Broccoli Pulav

Last few days have been crazy, tight schedules, meetings and loads of work had kept me busy and away from blogging. This will go on for a while but i'll try and post few recipes weekly. Few days back I made this amazingly easy and delicious broccoli pulav. I wasnt familiar with Broccoli until few years back. For a common man in india broccoli is hardly used in their daily diets, even in a city like Bombay broccoli's are considered to be rich man's food as they are very expensive, although this scenario has changed over a period of time. As we all know broccoli is member of cabbage family and closely related to cauliflower. It was originated in Italy, "Broccolo" its italian name means "cabbage sprout". Did you know Broccoli fights against various cancers like ovarian cancer, blaader cancer and when teamed up with tomatoes it helps to reduce the risk of prostate cancer. It also helps to detoxification of body cells, helps in sun damaged skin and also makes bones stronger. You can find the detailed health benefits here. Broccoli by itself does not taste that good, personally i like my broccoli with spices. The recipe below serves two and I would suggest to use fresh broccoli florets.

Ingredients:

I big broccoli , chopped into small florets

1 cup rice washed and soaked for 30 mins

1 bunch of spring onions finely chopped

2 green chillies slit

1 tsp ghee

1 bay leaf

3 cardamon (elaichi) roughy crushed

1 small cinnamon stick

4-5 whole peppercorns

1/2 tsp pulav or biryani masala

1/2 tsp lime juice

1/2 tsp sugar (optional)

Salt to taste

2 cups warm water

Procedure:

• Heat a tsp of ghee in a vessel, add in chillies, peppercorns, cinnamon,bay leaf and cardamon seeds. Saute for few seconds.
• Now add in the chopped spring onions (keep little aside for garnishing) and broccoli florets and saute for few mins.
• Season with salt, sugar, pulav or biryani masala and mix well.
• Add in the soaked rice and water, cover and cook for 15 to 20 mins until rice is cooked.
• Drizzle some lime juice and garnish with spring onions.
• Serve hot with plain curd or any raita.