I can't rave enough about this side. It's * **Easy:** Once you get the ingredients stocked, and once you prepare this dish a few times, it becomes almost trivial to make any amount of it on a whim. * **Cheap:** there's no fancy or fresh ingredients necessary. * **Versatile:** It strikes a balance between refreshing and indulgent: neutral enough to be compatible with any savory flavor profile, but flavorful enough to add a mouth-watering fragrance that elevates whatever dish it's paired with. * **Healthy:** the peas add a significant amount of nutrients and protein to what might otherwise be plain rice. When paired with any chunk of protein, it creates a complete meal. * **Meal-preppable:** Stored in an airtight container in a fridge, the pulao will last up to five days or so, and the texture will essentially be just as good every time it's reheated. # Ingredients - [ ] 1 cup of basmati rice - [ ] ~ 3 handfuls of peas (frozen is fine) - [ ] 1/2 cup of coconut milk - [ ] 1 1/2 cups of water - [ ] A bit of oil (I use avocado) - [ ] Whole spices - [ ] Cumin seeds - [ ] Bay leaves - [ ] Cinnamon stick - [ ] Whole pepper - [ ] Cardamom pods (a couple) - [ ] Cloves (a couple) - [ ] Salt - [ ] A few mint leaves (optional) - [ ] ~ 1 tbsp of ghee/ butter (optional) # Tools - [ ] A medium-sized pot with a lid - [ ] Something to stir the pot with # Steps 1. **Soak:** Rinse and soak the rice in water while you do the rest of the steps. Get all the ingredients out onto the counter and ready-to-use. 2. **Temper:** Add all the whole spices with a splash of oil and temper them on medium heat for five minutes or so - just get them hot enough to be a bit more aromatic; err on the side of lower temp to reduce the risk of burning them - they'll cook into the rice just fine. 3. **Sauté:** Increase the heat to medium-high, throw the peas into the pot and sauté them for like 3-5 minutes. 4. **Toast:** Decrease the heat to medium-low, throw the rice and few (not all) of the mint leaves into the pot and continue sautéing for another few minutes. You're sort of "toasting" the rice here. 5. **Boil:** Add the coconut milk, water, and a teaspoon or so of salt - it doesn't need to be too salty, just enough so that you can taste it in the water. Once you've mixed everything, give the water a taste so you have a "baseline" of how this taste can correlate with the final outcome; in future iterations, you can use this to adjust adding any other spices. Bring this to a boil - feel free to add enough water to ensure the rice is covered. Here, you can optionally stir in a bit of ghee or butter to ensure that the bottom of the rice doesn't get stuck to the pot. 6. **Simmer:** Once it gets to whatever you'd consider typically boiling, cover it with a lid and let it simmer on low for 25 minutes. 7. **Fluff:** Once time is up, take a large wooden fork or rice spoon and gently mix/ fluff up your delightfully fragrant peas pulao. You may optionally serve this with a few mint leaves as pictured above. > [!tip] Summary: soak, temper, sauté, toast, boil, simmer, and fluff