Rajma Pulao with Cauliflower Rice
This dish combines two of my favorite ingredients, legumes and cauliflower. Using vibrant Indian pulao/pilaf like seasonings I give you Rajma Pulao with cauliflower rice. This is great as a side dish or even a complete meal by itself.
This really is a vegetable pulao with Rajma. I riced the cauliflower and sort of felt very trendy about the whole thing. The flavors and inspiration come from this dish on my site. The beans are cooked in the instant pot. The rice on a skillet and then they are meshed together. This is essential for the best balance of texture and spices.
And we ate it with this dal tarka.
My Rajma Pulao with Cauliflower Rice Story
With my struggle to keep on top of my pictures, I thought of arranging my pictures in a website. I do have flickr which is a royal mess, and I have a semblance of stuff I am trying to compile into pictures here. For some reason my household favors chickpeas over rajma. If I have leftovers from making Rajma, I toss them into a dish like this.
In addition to the beans, this dish has bell peppers and corn. I hand grated the cauliflower as I felt that it more of a texture appropriate for this dish anyway. The slightly coarser texture offers more of that fluffy rice like take. The color of the dish varies depending on the beans used.
A few tips and tricks
- Use riced cauliflower with a coarser texture. Some readily grated varieties actually sell them this way.
- Cook both the beans and the cauliflower separately.
- You can use pre-cooked beans to speed things up.
The general consensus around Christmas is that things will be quiet. Do you ever have a fear of rejection and procrastinate on favorite projects. It is almost like the fear of sending a child out into the world and fearing that they will never come back. That strange sense of hurry up and wait? Anyhow, at this point I am rambling rather than hitting post on this very interesting recipe.
A good and easy rajma recipe is this one.and one with adzuki beans is here.
A remake of Rajma Pulao using grated cauliflower instead of Rice. If desired leftover Rajma or kidney beans can be used for this dish.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds
- 1 medium sized red onion, finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 1 teaspoon powdered cumin
- 1 teaspoon powdered coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon red cayenne pepper
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 3/4 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1/2 cup dried red kidney beans (note, a couple of hours of soaking goes a long way)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/2 medium head of cupflower
- 1 tablespoon oil
- 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 medium bell pepper thinly sliced
- 1/2 cup of fresh or frozen corn kernels
- 1 tablespoon dried fenugreek or mint leaves
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
- 1 and half tablespoon fresh lime juice (about 1/2 a lime)
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
Instructions
- Turn the instant pot onto sauté mode and heat the oil in the base of a pressure cooker and add in the whole cumin seeds. When they begin to crackle add in the red onion and ginger and sauté well for about 7 to 8 minutes until the onion softens and begins to gently turn golden.
- Add in the powdered cumin and coriander and the red cayenne pepper and salt and mix well. Add in the chopped tomatoes and cook for another 2 minutes. Add in the beans with 1 cup of water and set to 10 minutes of pressure cooking allowing a natural release. When this is done, remove the lid, turn back onto sauté mode and cook until all the sauce evaporates and clings to the beans.
- While the beans are cooking, using the large side of a box grater grate the cauliflower, you should have about 1 and half cups of grated cauliflower.
- Heat the oil and add in the turmeric and salt. Mix in the cauliflower and the pepper and cook for about 2 minutes and add in the corn.
- Stir in the cauliflower mixture gently and cook for 5 minutes.
- Add in the prepared beans and stir well and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the fenugreek leaves.
- Add in the garam masala and mix well.
- Sprinkle with the lime juice and cilantro and serve along with other accompaniments or enjoy as a light meal.
Tania Mushtaq
thank you for sharing delicious recipe. Cauliflower is low in calories (25 calories in 1 cup) so you can easily use it without the fear of gaining weight. Cauliflower is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins.