Mushroom Rice / Mushroom Pulao Recipe

As South Indians, we absolutely love our rice, which is why I always dish up a variety of rice recipes for our meals or Narayan's lunch box. One such rice variety that is loved at home is the Mushroom Rice or you can call it Mushroom Pulao. A sumptuous Easy Mushroom Rice Recipe with Indian flavors.

Honestly, while growing up, Mushrooms was never a part of our diet. As Tamil Brahmins, my mother always thought that Mushrooms were not vegetarian and hence never cooked nor ate it. Sounds funny right? So, I used to relish Mushrooms at restaurants with my friends and colleagues.

I love mushrooms on pizzas and even as a filling to sandwiches apart from gravy vegetables and rice recipes. If you love Mushrooms as much as we do, do check out the Mushroom Matar Ki Sabzi - Mushroom Peas Vegan Curry Recipe as a side dish for Chapati and Pulao.

Choice of Mushrooms

For this particular recipe, I have used Button Mushrooms. They are easily available in Indian Markets and are economical too. For this recipe, I have used a box i.e. 200 gms of Button Mushrooms.

Tips to Stock, Clean and Cut Mushrooms

• Mushrooms stay fresh in the refrigerator for a couple of days. They usually start rotting or form molds when in contact with moisture. So, unless you have to cook, NEVER WASH MUSHROOMS.
• Cleaning the mushrooms hardly takes any time. Instead of cleaning it under running water, I prefer soaking it in some water and then just pat drying them with a cloth to remove any excess mud or particles stuck on the surface.
• The stems of the button mushrooms are edible. I never discard them. I also prefer slicing the mushrooms than finely chopping them as I love retaining the texture of the vegetables.

For the Mushroom Rice Recipe, I have sliced the mushrooms a bit thicker. Since we are pressure cooking the rice, cutting thin slices of mushrooms would make it mushy while cooking.

I have used Basmati Rice (White Rice to be specific) for Mushroom Rice Recipe. A Fragrant long grain rice variety that is ideal for rice recipes like Pulao, Biryani, Fried rice and any variety rice recipe too. You can also make this recipe using any short grain rice variety like Kolam etc. Since I made this over the weekend, I thought of using the Basmati Rice instead.

As you can see from the images, even though the basmati rice is pressure cooked, you will find the rice fluffy and non-sticky. A lot of it depends on the age of the basmati rice used and the liquid to rice ratio while cooking. Let me share some tips below.

Tips to Cook Fluffy and Non-sticky Basmati Rice

• Washing the Basmati Rice - Wash the rice and drain the water for a couple of times or more, until you see the water is completely clear.
• Soaking the Rice - It is highly recommended to soak your rice for atleast 20 minutes before pressure cooking or cooking on a stove top too.
• Rice to Water Ratio - For pressure cooking, I normally follow 1 cup Rice is 1 1/2 cups Water ratio. Water is at room temperature.
• Once the rice is pressure cooked, do not be in a hurry to fluff the rice. Allow it to rest for some time and then use a fork to fluff the rice.
• If you are cooking plain basmati rice, add a drop of vegetable oil just before pressure cooking for a soft and fluffy rice texture (separate grains).

If you are looking for similar Pressure Cooker Rice or Pulao Recipes, do check out Rajma Rice, Broccoli Rice Recipe and Maharashtrian Tondli Bhaat Recipe (Ivy Gourd Rice). They are lunch box friendly main course rice recipes.

With rice recipes, a simple side dish is sufficient. My go to option for most Rice Recipes is a simple Raita. Do check out some of the side dish options I have given below.

Side Dish for Mushroom Pulao

• Tomato Pachadi - South Indian Tomato Raita with Curd and Coconut, tempered with curry leaves and mustard seeds.
• Lauki Raita or Bottle Gourd Dip - Absolutely refreshing and light for summers.

For Mushroom Rice or Mushroom Pulao, I have used Green peas along with sliced onions apart from the button mushrooms. You can add a variety of vegetables based on what is available in your refrigerator. I would recommend - Baby Corn or Sweet Corn, Capsicum or Bell Peppers, Carrots and French beans too.

I have used whole spices like Cinnamon, Mace, Bay Leaves and Cloves to make the rice aromatic.You can add star anise, black cardamom or green cardamom as well to the recipe. For most recipes, I prefer adding Turmeric Powder as it is good for health and one of my favourite spices. You can skip that if you like.

Now let us look at the detailed recipe with step wise instructions.

Mushroom Rice Recipe with Step by Step Pics

Wash and soak 1 cup of Basmati Rice for 20 minutes.

Slice the mushrooms and onions. Keep the whole spices and fresh green peas ready.

Heat the Kadhai or thick bottom pan, add oil and Jeera or cumin seeds.

Add the whole spices - Bay leaf, mace, cloves and cinnamon sticks. Saute and then add the sliced onions.

Now add the sliced mushrooms. Saute well.

Once the mushrooms start leaving out moisture, add the spices - Turmeric powder, garam masala powder and red chilli powder.

Add the soaked rice (drain the water).

Mix well and add salt to taste.

Transfer this to a pressure cooker vessel and add water (1 cup rice is 1 1/2 cups water)

Pressure cook the rice for atleast 3-4 whistles. Serve piping hot with a side of your choice.

Recipe notes

• In place of Garam Masala, add biryani masala etc available at home. It would taste delicious.
• Kashmiri Red chilli powder is added to the recipe, which you can completely skip.

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Vidya Narayan