Herbed Vegan Fried Rice

This is an aromatic eye-catching and super easy-to-make rice mildly flavored with Cilantro and very few spices. This can be a standalone dish or eaten with any choice of sides - Stuffed Eggplants, Lebanese Eggplants, Navratan Curry, Flambeed Bell Pepper Curry or even better with Celery Root Remoulade.

Ingredients:

• Basmati Rice - 2 cups
• Cashews - 1/4 cup
• Carrots - 1/4 cup, sliced
• Zucchini - 1/4 cup, frozen
• Potato - 1 cup, cubed with skin-on
• Green Peas - 1/4 cup, fresh or frozen
• Lima Beans - 1/4 cup, frozen
• Fennel Seeds - 1 tsp
• Cloves - 2
• Bay Leaf - 1
• Olive Oil - 5 tbsp

For Grinding:

• Garlic - 3 large cloves, roughly chopped
• Onion - 1, medium, roughly chopped
• Green Chilli or Serrano pepper - 1-2
• Ginger - 1/2 inch
• Peppercorns - 1/2 tsp
• Cilantro - 1 bunch, small (~2 cups when chopped)
• Coconut - 1/4 cup, shredded, fresh or frozen

Procedure:

• In a skillet, add a tbsp of oil and add the grinding ingredients one by one till peppercorns and fry for a good 7-10 minutes on a low flame.
• Switch off the stove and add the cilantro and coconut to the skillet.
• Cool and grind all of them to a fine paste. Set aside.
• Soak the cleaned basmati rice for 20 minutes.
• In the same skillet add 1/2 tbsp of oil and brown the cashews.Set aside.
• In a deep thick-bottomed wide skillet, heat the remaining oil and add the clove, bay leaf and fennel seeds.
• Throw in the potatoes, carrot and fry until the potatoes are slightly browned.
• Add the other vegetables - Lima beans, Peas, Zucchini and browned cashews and finally the rice.
• Fry for 4-5 minutes in low flame.
• Pour the ground paste, stir gently and add 3 cups of water.
• Cook on medium flame with closed lid for 7-10 minutes.
• Sprinkle little more water if necessary.
• Serve hot with any side-dish choice.

Makes 3-4 medium-portioned servings.

Enjoy!