Bagara Rice

Serves: 5. Preparation time: 1 hour for everything

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of oil

Spices:
1/2 teaspoon of Shahjeera (Persian Cumin)
1 teaspoon Jheera (Cumin)
3 Cloves
4 inch stick of Cinnamon
1 Black cardamom
2 Green Cardamoms
1 Star Anise
3 Bay leaves
2 stems of Curry leaves
5 Cashew nuts
3 whole dry red chillies
1/2 teaspoon Garam masala
1 pinch ground nutmeg
A few strands of Saffron soaked in warm water
1 Tomato (pureed)

Salt to taste (keep in mind, we need salt for seasoning the vegetables as well as the rice)

3.5 cups of white Basmati rice (soak it)

Vegetables:
1 big onion cut into thin long slivers
1 Clove Garlic pounded/minced
1/2 inch Ginger grated
1 medium onion cut into thin long slivers (used for garnishing)
4 Green chillies (mild ones) chopped
2 small potatoes diced
1 Carrot diced
Half a head of a small cauliflower broken into florets
Half a head of a small broccoli broken into florets
1 cup of fresh Green peas
1 small capsicum
1 small bunch of Pudina leaves chopped
1 small bunch of Cilantro chopped

Method:
Heat the oil in a pan. Add Shahjeera, Jheera. When they splutter, add cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, Star Anise, bay leaves, curry leaves, cashewnuts, dry red chillies and cook until cashew turns light brown.
Add the vegetables: Start with Onion, let it brown a bit, add in the ginger+garlic, add the Garam masala & ground nutmeg, let it cook for a few seconds and add the other vegetables too, including the cilantro & mint. (Set aside a handfulof mint for garnishing.)
Add salt and continue cooking, we want the vegetables to be half done.
Meanwhile, set water to boil on another stove/electric kettle (this water should be enough to cook the basmati rice, delete half a cup of water as the vegetables have moisture too that the rice will absorb. Add the pureed tomato into this water so it get cooked).

When the vegetables are half done, add the boiling tomato water into them, add the soaked rice, the saffron water, mix it and let it cook until done.
Squeeze some lemon (to taste) & lightly sprinkle cardamom powder over it. Garnish with fried onion & pudina spread all over the surface of the rice. Onion gets that lovely crunchy golden fried hue if fried in an iron pan (or aluminium, I didn't see such good results with non-stick teflon pans).  Serve with raita.



Comments:
I used quality spices from Zanzibar, the cardamom, cloves, cinnamon are very aromatic, I was amazed to see the HUGE dried flower bud on top of each clove. This recipe might need more cardamoms/cloves depending on the quality of the spice. The vegetables can be adjusted, I love green peas so I added a whole cup, add any other vegetable you like! One can even add garlic in this dish. I love how the flavour of these whole spices permeates through the rice.

 

Trivia:
I think I enjoy writing recipes mostly because of the chance I get to write up the trivia section :-D
Food is incomplete for me without documenting or discussing the story behind it, so please bear with me!
The Bagara rice recipe is courtesy my good friend Bhavani Goud. I fell in love with it when I ate it at her place, her rice comes out layered, mine turned out more like a pulao. This is a Telangana recipe. I made minor modifications to her recipe (adding capsicum & so many green peas was my idea), I encourage you to do the same, after all, it is all about what feels yummy to us!
The dominant flavour in this dish comes from pudina. Kaavya always teases me that I add chopped cilantro into everything that I cook. Well Kaavya, pudina is my current craze, so I have been adding fresh chopped pudina and cilantro into everything I cook these days :)In fact, I made Totakura Kadalu pulusu this afternoon with pudina added into the tempering :D (Don't laugh guys, it tasted divine!)

Update:
I made Bagara rice once again, this time I used soaked brown rice and I added baby corn, french beans & soaked chickpeas, it was just as delicious & heavenly!

2019:
I still love making this, I have now standardised it in OPOS which has made it an easy-peasy breeze to cook.