This 40 Minutes Pressure Cooker Vegetable Pulao is you savior recipe when you want your dinner to be quick and easy.
This dish is a comfort one pot meal when you don’t have time to do elaborate cooking or you have to cook food on a short notice or in a quick time.
Here, a stove top pressure cooker is used. But you can also make this recipe in an Instant Pot. I have shared the recipe with both video and step by step photos.
My recipe of pressure cooker pulao is different from my mom’s Veg Pulao Recipe made in a pot or pan.
Do note that this dish can also be made in a pot or pan. When I have time, I cook in a pot and when no time, I use the pressure cooker.
Tips
- Pressure cooking rice can be tricky. Different types of rice will cook at different timings. Since I stick to the same brand of organic basmati rice, I now know how much time the grains take to cook. What I have learnt from experience is that it is better to soak the rice first. The proportion I use for rice to water is 1: 2 or 1:1.5
- While cooking, after adding the rice, stir the grains with the rest of the ingredients well, so that the oil coats each rice grain. I usually pressure cook on a high flame for 2-3 whistles. Then let the pressure drop on its own, since the rice is cooking when the cooker is hot and the pressure is there inside it. Then I gently fluff the rice before serving.
- What I have also seen, is that the more oil the more the food tastes better. I don’t know why. The same is with pulao too. The veg pulav will be oily, but will taste good too. here I have used 3 tbsp ghee to fry onions and cashews. However, 2 tbsp oil or ghee would also be fine to use.
- I add the caramelized onions and cashews to the pulao as a garnish. The crisp onion slices and cashews add a lot of flavor and texture to the pulao. On occasions, I also add some mint and coriander leaves while making the pulao. You can easily skip this frying part and make the pulao in just 2 tbsp oil or ghee.
The best part I like about vegetarian pulav recipes are that they are healthy as we add vegetables or legumes in them. In this recipe, I have added green peas, mushrooms, carrots, french beans, capsicum (bell pepper), potatoes, tomatoes and onions. You can also add your choice of veggies.
This dish can be served with plain yogurt or with any raita. I usually serve this pulao with boondi raita or onion-tomato raita.
How to make 40 minutes Pressure Cooker Vegetable Pulao
Preparation
1. First rinse the rice very well and then soak the grains in water for 20 to 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, you can chop all the veggies. Then heat 3 tbsp ghee or oil in the pressure cooker. Add ¼ cup sliced onions.
3. Sauté on a low flame till the onions are golden and then remove them with a slotted spoon.
4. Keep the crisp & golden fried onions aside.
5. In the same oil, add cashews and brown them.
6. Keep the fried cashews also aside.
Sautéing onions, veggies and rice
7. In the same oil, add the whole spices Рcinnamon, tej patta, black cardamom, green cardamoms, cloves, black pepper, stone flower, cumin seeds and mace. saut̩ for a few seconds till the spices become aromatic.
8. Add now â…“ cup sliced onions.
9. Stir and sauté the onions on a low flame.
10. Sauté till the onions become golden.
11. Then add ginger+garlic+green chili paste. Stir and saute till the raw aroma of the ginger and garlic goes away.
12. Add the chopped veggies and sauté for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
13. Drain water from soaked basmati rice after 20 or 30 minutes.
14. Add the drained basmati rice in the pressure cooker.
15. Sauté gently for 1 to 2 minutes till the oil/ghee has coated the rice grains evenly.
16. Pour water.
17. Add salt.
18. Stir gently.
Pressure Cooking
19. Cover and pressure cook the vegetable pulao for 2 to 3 whistles on a high flame. Pressure cooking for 2 whistles will give you an al dente texture. For a softer texture pressure cook vegetable pulao for 3 whistles.
20. When the pressure settles down on its own, remove the lid and gently fluff the rice.
Serve Pressure Cooker Vegetable Pulao garnished with the fried caramelized onions, cashews and mint or coriander leaves. It also goes well with raita like boondi raita, plain raita or onion-tomato raita and you have a comforting meal ready. A mango pickle or lemon pickle also goes well with it. Even a side thin vegetable curry or kadhi or spiced buttermilk (chaas) goes well.
