Tawa Pulav in Mumbai style...

One of the things I like about Mumbai is the mouth watering street food that you get, especially the chaats available in every street corner. Juhu beach, while a very crowded place is quite different from the beach near our house in Hong Kong where apart from the waves and the wind there was hardly a soul around. Amid the crowd in the Juhu beach are several chaat and other food joints which are hard to miss. While my Hubby advises me not to have street food because of hygiene factors I always end up having atleast the pani puris :). No trip to this beach is complete without having those delectable Chaats and food that they serve there and one among their specialties is this Tawa pulav which I had infact never even heard of earlier. I liked it a lot because of the crunchiness of the vegetables and the masala's which add a distinct flavor to the rice and here comes the recipe.I am sharing some photos to get the feel of juhu beach.



Ingredients:
1 Cup Basmati rice
1 1/2 Cups Lengthly chopped mixed vegetables(Carrot,Beans,Alu,Capsicum,Gobi florets)
1/4 cup Fresh/Frozen Green peas
1/4 Cup chopped Tomato
2 medium onions thinly sliced
1/2 tsp ginger garlic paste
2 tbsp pav bhaji masala(the key ingredient in this pulav)
1 tsp Kitchen king masala(optional,i generally add this to some kind of pulav's and sabzi)
1/2 tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp red chilli powder(add if you want extra spicy stuff)
2 tbsp coriander leaves
2 bay leaves
juice of 1 lemon
Salt to taste
2 tbsp Oil
1 tbsp Butter

Method:
Soak Basmati rice in water for 10-15 mins and cook the rice.(Cook in large amount of water with a spoon of oil and strain it when the rice is cooked or you can even pressure cook it).Spread the rice on a wide plate which helps the granules to be separate.Heat Oil and butter in a thick bottomed Tawa or Pan,add the bay leaves,fry the Onions until translucent,then add ginger-garlic paste and then add the Veggies,peas and fry them for approx 6-7 mins until they are crisp(prick alu with a fork,if it is cut easily then it is done).Remove some portion of the vegetables from it and add pav bhaji masala,kitchen king masala,garam masala,red chilli powder,salt and the cooled rice to the remaining vegetables and mix gently on high flame and remove it from the stove and do the same procedure for the remaining rice.Sprinkle lemon juice and finely chopped coriander leaves all over.( Here, i did not add coriander leaves).The best way to do is mixing them in small portions in order to get a nice fluffy rice and a good smoking flavor to the rice.Serve it piping hot with some simple onion raitha.
I am sending this to Nag's 'Ravishing Rice' Event Which was originally started by Meeta.