On this page I’m sharing the recipe of vegetarian pilaf with mushrooms and carrot. Pilaf, or sometimes spelled pilav or pilau, is a rice dish where you don’t boil the rice separately, but together with the spices, herbs and vegetables. Pilaf probably originated in Asia but it, or varieties of it, are common all over the world. It’s very popular in Eastern Europe and Western Asia. But the Spanish paella also evolved from it.
The best rice to make Pilaf with is Basmati rice. I used Tilda Basmati Rice as they have high quality Basmati rice from the foot of the Himalaya mountains. They remove other grains and broken rice, so that you won’t get sticky rice. Especially for making Pilaf, it’s great if the rice doesn’t stick.
For this reason you also have to rinse the rice beforehand if you’re making Pilaf.
The tree most typical spices to make pilaf are cinnamon, cardamom and bay leafs. Almost every traditional pilaf recipe will also include onion. I’ve used all the ingredients above in my vegetarian pilaf recipe as well.
Furthermore you can add all kinds of vegetables (or meat) to make pilaf. I made a vegetarian version, as all of the recipes on my blog are vegetarian. And this recipe isn’t only meat-free and free of fish, it totally vegan as well. The recipe is 100% plant-based, so no animal products or lactose is used.
I’ve created this vegetarian and vegan pilaf recipe with mushrooms and carrots. Below is the recipe for 2 servings.
Recipe vegetarian pilaf
Ingredients (serves 2)
125 grams rice
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods
3 small bay leafs (or 1 big one)
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 onion, chopped
250 grams mushrooms, sliced
150 grams carrots, chopped
250 ml water
A pinch of saffron
2 tablespoons almond flakes
Wash and rinse the rice.
Warm some olive oil in a big pan and add the cinnamon stick, the bay leaves and the cardamom pods. Stir for 1 minute. Add half of the onion and fry for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, carrots and mushrooms and fry for 5-10 minutes.
Add the rice and stir wel. Add the water and bring to a boil.
After 5 minutes, stir in the saffron. Put the lid on the pan and let it simmer on low fire for 10-15 minutes. The vegetarian pilaf is done when the rice is soft.
In a different pan, warm some oil and fry the remaining chopped onion until golden-brown.
Remove the cinnamon stick, the bay leaves and the cardamom pods from the pan. Serve the vegetarian pilaf with mushrooms and carrot with the fried onion and the almond flakes.
Got some Basmati rice left? You can use it in this recipe for vegan Saag Tempeh curry.
