Instant Pot chickpea pulao
Fragrant basmati rice cooked with chickpeas, peas, carrots and warm spices in one pot, served with a cool cucumber yogurt, an easy Indian one-pot dinner.
- 40 min total
- 15 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $1.20 a serving
- 470 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 1 tsp garam masala
- 1½ cups basmati rice, rinsed
- 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 carrot, diced
- 1 cup plain yogurt (optional)
- ½ cucumber, grated (optional)
From your pantry
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 bay leaves
- ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- 1¾ cups water
- 1¼ tsp salt
Each serving has about 470 calories, 14 g protein, 82 g carbs and 10 g fat, and costs about $1.20 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No basmati rice? Jasmine rice or long-grain white rice works.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No plain yogurt? Plain Greek yogurt works.
- No cucumbers? English cucumbers or mini cucumbers work.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Set the Instant Pot to , add the oil and onion, and cook, stirring, 6 to 7 minutes, until at the edges.
Sauté. Sautéing means cooking cut-up food in a little oil or butter over medium to medium-high heat, stirring now and then. It cooks things quickly and browns them lightly without burning.
How you’ll know: You hear a steady, lively sizzle, not a hiss and spit, and the edges start to soften and color.
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 6 min
Add the garlic, ginger, bay leaves, cinnamon, cumin, garam masala and turmeric and stir 1 minute, . Press Cancel.
Fragrant. Fragrant means cooking until you can clearly smell it, usually garlic or spices, often in about 30 seconds. That’s the moment the flavor is ready, just before it can burn.
How you’ll know: You can smell it from a step back, and garlic is pale gold, not brown.
Add the rice and stir gently 1 minute, until coated.
Pour in the water and scrape the bottom well. Add the chickpeas, peas, carrot and salt, stir once, and press the rice down so it sits under the liquid.
Dolly’s tip: A clean bottom keeps the burn warning away.Lock the lid, set the valve to Sealing and cook on High Pressure for 6 minutes. Let the pressure come down on its own for 10 minutes, then turn the valve to Venting.
Timer: 6 min
Dolly’s tip: The 10-minute wait finishes the rice. Venting straight away leaves it wet.Open the lid, fish out the bay leaves and fluff gently with a fork.
Stir the yogurt with the cucumber and of salt for a quick raita, and serve it with the pulao.
Grate. Grating means rubbing food across the holes of a grater to make fine shreds or flakes. It spreads cheese, garlic or ginger evenly through a dish so it melts right in.
How you’ll know: Even shreds fall off the back of the grater, and you stop while the piece is still big enough to hold.
Pinch. A pinch is what you can hold between your thumb and two fingers, less than an eighth of a teaspoon. It’s a small, forgiving amount, so there’s no need to measure.
How you’ll know: It’s a light sprinkle you can barely see on the food, not a little pile.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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