Are you trying to get acquired to the taste of brown rice? Or if you are tired of plain brown rice, then this easy-peasy vegan mild brown rice pilaf made in Instant Pot is your best bet. Learn how to make this simple brown rice pilaf in Instant Pot with a detailed video.
As much as I love to eat my lentil and legume-based curries with roti, I love to relish them with rice also. But instead of plain rice, I prefer fragrant and flavored rice like jeera rice or like this brown rice pilaf.
These days I am trying to replace white rice with either hand-pound rice or brown rice. So instead of plain brown rice, I made this mildly spiced pilaf with corn and peas. Between, all the rice varieties has carbs, but when it comes to nutrients, brown rice is fibrous and has more nutrients than polished white rice. ( Source here )
What is Pilaf?
Pilaf or pilau is a spiced rice dish with meat or vegetables. You can make plain pilaf just with saffron and cardamom, or you can load it with more spices, meat or veggies too. Also, you can make pilaf not only with basmati rice but also with other grains like couscous, brown rice, quinoa, millets, etc.
Here is my version which is not so plain but at the same time not so complicated with brown rice. :-) I made it no onion and no garlic making it perfect for Thursdays and festival days where don’t use those two ingredients.
I just went with frozen peas and corn, so there isn’t much chopping involved either. With minimal effort, (thanks to the Instant Pot) you can make this delicious rice in no time.
Brown Rice Cooking Time:
Like white rice, there are different varieties of brown rice too. For this recipe, I used the long-grain brown rice variety. But after cooking, the grains look short as shown in the picture.
Wondering what is the water ratio and how to cook brown rice in Instant Pot? Here is the answer – For one cup of rice, I used 1.75 cups of water and also cooked for 25 minutes which is entirely different from the Instant Pot manual book’s cooking chart.
Why Soft Brown Rice?
I like soft brown rice especially when I serve it with South Indian dishes like rasam. I want it to be a bit sticky so that I can mix it well with rasam and sambar. As you can see it is entirely a personal preference. So you can adjust the time and water according to your liking.
Start with the water measure and time mentioned in the Instant Pot manual and change according to your need.
Instant Pot Brown Rice Pilaf Recipe:
Now without any further ado, here is the brown rice pilaf recipe and the video. Please don’t forget to subscribe to my channel. I post new videos every week on Mondays.
Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp corn oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- One bay leaf
- One green chili, slit into half
- Two cardamon
- Three cloves
- 1-inch cinnamon
- 2 tbsp frozen corn
- 2 tbsp frozen peas
- Four mint leaves torn into small pieces
- 1 cup Long-Grain Brown Rice
- 1 ¾ cup Water
- ½ tsp salt
Prep – Work:
- Wash the rice and drain the water thoroughly. No need to soak the rice.
- Slit the green chili into two.
- Thaw the frozen corn and peas and bring it to room temperature. I soaked it in water for 15 minutes and drained the water.
Steps:
- Press the ‘saute’ button in the Instant Pot, and the display shows HOT, add the oil.
- After 30 to 45 seconds, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaf, green chili, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. Mix it and fry for 20 seconds.
- Then add the corn and peas and gently mix. Then add the mint leaves and stir for 30 seconds.
- At this stage add the rinsed long-grain brown rice followed by 1.75 cups of water.
- Add the salt and mix thoroughly. Press the cancel button.
- Close the Instant Pot lid and make sure the vent is in the sealing position.
- Press the manual button and set the time to 25 minutes on high pressure. After cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Open the lid and gently fluff the rice. As the rice cools down, all the moisture (if any) will be absorbed.
Recipe Notes –
- I did not include any onion or garlic. But you can add ¼ cup of chopped onion, and two garlic cloves finely chopped for this rice measure.
- Adjust the salt and green chili according to your preference.
- Adjust the water and cooking time according to the rice variety and also as per your personal texture preference.
- You can add other veggies too like carrots and potatoes. But do not add more than ¼ cup of vegetables.
📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Brown Rice Pilaf
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp corn oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- ½ tsp fennel seeds
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 green chili slit into half
- 2 cardamon
- 3 cloves
- 1 inch cinnamon
- 2 tbsp frozen corn
- 2 tbsp frozen peas
- 4 mint leaves torn into small pieces
- 1 cup Long-Grain Brown Rice
- 1 ¾ cup Water
- ½ tsp salt
Instructions
Prep - Work:
- Wash the rice and drain the water thoroughly. No need to soak the rice.
- Slit the green chili into two.
- Thaw the frozen corn and peas and bring it to room temperature. I soaked it in water for 15 minutes and drained the water.
Steps:
- Press the saute button, and the display shows HOT, add the oil.
- After 30 to 45 seconds, add the cumin seeds, fennel seeds, bay leaf, green chili, cardamom, cloves, and cinnamon. Mix it and fry for 20 seconds.
- Then add the corn and peas and gently mix. Then add the mint leaves and stir for 30 seconds.
- At this stage add the rinsed long-grain brown rice followed by 1.75 cups of water.
- Add the salt and mix thoroughly. Press the cancel button.
- Close the Instant Pot lid and make sure the vent is in the sealing position.
- Press the manual button and set the time to 25 minutes on high pressure. After cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally.
- Open the lid and gently fluff the rice. As the rice cools down, all the moisture (if any) will be absorbed.
Video
Notes
- I did not include any onion or garlic. But you can add ¼ cup of chopped onion, and two garlic cloves finely chopped for this rice measure.
- Adjust the salt and green chili according to your preference.
- Adjust the water and cooking time according to the rice variety and also as per your personal texture preference.
- You can add other veggies too like carrots and potatoes. But do not add more than ¼ cup of vegetables.
Nutrition
I am not a nutritionist. The nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. It varies depending upon the product types or brands.
PS: If you try this brown rice pilaf, please don’t forget to comment and rate this recipe. Also, please check out my videos and do subscribe to my YouTube channel.
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