Mint Rice

On our recent trip to NJ, our friend Latha gave us some home-grown cucumbers and a huge bag packed with Mint leaves. They have a nice garden with brinjals, bell peppers, chillies, cantaloupes, strawberries, tomatoes and so on but the mint plants however where growing like a weed so she asked me to help myself and take as much as possible and take, I did. Thank you Latha. I was already dreaming of Mint Rice and a cooling cucumber raitha to go with it.

This recipe is something my mom and I tried from the Mallika Badrinath cookbook, when in search of a quick lunch idea for Arun and ever since this has been made often. As usual some changes were made and I incorporated more vegetables than the recipe called for to make it more wholesome.

MINT RICE / PULAV
Ingredients:

Basmathi Rice - 1 cup
Peas - 1/4 cup
Carrots - 1/4 cup, julienned
Beans - 1/4 cup, trimmed and julienned
Cauliflower - 1/2 cup, small florets
Onions - 1, sliced into 1 inch pieces
Oil - 2 tsp
Ghee - 1 tsp
Cloves - 1
Bay Leaf - 1 small
Cinnamon - 1 inch piece
Cumin Seeds - 1/2 tsp
Garam Masala - 1/2 tsp
Salt - to taste

To Grind:

Mint Leaves - 2 to 3 cups, de-stalked and washed
Ginger - 1/2 inch piece
Green chillies - 7 to 8
Turmeric Powder - 1/4 tsp
Grated coconut - 3 to 4 tbsp

Method:

1) Pressure cook Basmati rice with 1.75 cups of water and about 1/2 tsp of salt. Allow to cool and separate the grains.

2) In about 1/2 tsp of oil, fry ginger, green chillies, turmeric powder and mint leaves. Allow to cool lightly and grind with coconut.

3) Par-boil the carrots, peas, beans and cauliflower with some salt and 2-3 tbsp of water in the microwave for 5 mins.

4) Heat the rest of the oil + 1 tsp ghee and fry the cinnamon, clove, cumin and bay leaf. Add the sliced onions and let brown. Next add the parboiled vegetables and saute till they get cooked

5) Now add the ground mint paste and garam masla, fry for about 3 to 5 minutes before adding the cooled rice and salt as required. After about 5-10 minutes, switch off the stove, cover with a lid and let the rice rest for about 10 to 15 minutes so the flavors can absorb. Serve with raitha and chips.

Comments

  1. Hi Laavanya! mint rice looks lovely and colorful. Healthy too. Really love to try it, but here its pretty costly. Thanks for sharing dear.

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  2. I never attain this minty perfection in my pulao. Looks divine!

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  3. Can I have some mint rice? It looks so yum and colorful - just like restaurant style..:D

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  4. laavanya...boy do i want to be ur neighbour and friend..you cook great..looks awesome..i am soo hungry :(

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  5. Please please invite me for lunch and make this super delicious rice. I'll b waiting for the invute. It looks so delicious.

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  6. yumm... that mint rice looks very delicious lavanya... it is nice to have a friend who gives away home grown veggies, huh? :)

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  7. That looks very delicious and colorful.. laavanya

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  8. Delicious looking pilav.
    I could eat a whole heap og it. Any leftovers for me ;-)

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  9. How beautiful! Looks mouthwatering Laavanya.Fresh cucumber only enhances the flavor!:))

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  10. that looks so delicious :) mint imparts such a lovely flavor and it does grow so very well.

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  11. slurp slurp - can you parcel some? all of your food looks sooooooooo mouthwatering.

    lakshmi
    The Yum Blog

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  12. delicious,colourful and flavorful! sums it all up!

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  13. Thank you Jyothi. It's pretty easy to grow them. Just take the stalks of the store-grown mint (as soon as you get them home) and plant. I did this last year.

    Thank you Suganya, I guess it was the home-grown mint that did the trick.

    Sure you can Siri. Thanks :)

    You are welcome to be my neighbour Rajitha... Wish I could send some your way.

    Pooja, consider this your formal invitation. Drop by and I will make this.

    Thank you Sig... oh yes.. extremely generous of her.

    Thank you Kamini and Cinnamon.

    Happy Cook.. unfortunately no leftovers but I'd be glad to make it fresh for you.

    True Asha... cucumber with some salt and pepper was so fresh and juicy.

    Richa, the house had such a heavently minty aroma.

    Thank you Lakshmi... definitely I will parcel some for you... :)

    Thank you Bindiya for your sweet words.

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  14. Mint rice really looks too tempting for words! Beautifully separated rice grains, and I can imagine the delicate flavor.

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  15. I can smell them:)
    looks awesome. I made this sometime back but will try your way too.

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  16. Mint rice is looking great. it should have tasted divine....:)

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  17. The dish looks great but I was wondering if 2-3 cups of mint leaves is not too much for 1 cup of rice? Doesn't mint have a very overpowering flavor?
    I made a pasta dish once and chopped up a few (3-4) leaves & mixed it & it completely ruined the taste of my dish! But then that was not fried so maybe that's the reason why it was so strong.

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  18. Laavanya, perfectly flavoured rice with veggies. Nice one. Viji

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  19. laavanya..i made your rava dasa today..i always felt mine were pretty good, but lacked something...urs hit the spot! it was perfect..i have passed on the recipe to my sis too..

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  20. Thank you so much Nupur. It did taste very good.

    Sharmi, do post your version.

    Thank you Ramya.. we did enjoy it :)

    TBC, 2 cups of mint leaves loosely packed is not much esp. after frying it.. they wilt down considerably and you are right about the frying - it does tone down the strong flavour.

    Thank you Cynthia and Viji.

    Rajitha, Am so happy to hear that the rava dosa came out well for you. Thanks for letting me know! :)

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  21. Hi Laavanya

    NIce recipe... thnx for sharing

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  22. Nice looking mint rice, have to try this as I love the flavor of the mint. Juz now added to my feed, so I can keep track of ur posts. Btw I think there is some problem with your blog template formatting, all your right hand side bar has shifted down

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  23. Lavanya,
    thanks for visiting my blog..I wonder why I couldn't find this before..lovely recipes and pictures..will come back..

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  24. This is a must try. I just make thogayal with mint. This is a lovely way, adding veg and esp cucumber.

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  25. Hi Laavanya... i tried this recipe and it came out really well... thnx for sharing this wonderful recipe..

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  26. Sumi, thrilled to see the feedback. Thank you so much for trying and posting the results :)

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  27. Hi Lavanya! I tried this reciepe and it came out very well... thanks!

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