme ! Love the challenge of alphabetically arranging the rice dishes too - this one pot meal looks great suma :)

Gayathri Kumar said...

That is a wonderful theme Suma. Are you doing it in alphabetical order too? This pulao looks very delicious..

The Pumpkin Farm said...

i love this flavors of achaar and chhole...your rice looks very inviting , rice dishes will be a great collection

Srivalli said...

What a fantastic theme Suma, I love one pot meal and I know I am going to bookmark many!..this archari pulao sounds delicious..

cookingwithsapana said...

Love your rice based theme and I can never get bored with one pot meals.The pulao looks delicious.

Usha said...

Wow, 26 days of one pot rice dishes is awesome!! Are you doing A-Z rice dishes as well? Love the color of the rice and chickpeas makes this one pot meal nutritious as well.

vaishali sabnani said...

Excellent theme and a tongue tickling pulao . Totally fell in love with it due to the achaar version . Will try this soon .

Priya Suresh said...

Wow, so its going to be fantastic rice dishes then, this lipsmacking achari pulao makes me hungry already. Lipsmacking here.

www.annapurnaz.in said...

awesome theme!! so we are going to get plenty of rice dishes...I don't get tired of rice, so will love your recipes. Achari rice is a nice idea. I too use masala of mango pickle to cook a no of dishes...will try with rice :)

Archana said...

Mmmm love your theme. The very fact that you are using pickle in cooking this rice has me drooling.

Priya Srinivasan - I Camp in My Kitchen said...

Wonderful theme suma. I just finished dinner and this pulao is making me hungry. reading the word achar, makes me drool literally.
Looking forward to your awesome rice recipes. 

Suja Ram said...

Thats a great theme Suma. Iam sure I would bookmark many one-pot meal from your site this month. Achari Pulao looks yummy.

Kalyani said...

Dunno if the earlier comments for alphabets A-C didn't come thru ...

Am a sucker for rice and even so flavoured rice dishes .. M gonna be very keenly following ur series Suma ! Great theme pick , I made this achaari pulao too and liked it a lot. Great addition of chickpeas

veena said...

That is an interesting theme Suma. Looking forward to see all the dishes and am sure many will be bookmarked

Unknown said...

very interesting theme. Will definitely bookmark all your recipes.. Achari pulao is soo inviting... I am hungry now...

Padmajha said...

Fantastic theme Suam. Am sure to bookmark this whole series. I am huge fan of rice based dishes and this bowl of pulao looks so tempting!

Pavani said...

You picked an amazing theme Suma.
I'm drooling thinking how delicious this achari pulao must have tasted. Will have to try it for myself soon.