Quinoa pulao

Are you a diet conscious person and craving for a spicy pulao? Then you have reached the right blog post. This spicy quinoa pulao is a good alternate for calorie conscious biryani lovers.

I have been including quinoa in my daily diets for over 2 years now and have loved it since then. Though quinoa and brown rice are almost same in their calorie count, quinoa has extra protein content and lesser carbs than brown rice. Generally, my kids are not a fan of quinoa but have always given ‘yay’ for this recipe 😉. This is such a delicious option for lunch with lots of vegetables.

Ingredients

1 cup quinoa

3 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon ghee

Spices

3 cloves

1 cinnamon stick

½ teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste

½ teaspoon red chili powder

2 teaspoons garam masala

Chopped vegetables

1 medium sized onion

1 tomato

Beans

Carrots

Potato

Bell pepper

Coriander

corn

3 green chilies slit

• 

  Chopped veggies

• 

  onion,tomato

Instructions

Cooking quinoa

This is the most important step; the quinoa cooked needs to be in the right consistency and should neither get mushy nor remain uncooked.

Instapot: For 1 cup of quinoa pour 1 cup of water and turn on the rice setting under low pressure with the vent sealed. Once cooked do not release the pressure immediately; let it stay and then open the lid after 20 to 25 mins.

Pressure cooker: For 1 cup quinoa pour ¾ cups of water and pressure cook it. Turn off the gas stove after 1 whistle. Remove the lid after the pressure completely releases. It should have been cooked like the below picture.

Cooked quinoa

Preparing the masala

1. Heat a pan with 3 tablespoons oil.

2. Add cloves and cinnamon stick and sauté for few seconds.

3. Add chopped onions and ginger garlic paste; sauté them well until the raw smell vanishes.

4. Add tomatoes and sauté until they are cooked well.

5. Add turmeric and chili powder; pour a little water immediately so the masala does not get burnt and maintains a bright orange color.

6.  Add all the chopped vegetables; pour a cup of water for the veggies to be cooked. Sprinkling some salt aids in faster cooking of the veggies.

7.  Once the veggies are cooked add garam masala and let it cook for couple of mins. Add salt.

vegetable masala

Now, remove a portion of the gravy and place it in a separate bowl. Layer the cooked quinoa on top of the leftover gravy in the pan. On top of the quinoa, layer the remaining masala and let this setting be cooked under low flame for 5 mins. Ensure to cook with lid closed.

Steam cook layered quinoa and masala

After 5 mins, mix them well. Garnish with a gentle spread of ghee and lavish spread of chopped coriander.

Serve it with a cucumber raita.

Quinoa pulao with cucumber raita

Hope you all like it.

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