Pudina/Mint Rice/Pulao - My favorite herb recipe

Pudina/Mint is my all time favorite herb. I can eat curd rice with pudina thuvayal all day. Generally I eat this as a Pudina Thuvayal sadam(rice) but this time I wanted to make it with some additional masala and make it as Pudina/Mint Fried Rice/pulao .



The smell of these herbs are really refreshing. You can also use Mint in making Briyani to give it a rich taste. Now for the recipe of Pudina/Mint Rice/Pulao.This recipe serves for 6 people and I am sending this to World Food Day event.

Ingredients:

4 cups Basmati rice (Can use boiled rice too)
1 cup mint leaves
5 green chillies OR Red Chilli whole
6 cloves of garlic
an inch of ginger
1 tsp cumin seeds
2 Bay leaves
2 whole cardamom
a piece of cinnamon stick
salt to taste
1 tbspn Ghee (Clarified Butter)
Tamarind - 1/2 the Lemon size
2 tsp Channa Dal
2 tsp Urad Dal



Method:

In a pan, add ghee and add ural and channa dal.

When they turn light brown in color, add the chillies and tamarind and saute.

Now add the mint leaves and saute for few min.

Allow the mixture to cool and grind it with salt into a fine paste.

Meanwhile, cook the rice in a rice cooker or pressure cooker. Allow the rice to cool after it is cooked.

In a big pan, add ghee and now add the bay leaf,cardamom,cinnamon and cumin seeds.

Now add cashews and fry till they become light brown. Switch off the stove.

Now add the rice and mix well.

Add the Pudina/Mint mixture and mix well. Add 2 tsp of ghee while mixing.

Check for salt.

This is my traditional way of cooking Mint/Pudina rice/Pulao. There are other ways of doing this too.

This rice is best eaten with chips,Papad or Potato. We had Potato fry,Papad and Mint rice for our dinner last weekend.