More pulao recipes
40 Minutes Pressure Cooker Vegetable Pulao
RECIPE VIDEO
Ingredients
main ingredients
- 1.5 cups basmati rice or about 300 grams of basmati rice
- ¼ cup chopped french beans
- ¼ cup chopped tomatoes or 1 medium sized tomato
- â…“ cup peas (matar) - fresh or frozen
- â…“ cup chopped carrots - chopped into cubes
- â…“ cup chopped potatoes - chopped into cubes
- â…“ cup chopped medium cauliflower
- â…“ cup chopped capsicum (bell pepper) - chopped into cubes
- ¼ to ⅓ cup sliced or chopped mushrooms
- 1 medium sized onion thinly sliced or about â…“ cup thinly sliced onions
- 2.5 cups water
- 3 tablespoon oil or ghee (clarified butter) * check notes
crushed or ground into paste in mortar-pestle
- ½ inch ginger - roughly chopped
- 3 to 4 medium garlic cloves
- 1 green chili - roughly chopped
whole garam masala or spices
- 1 inch cinnamon stick
- 2 to 3 green cardamoms
- 1 black cardamom
- 2 to 3 cloves
- 2 single strands of mace (javitri)
- 1 medium sized tej patta (indian bay leaf)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- a small piece of stone flower (pathar phool) - optional
- 3 to 4 whole black pepper
for garnishing
- 1 small onion thinly sliced or about ¼ cup thinly sliced onions
- 12 to 15 cashews
- 1 tablespoon chopped coriander leaves or mint leaves
Instructions
soaking rice
- Rinse the rice till the water runs clears of starch.
- Then soak the basmati rice in water for 20 to 30 minutes.Â
- Later drain and keep the basmati rice aside.
making vegetable pulao in pressure cooker
- Heat 3 tbsp ghee or oil in the pressure cooker. Add sliced onions.
- Saute on a low flame, till the onions are golden and then remove them with a slotted spoon. Keep the caramelized onions aside.
- In the same oil, add cashews and brown them. Keep the fried cashews also aside.
- In the same oil or ghee, add the whole spices - cinnamon, tej patta, black cardamom, green cardamoms, cloves, black pepper, stone flower, cumin seeds and mace. Saute for a few seconds till the spices become aromatic.
- Add sliced onions. Stir and saute the onions on a low flame. Saute till the onions become golden.
- Then add ginger+garlic+green chili paste. Stir and saute till the raw aroma of the ginger and garlic goes away. About 15 to 20 seconds.
- Add all the chopped veggies, including tomatoes and peas.
- Saute for 2 to 3 minutes on a low flame.
- Add the drained basmati rice. Saute gently for 1 to 2 minutes till the oil/ghee has coated the rice grains evenly. Pour water.
- Add salt and stir the pulao gently.
- Check the taste of the stock. If it tastes bland, then add some more salt.
- Cover the pressure cooker tightly with its lid.
- Pressure cook vegetable pulao for 2 to 3 whistles on a medium to high flame. 2 whistles will give you a less softer texture. For more softer texture cook for 3 whistles.
- When the pressure settles down on its own, remove the lid and gently fluff the rice.
- Serve the pulao garnished with fried onions, cashews and mint or coriander leaves.Â
- You can also gently mix the garnishing ingredients with the pulao.
- This pressure cooked vegetable pulao goes well with boondi raita, plain raita or onion-tomato raita.
- Also accompany some onion slices with lemon or a vegetable salad or pickle and papad.
Veg. Pulao recepe has lot of calories and saturated fat. I like you gave nutrition facts for Recepe. Is it possible to have different section for recipes with low in calories as well as in saturated fat ?
Rohit, thanks for sharing your suggestion. But since it will take lot of time to implement so it won’t be possible in near future.
Tried this out today and as expected loved loved loved it. 🙂 I feel the kaju oninon garnish really makes a huge difference. I added few sultanas as well and it gave a nice flavour to it. Amazing recipes you have Dasana. Easy to follow And yummy! ????????????
Thanks Jyoti for sharing your positive feedback for this pressure-cooked veg pulao recipe. Yes sultanas will taste good in the dish.
Tried this vegetable pulao for the first time … came out really yummy .. served it with raita and peas masala .. thanks to ur recipe ????
Welcome Niveditha. Glad to know this.
Hi….
I tried ur pulao recipe today….. it was awesome….. Simple, easy and tasty. Thanks for the yummy recipe. Mt husband and in laws also liked it
Welcome Simi. Glad to know this.
It’s excellent recipe
Thanks Geeta
Really excellent recipe! I made it today and it was great. I use your recipes for my cooking a lot and theyve tasted really good
glad to know this. thanks for your positive feedback.
Hmm, the food on featured image looks really delicious…. Njam njam 🙂
Thanks Gustavo
Hi,
Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Just had a question here. Is it ok to include lemon also to this pulao or is it not required.
if you want you can add a few drops of lemon juice. it will taste good in this veg pulao recipe too.
Today I made this recipe it came very delicious thank you for such a wonderful recipe
welcome praveen thanks for your kind words and positive views 🙂
Very nice and easy to make
thanks shristi for positive views.
Thank You so much I tried the pulao it was awesome and easy. Each time when I am doing pulao or biriyani I will be tensed about the outcoming but today I did confidently I got it. My hubby too happy.
thank you archana for your positive feedback 🙂 glad your hubby liked the veg pulao. be happy always!
hi, pavitra ur recipes are very easy and realy tasty.nd photos are also gr8.i luv ur site
pleased to know this priyanka and thank you for your positive feedback 🙂
thanks for the wonderful recipe…very easy to prepare….and super tasty as well…..thanks a lot
welcome nissy and thankyou so much.
Thank you very much,pulao was superb,kids and family enjoyed the dish. By following your instruction its too cool to make everyone happy at dinner time. Thank you again.
welcome and thankyou rani for your kind and positive words 🙂
I followed this cooking instruction and the Pulao was appreciated by our guests.
thankyou arthi 🙂
Thanks a lot for the recipe.The water to be used is boiled water or normal water?
i use filtered water which is at room temperature.
Pulao came out too good. Thanks a lot Dassana for your recipes and tips. God bless you.
welcoem always deep 🙂 and thankyou.
easy and detailed instructions. Liked it.
thankyou shavil 🙂
Its been two months that I have been following your recipies on everyday basis. First thing in the morning..
Your recipies have brought a lot of appreciation for me!!
Its a new household as I have married recently and everything is a lot easier with your website.
Thanks a ton!!!
Tanvi
congrats tanvi on your marriage 🙂 thankyou for your kind words and pleased to know we could help you in learning new recipes god bless you.
That’s great.
thankyou Krishna 🙂
Hi Dassana, Love ur blog and love d way u present the cooking…I follow ur blog closely…Its a saviuor for a begnnier like me whon loves cooking..Have tried few recipes like from gobi dry I made cabbage dry manchuri which was amazing and other best recipe was kesar Shrikand which was soo good…Kids at my house loved it…Chilli paneer looked really good however the taste wasn’t…I wasn’t sure wat went wrong maybe the soya sauce was more…
thanks a lot pavithra. in chinese recipes, the flavor balance of the sauces is very important. even if one kind of sauce becomes more, it offsets the balance of the whole dish. when makinf any indian chinese recipe, just add amount of the sauce first (1 to 2 tsp) . mix and then increase in small parts (1 to 3 tsp) as per the taste you want. hope this helps.
Thanks a lot Dassana for the quick response…. Wen u say 1:2 does it mean for every 1 tsp of soya sauce add 2 tsp chilli sauce…??
no no.. not like that. it is 1 or 2 tsp of all the sauces. just add 1 or tsp of each first. generally soy sauce is more. but then depending on the taste buds, one can reduce the amount of soy sauce.
Thanks a lot Dassana 🙂 it was helpful 🙂
welcome pavithra 🙂
i lve yu website. . itz too gud
thanks dixita
Hi Dassana,
I really love your website,somehow I find all ur recipes so simple, beautiful and tasty. Whenever I need a recipe I just visit ur website.Today I tried ur Khandvi recipe it was great and will try vegpulao recipe tommorrow….Even after having dinner and after seeing ur recipe my mouth really watered to eat it….
Great work…
Thanks
Seema.
welcome seema. nice to know this. thanks for sharing positive feedback on recipes.
Mouth watering dish, it was really yum……
The flavours, the aroma it makes me melt….
thanks kajal for sharing positive feedback.
I being a 16 yr also could try it….
Thnx a lot…
welcome rhea
I tried this recipe and my kid loved a lot n had…
thanks srimitha for sharing positive feedback.
Your recipes are simply amazing ….
thanks aswathy
Good one…..
thanks nazia