Egg pulao

    Not long before, we visited 'Royalseema ruchulu' restaurant at Hyderabad, I must admit that 'Nattukodi pulao' was an real FAB.  We continued to order pulao twice, thrice.... :)  After relishing their hot, fiery pulao, blogger part of mine desired to make an 'silent try' :)   As thought, I continued making the pulao with hard-boiled eggs, pulao was fantastic.  Here, I also share one useful trick for cooking the rice with correct texture. Also try to cook basmati rice in an wide-mouthed vessel, so that they dont become mushy and stay like separate grains.

Egg pulao can also be an 'hit' in your family.  Try them ideally on an week-day lunch once before an exotic week-end lunch :D  I garnished this egg pulao with mint leaves, one slice/wedge of egg along with deep fried onions.  I had them, as such.  Every bite was flavourful and tempting.  My daughter, Varsha who doesn't eat spicy food also carved an special interest to this pulao.  This is an easy and tempting alternative to our usual home-made  biriyani.  Do try them :D

Preparation time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients required:

• 11/4 cup of basmati rice
• 2-3 hard boiled eggs

Whole garam masala, to temper

• 2 tbspn of oil
• 1 tbspn of ghee
• 1 bayleaf, crushed
• 1 staranise
• 1/2 tsp of crushed mace
• 1-inch cinnamon stick
• 2-3 cloves
• 1 Black cardamon
• 1 Marathi mogga
• 1 tsp whole peppercorn
• 1 tsp kalpasi/black stone flower
• 1 tsp shahjeera

Other

• 4-5 slit green chillies
• Handful of mint leaves
• 1/2 cup of thinly sliced onions  (+1/4 cup of sliced onions)
• 1 tbspn ginger-garlic paste
• Salt, to taste
• 1/2 tsp of roasted cumin powder
• 1 tsp of garam masala powder
• 1/4 cup of curd/dahi

Method

Soak rice for twenty minutes.  Wash them and drain excess water.  Sprinkle this into about 11/2 litre of boiling water (along with 1 tbspn rock salt).  Simmer for five to ten minutes.

After every minute, check the rice.  Grab an invidividual rice in an spoon and try to squeeze them.  If they break into two piece, then they are in correct texture.  

Without any delay, drain off the excess water and arrange the rice in an wide-mouthed tray.  Keep them under fan so that rice doesn't sweat and become mushy.

Alternatively, in another wide-mouthed pan, heat oil along with ghee.  First throw in 1/4 cup of onions and deep-fry them.  Keep aside.

In the very same pan, throw all whole garam masala along with mint leaves and slit green chillies.  Let them sizzle for an minute.

Now add half cup of sliced onions and  cook till they brown.  

Also add in ginger-garlic paste followed by cumin powder, garam masala and salt.  

Add curd and quartered eggs (reserve an slice for garnish) along with half cup of water.  Bring this to boil.  

Just before the masala resembles an semi-gravy consistency, check the seasoning and add the cooked basmati rice

Make an very gentle stir, do not mix them completely.  Mix partially and serve for an  'restaurant look' :D

Enjoy!!!!

Happy cooking :)