Spicy vegetable pilau with cucumber raita

Whole foods recipe for 2 people, takes only 20 mins; recipe has garlic clove, rapeseed oil, onion, ginger, cinnamon stick, cumin seed, cardamom pod, ground turmeric, coriander, red chilli, red pepper, freekeh, vegetable stock, sultana, coriander, cashew nut, garlic clove, bio-yogurt, cucumber and mint.

Spicy vegetable pilau with cucumber raita

Spicy vegetable pilau with cucumber raita

Recipe by Chef Soomro Course: Whole foods
Servings

2

servings
Prep time

20 mins

Ingredients

  • Coriander: 1 tsp ground coriander
  • Red Pepper: 1 large red pepper, deseeded and diced
  • Garlic Clove: 2 garlic cloves
  • Red Chilli: 1 red chilli, halved, deseeded and sliced
  • Onion: 1 large onion, quartered and sliced
  • Vegetable Stock: 350ml vegetable stock (made with 2 tsp reduced-salt bouillon powder)
  • Mint: 2 tbsp chopped mint
  • Cucumber: 1/4 cucumber, grated
  • Rapeseed Oil: 1 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • Ginger: thumb-sized piece ginger, chopped
  • Cumin Seed: 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • Sultana: 25g sultanas
  • Ground Turmeric: 1 tsp ground turmeric
  • Bio Yogurt: 150ml pot bio-yogurt
  • Cardamom Pod: seeds from 8 cardamom pods
  • Cinnamon Stick: 1 cinnamon stick
  • Cashew Nut: 40g cashew nuts
  • Freekeh: 50g freekeh

Directions

  1. Chop the garlic for the pilau and set aside. Finely grate the garlic for the raita and put in a bowl. Heat the oil for the pilau in a large open pan, and fry the onion and ginger for 5 mins until softened. Stir in the whole and ground spices, and cook for a few secs to release their aromas. Add the chilli, red pepper and freekeh, stir briefly, then tip in the stock and sultanas. Simmer for 15 mins until the freekeh is tender but still nutty, adding the chopped garlic for the final 2 mins. The stock should have reduced and absorbed into the freekeh now.
  2. Meanwhile, finish the raita by stirring the yogurt, cucumber and mint into the grated garlic.
  3. When the pilau is cooked, stir in the coriander and cashews, and serve with the raita.