Ghee Rice with Veggies and Paneer | Ghee Bhath

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Here is a simple kid’s friendly Ghee Bhath or Ghee Rice with Veggies and Paneer – a perfect lunch box recipe. It is pretty much similar to pulav but without dried masalas or kada masala.  I know it’s still summer break and instead of posting summer specials, I am posting lunch box special. As summer specials are coming next week, I thought why not prep for back to school now?

This week’s blogging marathon theme is kid’s friendly lunch box recipes and I picked it right away because I have quite a few recipes to post.  These are the main things that I keep in mind while packing the lunch box for the kiddo.

• He cannot reheat his food at school. So I need pack food that doesn’t need reheating and the thermos I use helps me a lot. It keeps food warm (not hot) up to 6 hours. I usually pack his food around 6:30 AM and his lunch time is at 11:15 AM.
• Of course it has to be Vaandu’s favorite and now his two new conditions are easy and mess free food.
• Above all the lunch box recipes should be simple so that I can prepare them in the busy mornings and pack before 6:30 AM. I love the “make ahead” concept and the three recipes that I am going to post follow the same principle.  (I know, I can hear you. Yes I don’t make fresh food from scratch every morning. I do give him home made and semi-homemade “make ahead” foods. I don’t carry over food for more than one day. So basically I do all the prep-work the night before and assemble them in the morning.  Please choose whatever works for you :-) )

The first recipe is the ghee bhaat or ghee rice and before getting into the recipe let me share how I assemble or prep for it.

The Way I Prep For This Recipe:

• I use ¼ cup of chopped cabbage, 1 carrot chopped and 5 to 6 beans chopped. I make sure all the veggies are chopped the night before. Same with paneer. I just chop them into small cubes. Vaandu loves (err worships) paneer so I need to add them for sure.
• Most of the times (especially during winter), I cook the rice overnight and leave it in the pressure cooker as is.
• So morning, I just need to chop onions and sauté the veggies and add rice and mix. Boom you are done.

Between whatever goes in kiddo’s lunch box goes in ours too.

Now back to the recipe,

Ingredients:

• Rice – 1.5 cups (I used basmati rice)
• Water – 3 cups + 3 tbsps
• Ghee – 1 tbsp
• Oil – 1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds – 1 tbsp
• Green Chillies – 2
• Chopped Cabbage – 1/4 cup
• Chopped Carrot – 1
• Peas – 1/4 cup (I used frozen peas)
• Beans – 5 to 6 chopped
• Choppe Onion – 1/3 cup
• Salt – 1.5 tsps
• Paneer  – 5 oz chopped into cubes (I used half of my 10oz packet)
• Cumin Powder – 1/2 tsp

Prep – Work

• Wash the rice nicely and cook it in your preferred way. I cooked in my rice cooker and went with 1:2 rice to water ratio.
• Let the rice cool down.
• Chop all the veggies and the paneer.

Steps:

• Heat a wide pan or kadai and oil and ghee.
• Once the oil and ghee become hot, add the cumin seeds.
• As they start to splutter, add the chopped green chilly and onion.
• Cook until the onion turns translucent. 

• Now add all the veggies and salt. 

• Mix them well and add the 3 tbsps of water and cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
• By now the veggies will be tender. Now remove the lid and cook until the water is all evaporated.

• That’s it the the veggie mix is ready.
• Preparing Paneer:
• Heat a small pan and add 1/2 tsp of oil.
• Once the oil is hot add the cumin powder and paneer and mix well.

• Let it roast until the paneer turns golden brown on both sides.

Assembling:

• Add the cooled down rice to the veggie mix and mix them well.
• Check for salt and add if required.
• Finally add the fried paneer and that’s it.

I usually serve this with onion raita or just plain yogurt.

Notes:

• Any rice variety can be used. Basmati is not mandatory.
• If you are not preparing this for lunch box, you can add 2 tbsps of ghee instead of 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp of ghee. When ghee rice is not warm enough, it will be difficult to consume. So for lunch box I got with the combo of ghee and oil.
• Addition of paneer is completely optional. Instead of paneer dried nuts and raisins can be used too and it will be perfect for potlucks.
• Adjust the veggies, salt and green chilly according to your preference.
• I didn’t add any other masala. You can add kada masala (Cardamom, Cloves and Cinnamon) to make this as ghee pulav.

Ghee Rice with Veggies and Paneer | Ghee Bhath

Ghee Bhath is a simple kid’s friendly lunch box recipe prepared with veggies and fried paneer.

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Prep Time: 40 mins

Cook Time: 20 mins

Total Time: 1 hr

Course: Entree

Cuisine: Indian

Keyword: ghee rice, paneer ghee rice

Author: Srividhya G

Ingredients

• Rice - 1.5 cups I used basmati rice
• Water - 3 cups + 3 tbsps
• Ghee - 1 tbsp
• Oil - 1 tbsp + 1/2 tsp
• Cumin Seeds - 1 tbsp
• Green Chillies - 2
• Chopped Cabbage - 1/4 cup
• Chopped Carrot - 1
• Peas - 1/4 cup I used frozen peas
• Beans - 5 to 6 chopped
• Choppe Onion - 1/3 cup
• Salt - 1.5 tsps
• Paneer - 5 oz chopped into cubes I used half of my 10oz packet
• Cumin Powder - 1/2 tsp

Instructions

• Prep - Work
• Wash the rice nicely and cook it in your preferred way. I cooked in my rice cooker and went with 1:2 rice to water ratio.
• Let the rice cool down.
• Chop all the veggies and the paneer.

Steps

• Heat a wide pan or kadai and oil and ghee.
• Once the oil and ghee become hot, add the cumin seeds.
• As they start to splutter, add the chopped green chilly and onion.
• Cook until the onion turns translucent.
• Now add all the veggies and salt.
• Mix them well and add the 3 tbsps of water and cover and cook for about 5 minutes.
• By now the veggies will be tender. Now remove the lid and cook until the water is all evaporated.
• That’s it the the veggie mix is ready.

Preparing Paneer

• Heat a small pan and add 1/2 tsp of oil.
• Once the oil is hot add the cumin powder and paneer and mix well.
• Let it roast until the paneer turns golden brown on both sides.

Assembling

• Add the cooled down rice to the veggie mix and mix them well.
• Check for salt and add if required.
• Finally add the fried paneer and that’s it.
• I usually serve this with onion raita or just plain yogurt.

Notes

Any rice variety can be used. Basmati is not mandatory.
If you are not preparing this for lunch box, you can add 2 tbsps of ghee instead of 1 tbsp oil and 1 tbsp of ghee. When ghee rice is not warm enough, it will be difficult to consume. So for lunch box I got with the combo of ghee and oil.
Addition of paneer is completely optional. Instead of paneer dried nuts and raisins can be used too and it will be perfect for potlucks.
Adjust the veggies, salt and green chilly according to your preference.
I didn’t add any other masala. You can add kada masala (Cardamom, Cloves and Cinnamon) to make this as ghee pulav.

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• Submitting this recipe for the Blogging Marathon 66. Check out the other bloggers doing this BM.
• Also submitting this recipe for the Kid’s Delight Event – Lunch Box Special, hosted by Pavani.

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