Name: Instant Pot Vegetable Rice
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 24 min
Ingredients: 2 Cups basmati rice; 2 ¼ cups water; 1 cup green beans; 2 carrots; 1 cup chopped red onions; 1 garlic cloves; ½ inch ginger; Salt to taste; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp cumin powder; ½ tsp red chili powder (or kashmiri red chili powder); 2 cloves powdered; ½ tsp black pepper powder; ½ tsp cinnamon powder; 1 tbsp organic tomato paste (or use 1 tomato); 5-8 Tbsp Cashew paste or coconut cream

It's not the most popular Indian rice dish for nothing....Instant Pot Vegetable rice or Vegetable Pulao is an easy one-pot rice dish mixed with a variety of vegetables and flavored with aromatic spices. I am sharing an easy way to cook this delicacy in less than 30 minutes.

A copper pot is filled with vegetable rice and topped with cashew nuts

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Ingredients notes
How to make this recipe
Why I am getting a Burn sign?
Top tips
📖 Recipe
Comments

Today, I have an announcement to make along with a recipe for a time-tested, fan-favorite Indian dish prepared in an easy way. The announcement is that I have added a new gadget in my kitchen that could cut my cooking time in half! It's the new Instant Pot! I have been getting requests for recipes that can be prepared with the Instant Pot, for some time and I decided to start with a dish that is quite popular in almost all Indian restaurants. That is Vegetable Rice.

Let's look at finer details of cooking with an instant pot to make a quick, easy, and delicious vegetable rice dish or pulao. This dish is very common in every Indian house. There are a few different methods of preparing pulao or vegetable rice.

I am sharing a simple vegetable rice recipe that goes well with the lunch box as well as a weekday dinner.

To begin with, I soaked basmati rice for nearly 15 minutes and then drained them. I set it for 4 minutes of cook time in manual mode. The recommended ratio of rice and water is 1:1, but I went with a little extra water to make up for the vegetables that I added. That is pretty much the only customization you will need in preparing this recipe.

Ingredients notes

A table is filled with vegetable rice ingredients like rice, vegetables, and spices — Vegetable Rice Ingredients

Vegetables: Use your choice of fresh vegetables like green beans, carrots, peas, and cauliflower. Be sure to cut the green beans to approximately the same size as carrots so they cook evenly.
Cashew cream or coconut cream: To make cashew cream, soak cashews in warm water for 30 minutes and blend it into a smooth cream. As an alternate, you could also use the top layer of canned coconut milk.
Spices: Using fresh ground spices adds to the flavor instead of storebought spices.
Tomato paste or fresh tomatoes: Tomato paste gives a burst of flavor to the vegetable rice, but you could also replace it with fresh tomatoes if you do not have tomato paste.
Basmati rice: I used extra long basmati rice in this recipe. Feel free to use any type of rice, be sure to adjust the water to rice ratio for that kind of rice.

How to make this recipe

A pot is filled with ginger, garlic and onions over the heat

Drizzle the oil into the inner pot. With the saute setting, saute ginger and garlic when the oil is hot, for about a minute with constant stirring. Add onions and continue to cook for one more minute.

Add tomato paste or fresh chopped tomatoes. stir well for 30 seconds.

An instant pot is filled with spices and vegetables for vegetable rice

Add all the spices listed above and continue to stir.

A pot is with vegetables, coconut cream and its over the heat

Add chopped carrots, chopped green beans, and stir well for 1-2 minutes and cashew paste or coconut cream and stir well.

An instant pot is filled with rice, and water along with other ingredients

Now, add rice and water as listed in the ingredients list and stir well to get an even mix.

Close the lid of the instant pot and turn the steam release handle to a sealing position. Press Pressure cooking and set the time for 4 minutes. When time is up, open the lid using a 10-minute natural release. ( that means you have to keep it warm for 10 mins)

At the end of 10 minutes, open the lid and remove the pot from the cradle.

Why I am getting a Burn sign?

Since you are adding vegetables and lots of spice powders, there is a small chance that the pot will show a "burn" sign at the end of the cooking cycle, but this is not a reason to panic.

All you would have to do is turn it off and wait for the pressure to come down on its own and the lid will release naturally.

Few reasons for burn signs are

Not enough liquid in Instant Pot.
Spices that stay under the bottom of the pot.
Some food such as cream or milk scalds easily in the Instant Pot

So to avoid this add enough liquid and mix well before closing the lid, to avoid burning the pot.

Top tips

Refrigerate the coconut milk to extract the cream out of it.
Soak the basmati rice as you prep the vegetables.
Add roasted cashews for crunchiness and flavor.
Garnish with cilantro leaves and serve with raita for extra taste.

My dish turned out beautifully and I am sure yours will too! With fewer dishes to wash, the instant pot has really made our lives easier.

A pot is filled with vegetable pulao and placed on the black table

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