Corn Capsicum pulao is a simple, elegant and flavorful one pot meal recipe. It is aromatic. You can use fresh sweet corn or frozen sweet corn for this. But I feel frozen corn is losing its flavor and taste over a period of time. It is a quick one pot meal and perfect to use any left over rice. For variation, I have added capsicum in this pulao. I made this last week for my friend’s birthday lunch. Any gravy recipe is fine to go with this. I made it with paneer Masala. It is great for kid’s lunch box. When you have some potluck get together or party, it is the best option to do this.
When I was in India, when we first got the electric cooker in Madurai, we started doing the pulao at home. Every Sunday my dad and mom used to prepare this pulao at home. They used to make it as vegetable pulao. I am just making it as sweet corn pulao. So Sunday and pulao makes me really nostalgic. I usually make peas pulao, sweet corn pulao, capsicum pulao, Channa pulao, spinach pulao, aloo pulao, gobi pulao. This time I made corn capsicum pulao.
Vegan note: replace ghee with oil.
Other Rice/Biryani varieties : ghee rice, Peas Pulao, coconut rice, Restaurant style vegetable biryani, Ginger rice, Curd rice, Veg fried rice.
- • Basmati rice – 1.5 cups
- • Sweet corn - 1 cup, fresh or frozen
- • Cardamom – 2
- • Cloves – 2-3
- • Bay leaf – 1
- • Cumin seeds – 1 tsp
- • Ginger garlic paste – 2 tsp
- • Green chillies – 2 , slit
- • Mint – 2 tbsp, chopped
- • Coriander – 2 tbsp, chopped
- • Pulao masala powder – 2tsp or (Chilli powder – 1 tsp, garam masala powder – ½ tsp and coriander powder – 1 tsp)
- • Yogurt – 1 tbsp
- • Capsicum – 1 , diced
- • Onion – ½ cup, thinly sliced
- • Salt – 1 tbsp
- • Ghee/oil – 2-3 tbsp (preferably 2 tbsp ghee and 1 tbsp oil)
- Wash the basmati rice and soak the rice for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside.
- Heat oil or ghee or both mixed in a pot /pan and crackle the cumin first. Then add the whole spices ( bay leaf, cloves and cardamom).
- Fry till the spices release their aroma and then add the sliced onions and slit chillies. Stir and fry till the onions are golden or caramelized. Then Add the ginger garlic paste, mint and coriander leaves and fry for a minute.
- Add the capsicum, sauté for a minute and then add sweet corn, pulao powder or (chilli powder , garam masala powder and coriander powder )
- Mix and Saute for 2-3 minutes. Add the yogurt , mix well and switch off.
- Take an electric cooker, add the drained basmati rice, add the sauted capsicum corn masala , salt and add required amount of water. ( for 1.5 cups , I added 2.75 cups water)
- Check for salt at this time. It should be little salty.
- Close the electric cooker, switch on and it will switch off when it is done.
- If you are cooking in pan, just add the rice and water to the masala. Cover the pot tightly with a lid and cook the rice till all the water is absorbed. Cook in medium for 15 minutes and slow for 10 minutes. Switch off.
- Fluff the rice and serve with onion tomato raita or some paneer gravy.
2. You can even add cashews to it.
Taste great with chicken curry, paneer makhanwala, Malai methi paneer / aloo gobi masala/ Mushroom peas masala.
