A lot of dals and curries are made without any additional vegetables apart from garlic, onions and chilli. While the myriad vegetable side dishes that exist in Indian cooking, are both delicious and fun to make, if I want to have rice, I often don’t want to have another pan to wash up, or have to make smaller portions of each dish, so that I don’t end up with too much food. I usually make enough for two meals, and eat the leftovers for breakfast (don’t knock it until you’ve tried it!), but I don’t like having the same dinner two nights on the run. The solution to this issue is to make a pulao that also contains vegetables.
Carrots are an epic voyaging vegetable, particularly if you can buy them from a market or greengrocer, unscrubbed and unrefrigerated. While no doubt many voyagers would make a carrot and cabbage salad to go with curry, I confess to preferring both carrots and cabbage cooked rather than raw. Grated carrots and shredded carrots do, however, use less of your precious provisions if you are trying to eke them out over a long passage.
Serves 2
Ingredients
- Cook the basmati rice in a cup of salted water. If you are dicing the carrots, add these after about ten minutes.
- Add a tsp of ghee or oil to a frying pan and heat it over a high flame.
- Add the mustard seeds, cumin, bay leaf (or lime) and heat until they sizzle and pop.
- Now, add the cashews and fry them for a few minutes.
- Once the cashews turn golden brown, add the chopped onion and green chillis. Reduce the heat and fry until the onion turns translucent.
- If you are using grated carrot, add this and fry for a minute until it shrinks and changes in colour.
- When the carrot is cooked, add turmeric and salt to taste. Mix thoroughly.
- Now add the cooked rice (and cooked, diced carrot).
- Mix again gently, and cook for another minute.
- * use fewer chillies if you think four seems a bit excessive.