Channa Pulav/ Chickpeas Pulav

    My friend made this pulav for our potluck dinner. Everyone appreciated this dish and I wanted to share her recipe with some minor improvisations. 

Ingredients:

1 cup of  Basmati rice
1/2 cup of chickpeas
1 3/4 cup of water
10 pearl onions
3 medium tomatoes
4 red chilies chopped (per spice level)
1/2 tbsp minced ginger
2 cloves garlic
pinch of turmeric
1 tbsp of kasoori methi/ dried fenugreek leaves
1 1/2 tbsp of oil/ ghee
salt as required

Seasoning:

2 pieces of cardamom
1 inch cinnamon
3 cloves
2 small bay leaf

Preparation:

1.Soak the chickpeas overnight and pressure cook them separately with water and salt. Drain the water and keep them aside. Soak the rice in water for half an hour. In a preheated pressure pan add ghee or oil. Add the seasoning.

2.Cut the onion in half. As the nice aroma comes, add the onions. Saute till they turn golden brown.

3.Grind the chopped tomatoes, ginger ,garlic and red chillies in to a paste. Add to the pressure pan. Saute well till the tomato paste thickens.

3.Add the cooked chickpeas, turmeric, rice, kasoori methi, salt and water. Close the lid and pressure cook them

5.Channa pulav is ready. Serve with raitha.

*To improvise add 1/4 cup of coconut milk. This definitely makes the dish rich and really delicious. Reduce the amount of water accordingly.