Tomato Peas Fried Rice withPaneer

This can be made in a Jiffy. It is a very flavorful, delicious and quick recipe. This rice is very special to me because it's one of the one pot meals I make that my MIL loves. There are days when you want to eat something very yummy and hot but do not have time on hand or do not have veggies at home, that happens to me sometimes. This is it make Tomato Peas Fried Rice. I just added some paneer in it today which my kids loved as it was different from the usual tomato rice I make. its a one pot meal you can cook it in the same pan you saute everything together or transfer to a pressure cooker or rice cooker and its ready in 20 minutes.

Preparation time - under 40 minutes

Serving - 4 -6

Ingredients

1 small onion (finely chopped)
2 big tomato (finely chopped)
1/2 cup frozen peas
3 cups basmathi rice or long grain rice
2 Tbp Cooking  Oil
1/2 cup Yogurt
1/2 cup cubbed paneer pieces
1/2 Tsp Mustard seeds
 1/4 Tsp Cumin seeds
1/2 Tbs Garam masala (Everest)
 1 Tbp Salt

 To grind 

1/4 bunch Mint leaves ( handful)
1/4 bunch coriander leaves (handful)
1/2 inch piece ginger
2-3 garlic pods
2 chilies
little water

 Procedure

1. Wash and soak the rice for 15 minutes in water.
2. Grind all the ingredients in the  to grind list in to a fine paste in a blender.
3. Heat a pan add oil, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let it fry for a minute.
4. Add onions  to the oil and saute till transparent.
5. Add the tomato and saute for  2 minutes
6. Pour the ground mint/ coriander paste in to the pan and now add the salt.
7. Add the yogurt and garam masala to this and saute.
8. Cover with a lid and cook in medium flame  for 5 minutes or until the raw smell goes.
9. Drain the rice and add to the pan mix the whole thing together.
10. Add 6 cups of water and transfer the mix to a pressure cooker and cook for 3 whistles. 
11. Open the lid  mix once and serve hot with raitha and chips. 

Sometimes I cook with lid closed at low flame in the pan itself until the rice is completely cooked or in the rice cooker. Depending on the time I have to make the rice. If you do not have mint leaves or coriander leaves you can skip and the rice is still good. It tastes good even with plain yogurt or just with some plain chips. If you want to make it vegan you can exclude paneer and yogurt.

Enjoy!!