Fragrant, comforting, and easy to serve as a complete meal, Vegetable Quinoa Pulao is a vegetarian American, Indian main course made with cooked quinoa, oil, and small red onion in about 30 minutes. The recipe lays out the ingredients and each cooking step clearly, so you can adjust seasoning, texture, and serving size for your own kitchen.
Recipe Snapshot
- Prep time: 15 minutes
- Cook time: 15 minutes
- Total time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 2
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: American, Indian
Ingredients
- 2.5 cups cooked quinoa
- 2 teaspoons oil (I used avocado oil)
- 1 small red onion (chopped)
- 2 garlic cloves (crushed)
- 2 green chili (crushed)
- 1/2 inch ginger (crushed)
- 1 medium tomato (chopped)
- 1/2 cup paneer cubes
- 1/2 cup cauliflower florets (small)
- 1/4 cup green peas
- 1/4 cup sweet corn
- salt (to taste)
- juice of 1 lemon
- cilantro/mint (to garnish)
whole spices
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 black cardamoms
- 2 green cardamoms
- 2 cloves
- 4 black peppercorns
- 1 cinnamon stick
Method
- Heat oil in pan on medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add bay leaf, green cardamom, black cardamom, peppercorns, cinnamon stick and cloves. Saute for 30 seconds till fragrant.
- Add chopped onion and saute for 2 minutes.
- Then add the crushed ginger-garlic-green chili and cook for a minute or so till the raw smell goes away.
- Add chopped tomato and cook for 2 minutes or so.
- Then add all the veggies - paneer, cauliflower, peas and corn. Also add salt.
- Cover and cook on medium heat for 5-7 minutes or till veggies are cooked.
- Once the veggies are cooked, add the cooked quinoa.
- Mix everything till well combined. Check salt at this point and adjust to taste.
- Squeeze in some fresh lemon juice and mix.
- Garnish with vegetable quinoa pulao with cilantro or mint and serve with a side of plain yogurt.
Kiyaan Singh’s Kitchen Note
Keep this recipe as a working base: cook once as written, then adjust spice, texture, and serving style for your own table.
