Annapurna

Paneer Pulao is a healthy and flavorful one-pot rice dish made with veggies, aromatic spices and topped with crispy shallow fried Paneer/Indian Cottage cheese. This fuss free pulao tastes great on its own but can be paired with some raita or curd. It makes for a quick meal option on and lunch box menu as well. The recipe is gluten-free.

Related Event: Exotic Biryani and Pulao @Shhhhh Cooking Secretly Challenge

This healthy and delicious paneer pulao recipe is featured in the Facebook Gourmet group, Shhhhhhh Cooking Secretly challenge. Here, participating members take turn to propose the theme for each month. Swaty who was our hostess for the month of September, proposed Exotic biryani and pulao as the theme. Swaty is a versatile food blogger and her blog is a home to many delicious recipes from Inidan as well as International Cuisine. I look forward to her baking recipes as well. Do check out her Kathal Biryani, a flavorful rich rice dish made from unripe jackfruit and Lucknowi Veg Dum Biryani recipes.

In this group all participating members are divided into pairs and both partners exchange a set of secret ingredients, using which both have to cook a dish depending upon the theme for the particular month. Once the dish is ready only the pic of the dish is shared on the group and the other group members take turn in guessing the secret ingredients just by looking at the pic of the dish. The secret ingredients and the dish name are revealed at the end of the month when the recipe is published by the respective blogger.

My partner for this challenge was Narmadha who blogs @NamsCorner. Her blog is a treasure trove of many authentic South Indian recipes and other dishes from around the globe. I love all her bakes as well. You might want to check out her Semiya Vegetable Biryani which is next on my to-do-list. For this challenge i gave her star anise and curd as her secret ingredients and she made very flavorful Aloo Dum Biryani using the set of ingredients. In return she gave me bay leaf and caraway seeds (shah jeera) and i made this Paneer Pulao with it.

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Serves: 4

Ingredients: measurements used 1 cup =240 ml

1 cup Basmati rice. soaked in water for 30 min
2 tablespoon ghee or oil
1 large onion, sliced
1/4 cup green peas
1 carrot, chopped
1 bay leaf
1 inch cinnamon stick
1 Star Anise
1/4 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon ginger, garlic, green chili paste
1/4 cup finely chopped coriander leaves
2 green cardamom pods
2-3 cloves
3-4 black pepper corn
Salt to taste

Ingredients for Paneer marination

250 grams Paneer/Indian Cottage Cheese
1/2 teaspoon Kashmiri red chili powder
1 tablespoon gram flour
1 teaspoon kasuri methi
1 teaspoon Homemade Tandoori Masala
1/2 teaspoon ginger garlic paste
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder
Salt to taste

Method:

We will begin my marinating the panner. For that take panner cubes in a mixing bowl.
Add all the ingredients under the list of paneer marination.
Gently coat all the spice powders, oil and herbs on paneer cubes and allow it to marinate for at least 15 minutes.
To make the pulao, heat ghee or oil in a wok over medium flame.
Once the oil or ghee is hot enough, lower the flame and add caraway seeds to it. Once the seeds crackle, add bay leaf, cloves, black pepper corns, cinnamon stic followed by cardamom pods.
Let the whole spices sizzle in ghee or oil for few seconds.
Next, tip in sliced onions and saute them for 2 minutes before adding the chopped carrot and green peas.
Stir-fry the veggies in ghee for 1-2 minutes.
Add the washed, soaked and drained rice to the veggies and stir-fry for around a minute. Add 2 1/2 cups of hot water, followed by salt to taste and finely chopped fresh coriander leaves.
Give a quick stir. Once it comes to a rolling boil, lower the flame and cover cook until the rice is completely cooked.
While our rice is getting cooked, we will pan-fry our panner cubes. For that heat a skillet over medium flame. Drizzle some oil or butter on the skillet and place all the marinated paneer cubes on it. Fry the paneer cubes until golden. Do not over cook the paneer , or else it will turn hard and chewy.
Open the lid and check out whether the rice is cooked or not. Fluff the cooked pulao gently taking care not to break the grain.
Remove the pulao on to a serving plate and top it with fried paneer cubes.
Serve the Paneer pulao with curd or raita of your choice. i have served it with Boondi Raita

Would love to hear from you !

I hope you would love trying out this healthy and delicious Paneer Pulao recipe. If you do so, feel free to share your feedback with us in the form of likes and comments in the section below this post.

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See you soon with yet another healthy and delicious creation from my Kitchen. Until then Stay safe and eat right !

Happy Cooking !