Instant Pot Rice Pilaf (Tahari)

Instant pot rice pilaf is loaded with lots of vegetables. This one-pot rice is an easy and quick dish to add to your busy weeknight dinner menu. This rice pilaf is vegan, gluten-free, and takes less than 30 minutes.

Normally when I want to make something quick for lunch or dinner, rice seems to be the best option. Let it be Mexican rice, lemon rice, dal khichdi, mix vegetable fried rice. No doubt rice is my favorite grain.

If you have leftover rice, then you can make rice pilaf in just 8 - 10 minutes. You can stir fry the vegetables and few regular spices and mix the rice.

Is rice pilaf same as tahari?

Yes, this is the same dish with different names in different cuisine. Tahari belongs to Awadhi cuisine and pilaf term is derived from Persian pilav. This is also known as pulao, tehri, tehari, tihari, tahari, etc. You can check other numerous names on Wikipedia. The origin, etymology is vast in fact.

In this recipe rice is cooked with flavorful spices and vegetables in one pot.

Rice pilaf or pulao or tahari is a one-pot dish and prepared in a pressure cooker. You can make this on a manual pressure cooker or in an electric pressure cooker (instant pot).

Why you will love this rice pilaf?

• Loaded with veggies

• Quick & easy

• Less than 30 minutes

• Vegan

• Gluten-free, soy-free

• Can be oil-free

How to make Instant pot rice pilaf?

Wash and rinse the rice for 2 - 3 times under water till it's clear.

Start instant pot on saute mode and pour 2 tbsp oil into it. Once it's hot, add the whole spices (bay leaf, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon). Saute for a minute. Then add sliced onions followed by ginger and garlic. Saute till onions are translucent.

Next, add chopped veggies and saute for 3 - 4 minutes stirring in between. Add other spices (coriander powder, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, salt). Stir nicely. Now deglaze by adding 1/4 cup broth or water. Next, add rinsed rice and stir quickly. Then add rest 1 cup water.

Now cancel the "saute" mode and start "pressure cook" mode and set the timer for 3 minutes. Seal the venting knob. The timer will start once it comes to pressure. After the timer beeps let it be on NPR (natural pressure release) mode for 15 minutes. You may see the sign "keep warm". Then carefully open the lid and fluff it with a spoon. Close the lid and again let it be like that for another 5 minutes. Then remove the inner pot and garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

What should be the proportion of rice to water?

When you are cooking plain rice in the instant pot, the ratio of water to rice is 1:1. But since we are adding veggies, we need 1/4 cup more water. So for 1 cup rice 1 + 1/4 cup water is required.

What spices are used in this instant pot rice pilaf?

In this rice pilaf, I have used some whole spices that bring in a strong aroma and flavor to the rice. Apart from that, some common ground spices like coriander powder, red chili powder, turmeric powder are used in this pilaf rice.

Now, many of my readers who don't follow Indian cuisine so often and don't have these spices handy all the time, questions about the alternatives. Well, in that case also you can have a delicious rice pilaf.

If you don't get the whole spices (bay leaf, clove, cardamom, cinnamon) in your pantry, then just skip that, and still, you can have your vegetable rice pilaf with just coriander powder, chili powder, turmeric powder, and skip bay leaf, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves.

But you can easily get them in any Asian supermarket. Alternatively, you can add "garam masala" or all spices to the rice. This is a suggestion only. You can play around with your ingredients or spices.

Which vegetables goes best for this rice pilaf?

The best combination of vegetables that goes well with this pulao are potatoes, cauliflower, bell peppers, green peas, carrots, green beans. Here I have added green peas, carrots, potatoes, beans, cauliflower, mushrooms.

You can add whatever vegetable is available including broccoli, paneer, or tofu. There is no thumb rule that any vegetable can not be added to such a versatile recipe.

What rice is best for this vegetable rice pilaf?

The best option is basmati rice. Those are long and white rice that fluffs perfectly in such recipes. You can also use brown rice but the cooking time changes with that as brown rice takes little longer as compared to the write grains.

Recipe Card for Instant Pot Rice Pilaf

Here I would request you to read other similar posts like mushroom matar masala, paneer tikka masala, gatte ki sabzi, palak paneer. Also read matar paneer curry, dum aloo, bagara baingan, lauki kofta curry, malai kofta curry, shaam savera curry.

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