2cupsWaterfor stove top (1 cup water for Instant pot)
Instructions
Take basmati rice in a strainer and rinse under running cold water until the water runs clear. Soak rice in enough water for 15-20 minutes. After that, drain the soaking water and discard.
Heat the oil in a saucepan on medium heat. Once hot add whole spices (cloves, cinnamon stick, green cardamoms, black cardamom, mace and bay leaf). Saute for 40-60 seconds or until you get a nice aroma of the spices.
Add onion with a sprinkle of salt. Cook until onions get soft and translucent or light pink.
Add ginger, garlic paste and green chili. Saute for 40-60 seconds or until the raw smell of ginger garlic goes away.
Add green peas and sweet corn. Mix and cook for a minute.
Add remaining salt, garam masala and crushed kasoori methi.
Add drained rice. Mix and saute for a minute.
Add water, crank the heat to high and bring the water to a rolling boil.
Cover the pan with a lid and lower the heat to the lowest possible and cook for 17-18 minutes. Then turn off the stove and let it rest covered for 10 minutes.
After resting time, open the lid. Fluff up the corn pulao using a fork.
Instant Pot Corn Pulao:
Follow the same steps as above in instant pot with saute mode.
You’ll need less water (1 cup of water for 1 cup of rice) for instant pot method.
After adding water, no need to bring it to a boil. Simply cover the instant pot with a lid and keep the valve in a sealing position.
Pressure cook on manual (high pressure) for 4 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes then do QPR (quick pressure release) by positioning the valve to venting. Once the pin drops open the lid.
Let the pulao rest for 10 minutes and then fluff up using a fork.
Notes
Soaking the rice step gives a fluffy and soft texture, so I would not skip it.
Resting the cooked corn pulao for 10 minutes (covered) is an important step. During this time, rice grains will firm up and they do not break as you fluff up later. The piping hot rice grains are fragile and if your fluff them up right away without resting, they will get mushy.