Paneer Peas Pulao
This easy and delicious Paneer Peas Pulao is ideal for lunchboxes or busy weeknight meals. Enjoy this one-pot paneer pulao with raita for a satisfying and complete meal.
Ingredients
- 250 grams Paneer
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 1 cup Frozen Green Peas
- 1 Onion thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon Ginger Garlic paste
- 2 Green Chillies
To fry the Paneer Cubes
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon Turmeric Powder
- ½ teaspoon Kashmiri Chili Powder
- 2 tablespoon Ghee
Whole Spices
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 2 Cardamom
- 1 Clove
- ½ teaspoon Cumin Seeds
- 1 Star Anise
Other Spice Powders
- 1 teaspoon Chilli Powder
- ½ teaspoon Garam Masala
- Salt as needed
Other Ingredients
- 20 Cashews
- 1 tablespoon Ghee
- 1 & ½ cups Water
- 3 tablespoon Chopped Cilantro
- 1 teaspoon Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, drain the rice and keep it aside.
- Cut the Paneer into cubes. Add salt, Kashmiri chili powder and turmeric powder. Mix well and keep it aside.
- Set the Instant Pot to Sauté mode and add 2 tablespoon of ghee. Once the ghee melts, add the paneer cubes, saute till golden brown and keep it aside. Next, add the cashews, saute till golden brown and keep it along with the roasted paneer.
- Again, add 1 tablespoon Ghee to the pot. Once the ghee melts, add the whole spices. Saute for a minute.
- Add thinly sliced onion, and green chilli. Saute till onions slightly change in colour.
- Add ginger garlic paste and saute till the raw smell goes. To this, add frozen green peas.
- Add salt, garam masala and red chilli powder. Mix everything well.
- Now add water, and drained rice. Mix once. Add salt if needed.
- Close the Instant Pot with the lid. Pressure cook for 6 minutes. Make sure the pressure valve is in the sealing position.
- Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, release the remaining pressure manually.
- Add the fried paneer cubes, cashews, finely chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice to the cooked rice in the Instant Pot.
- Close the Instant Pot lid. Let it stay on Keep Warm mode for 5 minutes.
- Open the lid, gently stir the Paneer Pulao without breaking the rice.
- Serve hot with raita, side dish.
Notes
For Paneer Pulao and Paneer Biryani, I always prefer frying the paneer cubes in ghee and adding it to the rice. If you do not want to do that, you can add the paneer cubes to the Pulao along with green peas and pressure cook them together.
Instead of frying the cashews and paneer cubes in the Instant Pot, you can fry them in a separate pan. I prefer frying them on a cast iron or nonstick pan for convenience. While the rice is cooking in the Instant Pot, I fry these on the stovetop and save time.
Ghee is used for a nice flavour. You can use oil in place of ghee.
Adjust spices to suit your taste.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!