Tawa pulao (Mumbai spiced rice)
Mumbai’s street-stall rice: leftover basmati tossed in butter with a spiced tomato masala, peppers and peas, finished with lemon and cilantro.
- 30 min total
- 25 min hands-on
- Anyone can make this
- Serves 2
- About $2.52 a serving
- 600 calories
- Good the next day
- Vegetarian
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: I’d make this on a weeknight. It’s on the table in 30 minutes.
Ingredients
For 2 servings.
- 1 cup basmati rice, cooked and chilled, about 3 cups (leftover rice is perfect)
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- ½ green bell pepper, diced
- 2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1½ tsp garam masala
- ½ cup frozen peas
- ½ lemon, juiced
- 2 tbsp cilantro, chopped
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- ¼ tsp ground turmeric
- ¾ tsp salt
Each serving has about 600 calories, 12 g protein, 96 g carbs and 20 g fat, and costs about $2.52 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No basmati rice? Jasmine rice or long-grain white rice works.
- No yellow onions? White onions or red onions work.
- No green bell peppers? Red bell peppers or yellow bell peppers work.
- No tomatoes? Roma tomatoes work.
- No butter? Ghee works.
- No frozen peas? Frozen mixed vegetables work.
- No lemons? Limes work.
- No cilantro? Fresh parsley works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Break up the cold rice with your fingers. the onion, the garlic, the ginger, the pepper and chop the tomatoes.
Finely chop. Finely chopping means cutting food into small pieces, a little bigger than minced, about the size of a lentil. Small pieces spread their flavor through the dish and cook quickly.
How you’ll know: Nothing is bigger than a lentil, and the pile looks like confetti rather than paste.
Mince. Mincing means chopping something into the tiniest pieces you can, smaller than a grain of rice. Tiny pieces melt into the dish, so you get the flavor without biting into a chunk of garlic.
How you’ll know: Every piece is tiny and about the same size, and the pile starts to look almost like a paste.
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.
Dice. Dicing means cutting food into small, even cubes, usually a quarter to half an inch across. Pieces the same size cook at the same speed, so nothing burns while the rest catches up.
How you’ll know: Your pieces are little cubes about the size of a chickpea, and they all look close to the same.
the butter with the oil in a large over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, 5 minutes, until soft and at the edges.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
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.
Medium heatTimer: 5 min
Add the garlic, ginger and pepper and cook 2 minutes.
Medium heatTimer: 2 min
Add the tomatoes, garam masala, paprika, cayenne, turmeric and salt. Cook, mashing the tomatoes with your spoon, 4 to 5 minutes, until soft and saucy.
Medium heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: This tomato masala is where all the flavor comes from, so let the tomatoes break down completely.Turn the heat up to medium-high, add the peas and rice, and 4 to 5 minutes, until every grain is orange and steaming hot.
Toss. Tossing means gently lifting and turning food so everything gets coated, like pasta in sauce or vegetables in oil. It coats every piece evenly without mashing anything.
How you’ll know: Every piece looks glossy or evenly coated, with no dry spots hiding underneath.
Medium-high heatTimer: 4 min 30 sec
Dolly’s tip: Use rice that went into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking. Rice left out overnight isn’t safe, even once it’s fried.Food safety: Put leftovers in the fridge within 2 hours and eat them within 3 to 4 days. Reheat until steaming hot, 165°F.
Squeeze in the lemon juice, taste for salt, and serve topped with cilantro.
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.
More dinners like this
30-minute dinners ›One-pan dinners ›What to make with rice and bell peppers ›What to make with rice and tomatoes ›What to make with bell peppers and tomatoes ›