Mushroom Pulao

No Indian meal is complete without a flavorful rice dish. Try this delicious recipe for Mushroom Pulao, made with fragrant Basmati Rice and caramelized mushrooms. Serve it with raita, plain yogurt or a side salad…Wow!

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Serves: 4-5

Ingredients:

Basmati Rice – 1 cup, washed and soaked for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
Mushrooms – 8 oz, sliced thick
Water – 2 cups
Salt – 1 tsp
Lemon/Lime Juice – 2 tsp
Oil – 1 Tbsp
Bay Leaf – 1
Cinnamon Stick – 1 inch piece
Green Cardamom – 2
Cloves – 4
Cumin Seeds – 1/2 tsp
Onion – 1/2 cup, chopped
Ginger – 1 Tbsp, minced
Garlic – 1 Tbsp, minced
Garam Masala – 1 tsp
Red Chili Powder – to taste
Frozen Green Peas – 1/2 cup, thawed
Red Bell Pepper – 1/2, chopped

To purchase spices online, visit www.herbco.com

Method:

1. Bring Water to a boil in a sauce pan with a lid and turn off the stove.
2. Add Salt and Lemon/Lime Juice and stir.
3. Add sliced Mushrooms, stir, cover and allow to steep while working on the rest of the process (about 15 mins)
4. Heat Oil in a non-stick pan with a cover.
5. Add Bay Leaf, Cinnamon Stick, Green Cardamom and Cloves. Cook for 30 seconds.
6. Add Cumin Seeds and allow them to sizzle.
7. Add Onions and cook for 1-2 minutes until translucent.
8. Add Ginger and Garlic and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
9. Strain and reserve liquid from Mushrooms.
10. Add strained Mushrooms to the pan and cook until Mushrooms are golden brown and caramelized.
11. Drain water from the rice and add soaked rice to the pan.
12. Add Garam Masala and Red Chili Powder.
13. Mix well and cook for 1 minute until Rice is coated with the oil and spices.
14. Add Green Peas and Bell Pepper and mix well.
15. Time to add in Mushroom Water (broth) to the pan and allow it to come to a boil, uncovered.
16. Cover the pan, reduce the stove to a low (simmer) and set timer for 15 minutes. Do not open the pan or stir in between.
17. After 15 minutes, turn off stove and fluff the pulao with a fork to loosen all of the grains.
18. Cover again and allow the pulao to rest for 5 minutes before serving.
19. Serve hot with Raita, plain yogurt and/or salad.

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107 thoughts on “Mushroom Pulao

  1. This came out so amazing! Reminded us of our favourite Indian take-away in England. Very easy and absolutely delicious. Thank you so much!

  2. Hi you two

    I’ve just followed your recipe to the letter, but used a few squirts of ‘Frylight’ low fat cooking oil instead of the oil as I’m on a diet. As there was little oil I fried the spices slowly and kept moving them around so they wouldn’t burn. Once you put the onions in you can give another couple of squirts and frying worries are over. The mushrooms brown quite well in spite of the lack of oil.

    Anyway the final result was absolutely fantastic and I shall make it again and again. The red and green colours really do make the dish, so well done to both of you for a great recipe.

    By the spelling of the word colour you can see I’m from the UK – London

    Thank you

  3. Hi Hetal & Anuja,

    I just tried this Pulao, it came out really well. My family loved it. But, i added few more things like, Biryani masala, chicken masala and fried onion. However Thank you so much. God bless you two.

  4. love both of u….i tried dis recipe today at home…can’t imagine!!!!!!! everyone at ma home started praising me….credit goes to both of u….love u…Mmmmuuuaaahhh…u both made ma day….

    The dish came out very well….U both really rockssss….i m gonna try all the recipes which yo have uploaded…thnx again !!!!!

  5. This is me learning from my mistakes. I forgot to buy basmati rice and only had broken jasmine rice. To make matters worse, I added more than a cup of broth to the rice mix. The dish was doomed to be a little mushy. However, the flavor was there…very strong. Maybe 1 tsp of red chili powder was too much. I’d like to make a suggestion. I’m very much a beginner (see above), and I have no idea how much spice to add to taste. Please give some minimum amount (maybe determine this from what a typical white American palate would handle?).

    1. Hi Lan,

      Sorry to hear about your rice :(. There really is no way for us to give a guideline when it comes to salt or chili powder. The main reason is that chili powder comes in so many levels of spiciness that we cannot know what our viewers will be using. Hopefully, you now know the spice level of your chili powder and can adjust accordingly in the next recipe. Good luck 🙂

  6. Hello ladies,
    I am planning to make this for a potluck for later this week. As you guys have suggested to some previous posters, I am going to reduce(halve maybe?) the quantity of garam masala and red chilli powder taking into consideration the gentle American palate. My Indian tongue is going to need a lot of convincing though cuz I would usually do a little more than you guys recommend! Raita for them and pickle for me I guess 😉

    Let’s see how that goes!

    1. Hi K,

      Maybe you can just reduce the red chili powder instead of garam masala. Garam masala is a key flavor addition to this recipe and will not add too much “spiciness”. Good luck with it and let us know how it comes out.

  7. Hi Hetal & Anuja,

    Have made this dish 5 times now, and every time it turns out perfect. Your tips are so helpful in every recipe on the site. I have tried almost all of your vegetarian recipes on here.

    And whenever i am out of ideas about what to cook for dinner/lunch, i visit your website, and pick up one of your recipes for dinner/lunch…..Isn’t it great.

    Thanks a lot ladies!
    You Rock!!!!

    Komal

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