Tawa Pulao One More Light Food Indian Recipe 2023

Tawa pulao recipe with video and step by step photos. Tawa pulao is a popular Mumbai street food of rice and vegetables sauteed together with pav bhaji masala and other spices-herbs. It is a popular and tasty rice recipe that you easily make with leftover rice.

 







Tawa pulao as the name suggests is made on Tawa/tava – a flat concave shaped pan used in Indian cooking for making chapatis, roasting as well as shallow frying.

The street side vendors use a huge Tawa and they make pav bhaji, masala pav, tawa paneer masala and tawa pulao on this huge tawa. For home cooks, this recipe can be made in a frying pan or even in a kadai (wok).


This tawa pulao recipe is quick to make if you have leftover rice. You also need to steam or cook the veggies beforehand. Usually, I make a not so spicy version, but you can spice the pulao as per your taste buds just by increasing the quantity of red chili powder.

You will need Pav bhaji masala to make this pulao. Usually, I buy pav bhaji masala and the Indian brands which I have used are MDH, everest and badshah. I find all of them alright.

Tawa pulao goes best with yogurt, raita or an onion-lemon salad. Also accompany a roasted papad and a lemon or mango pickle by the side.
Step-by-Step Guide
How to make Tawa Pulao

Cooking rice

1. Rinse 1 cup basmati rice a couple of times in water till it runs clear of starch.


Then add the rice in a pot or pan along with 4 cups of water. Also add salt to taste and 2 to 3 drops of oil.

Cook the rice till the grains are tender and softened. The rice grains should be separate yet completely cooked. You can also cook the rice until al dente, if you prefer.



2. Drain the rice in a colander. Please do read the recipe card details below on cooking the rice. Let the rice cool completely before you add it to the veggies.



3. Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan and saute ½ teaspoon of cumin seeds till they crackle on low heat.



4. Add chopped onions (1 medium onion – 50 grams) and saute the onions stirring often till translucent.



5. Add ginger garlic paste (½ inch ginger + 2-3 garlic), made into a paste in a mortar-pestle or 1 teaspoon ginger garlic paste).

Saute for a few seconds or till their raw aroma goes away. The ginger-garlic paste has to be sauteed well. Otherwise, the raw aroma is felt even later and might not go well with some folks.



6. Add 2 large chopped tomatoes (150 grams tomatoes) and 1 medium chopped green bell pepper (capsicum).


7. Add 2 teaspoon pav bhaji masala powder, ¼ teaspoon red chili powder and ¼ teaspoon turmeric powder.


Remember to use a really good brand of pav bhaji masala as it is one of the key ingredient in the recipe. The flavor and taste profile of tava pulao largely depends on the kind of pav bhaji masala that you will use.

You can also choose to add homemade pav bhaji masala powder.



8. Stir and saute till you see the butter leaving the sides of the pan. About 6 to 7 minutes on a low heat. Even if the bell pepper has a slight crunch, they taste good.

The tomatoes will also become mushy and soften as you see in the photo below.



9. Add the chopped steamed cooked veggies – ½ cup peas, 1 small to medium chopped carrot, 1 medium potato and salt as required.

You can even add french beans, baby corn, broccoli and cauliflower.

Optionally you can skip adding these boiled or steamed vegetables.



10. Stir to mix. Then add the drained cooked rice.



11. Stir and mix gently and uniformly.



12. Garnish tawa pulao with chopped coriander leaves and drizzled with a few drops of lemon juice (½ teaspoon).

Serve tawa pulao hot or warm with onion-lemon salad or yogurt or onion tomato raita accompanied with roasted papad and pickle.