Colourful Tiranga Pulao Recipe

3 Quick and Easy Pulao Recipes 

With India’s Republic Day just around a week away, let’s make a delicious Republic Day Special Recipe. Let’s make some colourful Tiranga Pulao or Tricolour rice. To make the three pulaos in the colours of the national flag, we won’t use any food colours. We’ll just make three delicious but quick to make pulaos, the first one an orange carrot pulao, the second a green chutney pulao, and the third a white paneer pulao.

This tiranga pulao tastes really awesome, but each of these three pulaos too taste delicious and can be enjoyed individually as well.

If you want to try a non-vegetarian pulao my Goan prawn pulao would be a splendid choice.

Ingredients

1 ½ cup Basmati rice

Around 9 cups water

1 tsp salt

1 tsp oil

Cook the rice till al dente using the draining method.

Common Ingredients

⅓ cooked rice

1 tbsp pure ghee / oil

4 cloves

1 inch piece cinnamon

3 green cardamoms

¼ cup chopped onion

½ tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp grated ginger (½ tsp for paneer pulao)

1 tsp grated garlic (½ tsp for paneer pulao)

Additional Ingredients

Carrot Pulao

½ – ¾ cup grated carrot

1 tbsp water

1 tsp chili powder

3 tbsp tomato sauce

1 tbsp red chilli sauce

Salt to taste

12 fried, chopped prawns (Optional)

To prepare prawns:

12 shelled, washed medium-size prawns

⅛ tsp salt

¼ tsp turmeric

¼ tsp chilli powder

½ tsp lime juice

2 – 3 tsp oil

Chutney Pulao

6 tbsp coriander-mint chutney

Salt to taste

Paneer Pulao

2 chopped green chillies

1 ½ tbsp chopped cashew nuts

1 ½ tbsp raisins

¾ cup grated paneer

1 – 1 ½ tsp sugar

Salt to taste

Procedure

Boiling the rice:

1. Wash the rice in plenty of water and then soak it in water for around 20 minutes.
2. Drain the rice and add it to 9 cups of boiling water along with the salt and oil.
3. When the rice is al dente (slightly undercooked), turn off the heat and drain the water from the rice.
4. Spread the cooked rice on a tray to cool.

Preparing the prawns:

1. Clean and de-vein the prawns and then wash them.
2. Apply the salt, turmeric powder, chilli powder, and lime juice to them and let them marinate for around 15 minutes.
3. Then fry the prawns on medium heat in 2-3 tsp oil, frying them for around 2 minutes on each side.
4. When they have cooled, chop the fried prawns roughly into small pieces.

Carrot Pulao

1. Heat the ghee or oil in a pan on medium heat and then throw in the cloves, cinnamon, and green cardamoms. Sauté these for a minute.
2. Then add in the chopped onion and fry this till it browns.
3. Add in the cumin seeds, fry them for a minute, and then mix in the crushed ginger and garlic and fry this for a few seconds.
4. Next, add the carrot along with the water and mix well. Let the carrot cook for a minute.
5. Add the chilli powder. Mix the tomato sauce and red chilli sauce and stir this too into the other ingredients.
6. If you want to make this a non-veg pulao, stir in the fried and chopped prawns. If you want to keep it vegetarian, you could add an extra ¼ cup of grated carrot to it.
7. Add the rice and mix it gently with the other ingredients to avoid breaking the rice grains.
8. Finally, add salt to taste.

Chutney Pulao

1. Follow steps 1 to 3 as given for the carrot pulao.
2. Then stir in the coriander mint chutney. Gently sauté the pulao for a minute.
3.  Finally add salt to taste.

Paneer Pulao

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 as given for the carrot pulao.
2. Add the chopped green chillies and cumin seeds, and fry everything for a minute.
3. Then move the entire mix to one side and add in the cashew nuts and raisins. Fry these for a minute adding a little more ghee if necessary, and then mix all the ingredients in the pan.
4. next, add in the crushed ginger and garlic. Sauté these for a minute.
5. Mix in the paneer, and then add the rice to the other ingredients, mixing everything gently. Adjust the taste for salt and then mix in the sugar.

Assembling the Tiranga Pulao / Triicolour Rice

You could do this in two ways in lightly greased moulds.

1. Line the bottom of the greased mould with parchment paper to ensure you’ll be able to demould the tiranga pulao afterwards. First press down a layer of the carrot pulao, followed by a layer of the paneer pulao on top of this and finally a layer of the chutney pulao. Press the rice down gently. Upturn the bowl on a plate and demould the tricolour rice. Add a sprig of mint or pudina on top as a garnish.
2. Or you could arrange the three layers side by side in a horizontal design in a greased mould with the paneer pulao in the middle between the carrot pulao and the chutney pulao. As a garnish and also to represent the charkha on the Indian flag, you could add a star anise in the centre of the paneer pulao section.

Enjoy!