Corn Pulao

Fresh corn is probably the cheapest vegetable (or should I say grain) this time of the year. I got a dozen of them for $1.00. After doing the usual corn roasts and corn salad, this is a new recipe for me from the tamil cookbook author Mallika Badrinath. The corn is quite chewy and just rightly cooked at the end of cooking, not mushy at all. A good recipe to make use of the plentiful corn.

Corn pulao

1 cup rice (I used basmati brown rice)
1 medium onion, sliced thin
4 cloves
1 inch cinnamon bark
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
2 bay leaves
3 ears corn, husked and kernels removed

Grind together into a paste:
1/4 cup mint or 1/2 cup cilantro
4 green chilis
2 dried red chilies
1 inch nob ginger, peeled
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp garam masala powder or any curry powder

Soak rice for 10 min. Drain well.

Heat a tbsp of oil. Add Cumin, cloves, cinnamon and bay leaves. When the cumin starts to brown, add onion and saute until it is soft. Now add rice and saute for 2 min until the rice seems more whitish and opaque. Add the ground paste and saute for another minute. Add salt as required. Add water according to the usual requirement (I use 2 cups water for 1 cup rice). Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer. When the rice is half done, add corn kernels. Cover and cook until rice is cooked through. Serve hot with raita of your choice.