Potato Pulav/Easy Potato Pulav

I am a big fan of pulavs. Any pulav or one-pot biryani is always my favourite and is in my wishlist even when I to restaurants. I would strongly recommend to make any kind of pulav with basmati rice as it imparts a nice flavour and aroma to the dish. This potato pulav is my very own recipe!!! Yes, this recipe I dint even plan for. It just occurred to me as I was mulling over as to what to make for dinner. I just had potatoes and some frozen peas. I had not planned anything for dinner. I just went in to the kitchen and started off with whatever was available, and finally came out with this tasty pulav. I had no plans of posting this one. So I did not take stepwise pictures.

Ingredients:

Basmati rice - 1 and 1/2 cups
Potatoes (finely diced into cubes) - 2 nos
Onion (chopped into thin strips) - 1 no
Frozen peas - a fistful (optional)
Green chillies (slit vertically) - 2 nos
Bay leaf - 1
Star anise, cinnamon - 1 each
Jeera - 1 tsp
Turmeric powder - 1/2 tsp
Shahi pulao masala (store-bought) - 2 tsps
Ghee and/or oil - 2 tbsp
Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Coriander leaves - for garnishing
Salt to taste

Method:

• Soak the basmati rice for 15 to 30 minutes. Wash, drain and then keep aside.
• Switch on an electric cooker,  and in the vessel pour some oil and/or ghee and add the cinnamon, start anise and bay leaf. Then add the onions and the green chillies and stir fry for a minute or till the onions become golden brown.
• Then add the shahi pulao masala (I used Catch) and mix well.
• Add the soaked basmati rice and a little ghee on top and mix for about half-a-minute.
• Pour 1 and 1/2 times of water to that of rice; 1 cup of rice is to 1 and 1/2 cups of water.
• Add salt at this stage and close the lid of the cooker and let it get cooked.
• Meanwhile, in a separate pan add oil and splutter some jeera. Add the cubed potatoes and add salt and turmeric powder. Let this get fried/roasted well (Just like potato curry).
• Finally add the chilly powder and mix well.
• When the rice is done, add the peas and the roasted potato to the rice and mix gently so as to not break the rice.
• Garnish with coriander leaves.
• Serve hot with any raitha or just plain curds. It tastes heavenly.