Vegetable Pulao...Raji Athai + Sandhya Chitti Pulao

This yummy recipe has been adapted and modified from two of my aunt's recipes, who are superb cooks. Sandhya Chitti's white pulao as I call it and Raji Athai's crispy vegetable pulao are something I can't stop eating!


Ingredients:-
2 cups of basmati rice, cleaned
2 t spns of shahi jeera
1 star anise
an inch of cinnamon
4 cloves
1/4 t spn elaichi powder
1/4 crushed pepper
1 tej patta/Bay leaf
1 medium sized onion sliced
3 stems of coriander leaves
4-5 mint leaves
1/2 tbl spn of ginger-garlic paste
1 cup of cut veggies like carrot,capsicum,beans, potato,cauliflower,peas.
7-8 cubes of paneer/croutons (bread deep fried)
1 tbl spn of butter/ghee
2 tbl spn of ghee
1 cup of warm milk with saffron (soak for half an hour)
salt to taste

Method:-
Take a pan with 1 tbl spn of butter
Fry jeera/shahi jeera, star anise, cloves, cinnamon,pepper and tej patta .
Add onion,ginger-garlic paste and fry well till onions get transparent.
Grind 2 chillies (according to taste) , coriander(4-5 leaves), mint leaves (4-5 leaves) to paste. Make sure this green paste is not too much, as it will get your pulao green.
Cook the cut veggies, paneer in the green paste and the fried masala.
Add the saffron milk and cook for 2 minutes.
Add salt (for the rice too, so add more of salt)
Add the 2 cups of basmati rice. Add 2 1/2 cups of water.
Cook for one whistle or put it in the electric cooker. If you don't want your rice to burn at the button, grease the cooker with ghee.
Season with fried cashews in 1 tbl spn of ghee, croutons  and garnish with coriander.

**you may even dress it with deep fried onions like biryani. But I prefer without it, as there are already onions in the pulao.