Veg tehri – healthy and super easy one-pot rice meal

Tehri is a one-pot rice dish, you can say a variation of pulao that originated from Awadhi cuisine. This is very easy to prepare; you can add your choice of veggies or meat or chicken to it. I generally prepare it with lots of veggies because that way you can pack a lot of nutrition in your as well as your kid’s diet, especially if you have picky eaters at home 😊.

I learned this dish when I was staying in a ladies’ hostel in Delhi; there one of my roomies was from Nainital and she prepared this dish whenever we had a mid-week holiday. In our hostel they only used to serve breakfast and dinner as most of the ladies will go out during the daytime. So, if we had a mid-week holiday either we had to order from outside or go out ourselves. We preferred to experiment with our culinary skills, and this was one of our most popular dishes 😊.

This is one of Baby S’s favorite rice dish too, of course, after biriyani 😊. Anytime I am about to prepare Tehri, she would say, “Mamma, please prepare some extra, I want to have it for tomorrow also.” Before the pandemic sometimes I have packed this for our lunch boxes also along with raita.

So, let's get started and prepare this super easy, one-pot meal.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup basmati rice, you can use any rice
• 2 cups of water
• 2 tbsp oil or ghee/clarified butter
• 1-inch cinnamon stick
• 4 green cardamom pods
• 1 black cardamom
• 4 cloves
• 1 tsp jeera/cumin
• 1 green chili, slit lengthwise
• 1 tsp ginger-garlic paste
• ½ cup onion finely chopped
• ¼ cup tomatoes, cubed
• ½ cup of cubed veggies of your choice (I used potatoes, carrots, and beans)
• 2 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, finely chopped; it gives a nice flavor, but unfortunately, I ran out of it, so I didn’t use it
• 2 tsp raisins/kishmish (this is a must if I am serving it to Daddy S also 😊, he loves raisins)
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ½ tsp coriander powder
• ¼ tsp roasted cumin powder
• ¼ tsp chili powder, adjust as per your taste
• ½ tsp garam masala powder
• Salt as per taste

 

Method:

• Wash the rice and let it soak for 30 minutes, after 30 mins, drain the water and keep aside
• Heat oil in a cooker or a kadhai, I use a cooker, saves time and gas 😊
• Add cumin, cinnamon, cardamom, and cloves
• Once the cumin starts spluttering, add the onions and the slit chili, fry till the onion becomes translucent
• Add ginger-garlic paste and fry a little more
• Add all the masalas, coriander, cumin, chili, garam masala, and salt, and add little water so that the masalas are mixed well, fry for 2 minutes
• Add tomatoes and all the other vegetables, fry for 2 minutes on medium flame
• Add the rice and mix it well with the vegetables, fry for another 2 minutes on medium flame
• Add water, mix well and taste the salt, pressure cook for 1 whistle
• Once the pressure goes off, gently fluff the rice and sprinkle the chopped coriander leaves

Veg Tehri is ready to be served with raita…enjoy 😊😊

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