If you have any leftover rice and you need a perfect fail-free recipe, you must try this Indian Vegetable Rice, tempered with cumin seeds, bay leaf, and fresh veggies in Ghee. Team this vibrant colored and aromatic Vegetable Rice with homemade curd for a heavenly meal!
Vegetable Rice is a delicious and versatile dish that combines the goodness of vegetables with the boiled rice. While one may use the same recipe with few added steps to make vegetable rice from scratch, this recipe uses left-over rice.
Whenever I have boiled rice left over, I temper with veggies-onion, tomato, carrots, and peas along with Indian spices. These flavorful and aromatic vegetable rice are so addictive and amazingly delicious.
Serve these turmeric flavored Veg Pulao with any gravy dish or curd. Find more delicious rice recipes from my blog: Pumpkin Rice with Coconut Milk, Indian Lemon Rice, Cilantro Lime Brown Rice, Brown Rice Pulao, and Crispy Air Fried Rice Paper Rolls.
Why Would You Love This Recipe?
- Gluten Free Quick Recipe.
- Uses Left over rice and gathers in no time.
- Light Lunch or dinner.
- Can be made Vegan.
- Customizable Recipe
- Kids Friendly
- The Best Vegetable Rice Recipe Ever!
Ingredients
- Left Over Rice- I had boiled left over rice from the day before. I recommend storing the left over rice in refrigerator once they attain room temperature as they may get bad soon. I have used the Basmati brand of white rice. You may use any good quality brand. If you wish to use brown rice, you may follow my Brown Rice Pulao Recipe.
- Salt and Spices- The powdered Indian spices I have included are turmeric powder, red chilly powder and Garam Masala.
- Whole Spices- Adding whole spice like cumin seeds, bay leaf, clove and cinnamon brings perfect aromatic flavor to this rice recipe. You may also add cardamom and whole black pepper.
- Carrots- Since I made this in summer, I got these fresh orange carrots. You may use any seasonal variety of carrots.
- Peas- These frozen peas add more color to the rice. You may use fresh peas as well.
- Onion- red onion works best for this recipe. One may use spring onions too.
- Tomato- Fresh ripe and juicy tomatoes work well.
- Desi Ghee- I prefer using ghee for making rice. To make it vegan, you may use any vegetable oil.
- Lemon Juice- Adding fresh lemon juice balances the whole flavor of these rice.
Variations
- Veg Pulao from scratch- If you wish to make Vegetable rice or pulao using raw white rice, you may soak white rice for about 30 min. In a pressure cooker, add ghee, salt and spices along with veggies. When vegetables are tender, add raw rice (remove the soaked water). Add twice the water as rice amount. Pressure cook for 2 whistles on full.
- Add another green- You may garnish the vegetable rice with fresh coriander leaves or spinach leaves.
- Make Rice Protein-Rich- Add a few chunks of paneer and spinach to make protein-rich rice.
Storage Suggestions
I would highly recommend consuming the rice the same day as they are already left-over from the day before. But in case you have made the rice from scratch, you may let it cool off and store in dry container with lid in the refrigerator for about 1 day.
I don't recommend freezing the vegetable rice.
Expert Tips
- Use long-grain rice like basmati or jasmine for vegetable rice. These rice varieties have a fluffy texture and a pleasant aroma that pairs well with the vegetables. Remember the cooking time may vary with the variety of rice used.
- Cook the rice as per ratio mentioned in variation, if you use raw rice. Overcooked or mushy rice won't work well in vegetable rice.
- Different vegetables have different cooking times. Start by adding vegetables that take longer to cook, like carrots or broccoli, and add quicker-cooking vegetables, like peas or bell peppers, later in the process. This ensures that all the vegetables are cooked evenly.
- Saute in between so that the vegetables or rice don't stick to the bottom of wok. (Use heavy bottomed wok).
What to Team This Rice With?
- Plain Curd
- Bathua Raita
- Choley Masala
- Mushroom Masala
Recipe FAQs
Rice goes well with peas, carrots, beans, mushrooms, paneer, spinach, onion and tomato.
If you temper your rice with ghee, you would never have to look for anything to make it taste better.
This veggie rice is made of left over rice with veggies like carrots, peas, onion and tomato.
Detailed Recipe with Steps
Step 1 Wash, Chop, temper
Wash the vegetables and chop them in small. In a heavy bottomed wok, add ghee, whole spices and onion.
