Peppered Vegetable Rice

This is a rather mild, yet flavorful rice and goes really well with manchurian kind of sides or even a vegetable stir-fry. I had this first at my friend Kaye's place and asked her mom for the recipe. It's super simple and absolutely delicious and also makes for a perfect party meal since it's a crowd pleaser, even with kids, and tastes a bit like fried rice.

PEPPERED VEGETABLE RICE


Ingredients:
Basmati/Long Grain Rice - 1 cup
Carrots - 2 medium, julienned into thin matchsticks
Beans - approx 20, french cut thinly,
Onion - 2 medium, sliced thinly
Ginger-Garlic paste - 1 tbsp
Black Pepper (powdered) - 1 tsp or more
Salt - to taste
Oil - 1 to 2 tbsp

Method:
1) Cook the rice with a little bit of salt, till done. Transfer to a plate and allow to cool so the grains are separate.

2) Parboil the vegetables (beans & carrots). I microwave them with about 1-2 tbsp of water and bit of salt for about 4 to 5 minutes.

3) Heat half of the oil in a pan and add 2 tsp of ginger-garlic paste, followed by the sliced onions. Fry this till they brown... add some salt and pepper and allow to cook until quite caramelized. Remove and keep aside.

4) Heat the remaining oil, add a tsp of ginger garlic paste and add the par-boiled vegetables. Allow this to cook with more salt & pepper until the vegetables are dry and still have a slight crunch (if you desire).

5) To this add in the fried onions and cooled, cooked rice and stir together until well incorporated & uniformly distributed.


I think this would also make a yummy lunchbox meal and would like to send this to Vandana for her Lunchbox Special event.