How to Make Goan Peas Pulao

Delicious Goan Pulao Recipe

Discover the rich flavours of Goan Peas Pulao, a Portuguese-inspired rice dish from Goa! This festive pilaf is made with fragrant basmati rice, sweet green peas, warm whole spices, and creamy coconut milk. Traditionally prepared for Sunday lunches and special occasions, this one-pot rice recipe is packed with flavour.

It’s also called arroz in Konkani, arroz being the Portuguese word for rice! But whether you call it Goan peas pulao, Goan arroz, or Portuguese-style pilaf, this lip-smacking dish is sure to become a favorite. Let’s start making it.

But before we do that, here are a few more tasty rice dishes you might find worth checking out: Goan Prawn Pulao, Goan Choris Pulao, Chicken Fried Rice, Burnt Garlic Rice, and Tri-colour Rice.

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups (250g) basmati rice

1 tbsp ghee

1 tbsp oil

2 one-inch cinnamon sticks

8 cloves

10 peppercorns

4 green cardamom pods

1 bay leaf

1 medium size onion, finely chopped

2 medium size tomatoes, finely chopped

1 small green chilli

⅓ tsp turmeric powder

2 bouillon /stock cubes, any – chicken/veg

½ cup green peas

1 ¼ cups hot water

1 ¼ cups coconut milk (mix of thick and thin)

Salt to taste

Procedure

1. Wash the basmati rice thrice with plenty of water. Then drain it and soak it in water for around half an hour.
2. Finely chop the onion and tomatoes. Slit the green chilli lengthwise.
3. After half an hour of soaking, drain the rice.
4. In a pot, heat the ghee and oil on medium heat. Add in the whole spices – cloves, peppercorns, cinnamon sticks, green cardamom, and bay leaf. Sauté these for around a minute.
5. Add in the chopped onion and sauté it until it just starts turning brown. Add the chopped tomatoes and sauté this till the tomatoes soften. Sauté the green chilli for a few seconds and then add in the turmeric powder and the stock cubes. Mix everything.
6. Add the drained rice and sauté this with the other ingredients for a minute before adding in the green peas. Mix everything well.
7. Next, add the hot water and the coconut milk. Always stir the coconut milk before adding it. Give everything a good stir and then taste the pulao broth for salt. Add salt to taste.
8. Cover the pot and let the rice cook on medium-low heat for around 8 minutes. But check the pulao at least once in between for water, in case there’s too little of it left in the pot. If that’s the case, add around 2-3 tbsp of water to the rice. After 8 minutes, or when the rice is almost cooked and there’s just around 2 to 3 teaspoons of water left in the pulao, take it off the stove. Put a tawa on the stove burner and place the covered pot on top of it. Reduce the heat to low and let the rice cook for around 5 minutes or till it is completely cooked and all the extra water has evaporated.
9. Turn off the heat. Cover the pot and let the pulao rest for around 15 minutes. If you don’t give it this resting time, the rice grains will beak when you plate the pulao.
10. After 15 minutes, plate the pulao.

Enjoy!