Step 2 Add more veggies
Once onions are transparent, add carrots and cook till tender. Add peas and tomatoes along with spices.
Step 3 Add Lemon Juice and Rice
Add salt, lemon juice and mix well. Add boiled rice and give it a good mix without mashing the rice too much.
Step 4 Serve It
The Vegetable Rice is ready and serve it hot with curd!
You may also like:
- Easy Vegan Fried Brown Rice
- Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Brown Rice Recipe- Pressure Cooker
- Pumpkin Rice Recipe With Coconut Milk (Wok + Instant Pot)
- Air Fryer Crispy Rice Paper Dumplings Recipe
- Jeera Rice in Desi Ghee- One Pot Cumin Rice
- Brown Rice Pulao Recipe (Indian Style)
If you make this recipe, share the image of it on our instagram account @veg.buffet or twitter account @vegbuffet
Vegetable Rice Recipe {uses Left-over rice}
Equipment
- 1 heavy bottomed wok
Ingredients
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 1 small carrot chopped
- ½ cup peas
- 1 large tomato chopped
- 1 small bayleaf (Tejpatta)
- 1 or 2 piece cloves (Laung)
- 1 small cinnamon (Dalchini)
- 4 cup boiled rice
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric powder(haldi)
- 2 teaspoon Red chilli powder (Lal Mirch) can reduce if you like less spicy
- 1 small Whole red chilli optional
- a pinch Hing (asaeoftida)
- 1 teaspoon Garm Masala
- 2 teaspoon Lemon Juice Can use Amchur powder as well (1 tsp)
- 1.5 tablespoon Desi ghee May use any other oil
- salt as per taste
Instructions
- Wash vegetables in running water. Chop the vegetables in small chunks. You may take any veggies of your choice. Being in lockdown, my choices were limited.
- Take the Whole spices like Bayleaf, cinnamon, Clove. You may add whole black pepper as well.
- You may use fresh rice as well. You need to soak them in water and put after veggies are cooked . Add 2.5 times water along with rice to cook them in steam.
- Take Desi Ghee in hevay bottomed Kadai. Add Jeera and Heeng along with whole spices: bayleaf, cloves, cinnamon and red chilly
- Once spices splutter and become aromatic, add Onions and cook till they are transparent. It takes around one min.
- You may cook more as some people like onions more brown.
- Add Carrots and peas along with little salt so that it cooks soon. You may also cover it with lid. If you are adding any other veggies, you may add that along with carrot.
- Once carrots become tender (depending on which veggies you have used, it might take max 10 min), add spices and tomatoes with more salt.
- Add lemon juice once tomatoes are cooked( you would know when tomatoes leave ghee)
- Add already boiled rice and Mix well. If you add fresh raw rice, you may add here along with 2.5 times (of rice qty) water. Cover with lid. If soaked rice are used, it takes around 10-15 min for rice to cook.
- The delicious and rempting vegetable rice is ready!! Serve it with your choice of chutney and curd. Enjoy!!
Notes
- Use long-grain rice like basmati or jasmine for vegetable rice. These rice varieties have a fluffy texture and a pleasant aroma that pairs well with the vegetables. Remember the cooking time may vary with the variety of rice used.
- Cook the rice as per ratio mentioned in variation, if you use raw rice. Overcooked or mushy rice won't work well in vegetable rice.
- Different vegetables have different cooking times. Start by adding vegetables that take longer to cook, like carrots or broccoli, and add quicker-cooking vegetables, like peas or bell peppers, later in the process. This ensures that all the vegetables are cooked evenly.
- Saute in between so that the vegetables or rice don't stick to the bottom of wok. (Use heavy bottomed wok).
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Serving size: 1 people | |
| Servings: 3 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 220 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 7.1g | 9% |
| Saturated Fat 4.1g | 20% |
| Cholesterol 10mg | 3% |
| Sodium 20mg | 1% |
| Total Carbohydrate 34.7g | 13% |
| Dietary Fiber 3.5g | 13% |
| Total Sugars 5.5g | |
| Protein 4.4g | |
| Vitamin D 0mcg | 0% |
| Calcium 28mg | 2% |
| Iron 7mg | 40% |
| Potassium 345mg | 7% |
| *The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calorie a day is used for general nutrition advice. | |
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