Tawa Pulao Recipe

Serve it with raita (like onion raita, cucumber raita) and papad to make it a filling meal.

❤️ About Tawa Pulao Recipe

Tawa pulao is one of the popular (Mumbai) Indian street foods. The street vendors (or restaurants) who serve pav bhaji also have this delicious pulao on their menu. These street vendors make pav bhaji on the large tawa. They also make pulao on this same tawa hence the name tawa pulao. Tawa means griddle (flat or concave disc-shaped frying pan). 

The spice level can be adjusted. The given measurements make medium spicy pulao. Reduce or increase the amount of red chili powder as per your liking. Great for Lunchbox: Tawa pulao can be packed into kids’ or adult’s lunchbox with yogurt or raita in a separate container.  Make it healthy: Skip the butter and add a little more oil in tempering. Substitute the white rice with brown rice. Of course, it won’t taste like traditional tawa pulao, but it will be perfect for day-to-day meals.

Make it with quinoa: I have used the same recipe and substituted the rice with cooked quinoa. I have tried with half rice and half quinoa. And we liked the latter one more.  

🧾 Ingredient Notes

Here is the pic of the ingredients used in making this flavorful Mumbai-style tawa pulao recipe.

Cooked basmati rice: I usually make extra rice a day before and store it in the refrigerator. Cold rice won’t break or get mushy while mixing with veggies. If making fresh rice then I highly recommend making it ahead of time, spread the rice on thali/tray and let them cool down completely before using it in the recipe. If you stir/mix hot or warm rice then they may break and become mushy. Butter: the pulao you get at the street stalls is laden with butter plus, it is garnished with more butter before serving. To make it vegan, replace the butter with oil.  Ginger, Garlic, Green chili: You can use store-bought or homemade ginger paste and garlic paste along with chopped green chili. For the last few months, I have been using a wet jar of my spice grinder to coarsely grind ginger garlic green chili together. Veggies: carrot, peas and bell peppers are used by those street vendors and so does this recipe. But if making for everyday meals then you can add other veggies like green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, sweet corn, etc. Tomatoes: When it comes to Indian cooking, I prefer to use Roma or plum tomatoes. Other verities like beefsteaks or wine ripe tomatoes give a sour taste to the dish. Pav bhaji masala: This spice makes the pulao unique and different tasting from the usual pulao recipe. I prefer Everest brand pav bhaji masala.

👩‍🍳 How To Make Tawa Pulao? (Stepwise)

1. Take carrot and peas in a microwave-safe bowl. Add a pinch of salt and water. Cook for 4 minutes on high power. Or you can steam or boil them.
2. Heat the butter and oil in a pan on medium heat. Once hot add cumin seeds and let them sizzle a bit.
3. Then add chopped onion and crushed ginger garlic green chili. 
4. Stir and saute for 4-5 minutes or until the onion turns soft and translucent or pink in color. Plus, the raw smell of ginger-garlic goes away.
5. Add tomatoes and green bell pepper along with salt.
6. Mix and cook until tomatoes are almost mushy and soft.
7. Add turmeric powder, red chili powder and pav bhaji masala.
8. Mix well and cook for a minute.
9. Add cooked peas and carrot.
10. Add cooked basmati rice.
11. Mix everything together.
12. Add lime juice, stir. Pulao is ready to serve.

💭 Expert Tips

If using other veggies like broccoli, cauliflower, corn, potato then you may need to boil or steam them. Here I have used peas-carrot and those take very little time to cook so I have microwaved them.  Highly recommend using cold leftover rice. Cold rice holds its shape and doesn’t break while mixing.  If using freshly cooked rice then let the rice cool down completely before using. Warm or hot rice tends to break or fall apart when stirred/mixed. Be careful while adding salt. Add only enough for veggies because your cooked rice is already salted. Skip adding lime/lemon juice to tawa pulao if your tomatoes are sour.

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