Bengali vegetable pulao recipe aka Bengali white fried rice recipe which is also called Bengali ghee Bhat is one of the gems of our Bengali kitchen. Bengali pulao is my favourite because of its distinct colour and flavours, whereas Bengali Basanti pulao is yellow in colour with the wonderful aroma, came from a perfect combination of some essence, ghee, and garam masalas, there Bengali white pulao is pure white coloured flavourful rice with colourful veggies and a nice combination of ghee and garam masalas. Just like, both of them compete with each other to get the crown of Best pulao of Bengal.
In any part of India, wherever pulao is being prepared, ghee and garam masala both are playing a key role to make it flavourful. And who are searching for a subtle flavourful rice or rice with vegetables then this Bengali white pulao is ideal for them.
Bengali white pulao, a combination of long grain basmati rice, carrot, beans, green peas, cashew nuts and raisins with flavourful ghee and garam masalas. When we add little green chilies, a perfect amount of sugar and salt to it, it tastes out of the world. This Bengali white pulao wonderfully goes with almost all Bengali non-veg preparation and goes pretty well with some of our Bengali veg dishes.
Bengali white rice is an authentic Bengali delicacy which is Bengalis favorite preparation in any festival like Durga Puja to Kali Puja or Poila boishak(Bengali new year) to Jamaishosthi(a celebration for the son-in-laws). But whatever the occasion is, Bengali white pulao is always special in Bengali household.
Today I’m going to share Bengali white pulao recipe in my way though it’s quite influenced by my mom’s procedure of making Bengali white pulao. I had Bengali white pulao in many occasions in Kolkata but my mom’s Bengali white pulao is the best pulao I ever had.
Here, I’ve applied some little tricks to make it more colorful and flavourful, please stay with me till the end to know all the secrets.
You can try this Bengali white pulao with my chicken kosha recipe, mutton kasha recipe, aloor dum recipe or even daab chingri recipe, dim kosha recipe.
Please let me know how it works in your kitchen and leave a comment in the comment box below.
Bengali vegetable pulao recipe aka Bengali white fried rice recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups Basmati rice
- 1 1/2 cups julienne cut carrots
- 1 1/2 cup bias cut green beans
- 1/2 cup green peas
- 1 green chili
- a handful of cashew nuts
- a handful of raisins
- 1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder
- whole garam masalas
- 3 bay leaves
- 8 tbsp sugar
- 3 tbsp ghee or clarified butter
- 2 tbsp refined oil
- salt (as required)
For tempering
- 1 1/2 inch cinnamon stick(broken into 2-3 pieces)
- 5 cloves
- 5 green cardamom(remove the seeds from the pods and use it together)
- 3 bay leaves
Prep time: 15 mins
cook time: 35 mins
served in: 50 mins
cuisine: Bengali
course: Lunch/Dinner
served for: 7 people
Author: Moumita Paul
Instructions
How to make bengali vegetable pulao with step by step pictures
For boiling the veggies:
- Wash all the veggies which we are going to use in this Bengali white pulao.
- julienne the carrots, you can cut it into small cubes too and bias cut the green beans.
- Take a wide bowl with 1/2 of water it, place it to medium heat and bring it to boil.
- When the water starts to boil, add the carrots, beans and green peas to it. Add salt to it.
- It’s my secret to add 1 1/2 tsp sugar to it to keep the veggies color intact. As after boiling the veggies it generally loses its original color and looks fade.
- When the veggies will be half cooked then strain the veggies through a strainer to remove the excess water. After straining to keep it aside for later use.
Preparing the rice
- Take 2 cups long grain basmati rice in the bowl and rinse it under the running water for 4-5 times till the dirt goes off.
- Soak the rice in fresh water for 30 minutes.
- Take a wide and deep bottom saucepan with adding 1/2 of water to it.
- Place the saucepan on a high heat, add 1 tsp salt and cover the saucepan with a lid or a plate(it’s my secret to quickly boil the water). Bring it to boil.
- Quickly it will start to boil, then strain the water from the soaked rice and add it in the boiling water.
- Cook the rice up to 80-90 percent as shown in the pic.
- Drain the starch from the rice immediately through a strainer or your own way of straining rice.
- Spread the rice in 2-3 plates and place it under a running fan to cool it down quickly to keep every grain of rice intact(not more than 5 mins). This procedure will prevent rice from overcooking as basmati rice is very delicate in nature. When rice is completely cool down, keep it aside.
Making Bengali vegetable pulao aka white fried rice
- Take a deep bottom wide pan, place it on medium heat, add 2tbsp refined oil with 2 tbsp ghee or clarified butter in it.
- Add 1 1/2 inch cinnamon stick(broken into pieces), 5 cloves, 5 green cardamoms.
- Now add veggies to it and stir it nicely and let cook it for about 3-4 mins.
- Then take the veggies in a side of the pan and add cashew and raisins to the empty portion of the pan. Stir it well without mixing with the veggies and fry it for 2 mins.
- Now mix the dry fruits with the veggies and then add chopped green chili to it stir it and fry the mix for 2 minutes more.
- It’s time to add rice to the pan, add the rice in 3-4 batches. After adding each batch to the pan mix the rice gently and well with the veggies and dry fruits.
- Add sugar and salt(as required) to it. And then stir it gently to mix the all ingredients properly.
- Once the mixing is done cover the pan and slows down the heat for 2-3 minutes.
- Then I apply a little trick to make it more flavourful. I add 1 1/2 tsp garam masala powder and 1tbsp ghee to it. Mix it nicely and cover the pan with a lid. Turn off the heat. Let the flavor of ghee and garam masala infused in the Bengali white pulao.
- Bengali vegetable pulao aka white fried rice is ready, I served it with chicken kasha. You can also have it with the veg or nonveg preparation of your choice.
Tips
- I’ve cut the veggies as per my choice, you can cut the veggies in your own way.
- I’ve boiled the veggies as boiled veggies don’t require much oil or ghee to fry it.





