You are going to love this bright and fresh mint pulao! It’s aromatic, flavorful and just look at that pretty green hue!
This instant pot mint pulao is a great way to use up all of the fresh mint growing in your garden! Or if you’re like me and have a brown thumb (figuratively and literally… my thumb is actually brown) then you can drive over to your nearest grocery store or farmers market to pick up some up so you too can enjoy this aromatic and flavorful pulao/pilaf!
Mint pulao, also known as pudina pulao, is a simple rice recipe that goes well with raita/yogurt. It’s a light dish that’s decently spiced and potentially spicy depending on how much serrano/green chili you use. It’s naturally gluten-free and vegan too – a dish almost anyone can enjoy. It’s basically just mint flavored rice with some veggies – in this recipe I list peas and potatoes but you can feel free to use what you like. Corn or carrots would be great in this too. Just be sure to adjust the salt if you use extra veggies.
Mint pulao is really easy to make because there isn’t as much sautéing involved. You blend a bunch of ingredients together to create a mint paste. Then you heat up oil and whole spices and sauté the mint for just a few minutes. Dump in the rest of the ingredients and wait for the pressure cooker to do it’s thang.
I hope you love this Indian spiced mint rice! Leave me a comment letting me know what you think of it 🙂
Instant Pot Mint Pulao
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Pin RecipeIngredients
- 1 cup basmati rice (love this brand), soaked 15 minutes
- 2 tablespoons oil
Mint Paste:
- 1 cup fresh mint leaves, tightly packed
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves, tightly packed
- ½ onion, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons grated coconut* (I use frozen)
- 4–5 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
- 1 inch ginger, roughly chopped
- ½ serrano pepper, adjust to taste
Whole Spices:
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 2 green cardamom
- 2 cloves
- 1 star anise
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ cinnamon stick
- 1 cup water*
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 2 medium gold potatoes (approx. ½ pound), cut into quarters OR 4 small gold potatoes (approx. ½ pound), cut in half
- 1 ¼ teaspoons salt (omit ¼ tsp if not using potatoes)
- ½ teaspoon garam masala
- Mint leaves, garnish
Instructions
- Soak the basmati rice in cold water for 15 minutes. Drain, rinse and set aside.
- Add all of the mint paste ingredients into a blender and puree. Set aside for now.
- Press the sauté button and add the oil to the pot. Allow it a minute to heat up, then add the whole spices and stir. Once the cumin begins to brown, add the mint puree.
- Stir-fry the mint puree for 4-5 minutes or until most of the liquid from the mint puree evaporates, then add the rice, water, frozen peas, potatoes, salt and garam masala and mix well.
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 6 minutes at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes, then open the valve to release any remaining pressure.
Notes
- *Tip: after you blend the mint paste, you can use the 1 cup of water and swirl it around the blender to get any extra bit of mint out.
Made this recipe using brown basmati rice and no oil, and it was delicious! Mods made were as follows (with apologies for the mixed measurements): 200g brown basmati rice (I used Laxmi brand, and I did not rinse/soak the rice before cooking), omitted the oil and instead dry toasted the whole spices in the IP until fragrant and the cumin started to turn brown, and upped the water to 250ml from 1 cup. (The ratio I always use for brown basmati or jasmine rice is 1:1.25 rice to water.) I also upped the potatoes to about 10.5 oz because that’s what I had on hand, and I left the potatoes in larger chunks to account for the longer cooking time with brown rice. For the puree I used a little under 2TB coconut flakes because I don’t really like coconut and also didn’t realise I had purchased flakes instead of grated coconut and I couldn’t be bothered to chop it), and I added a couple of TB of water to the mint puree to help it blend (used the smoothie cup for my Ninja and it wasn’t really mixing well until I added a little water). Cooked for 15 mins HP with 10 mins NPR. The potatoes and peas held up much better than I expected. It’s definitely important to use a waxy potato here instead of a floury potato, otherwise I think it would have turned to mush. The mint puree still had a nice flavour even with the longer cooking time. I will definitely make this again instead of always doing a plain rice. I think it will work well with Ashley’s butter chickpea recipe.
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Donna, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you so much for letting us know how it turned out with the brown basmati rice! 🙂
I love this mint pulao! Using the instant pot makes it so convenient! I love the fusion of the mint and the cilantro! Thanks Ashley!
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Maneesha, so happy to hear that!!
Sorry for the silly/basic question, but when you say ‘cup’ in your recipes, do you mean the standard cup of 240ml or the cup that comes with rice cookers which is about 160ml? Thanks in advance!
Hi, no questions are silly! I mean a standard US measuring cup (not the rice cup) 🙂 Hope that helps!
Hi, this recipe looks really amazing and healthy. I am for sure going to cook this one, as its easy and quick. Thanks for sharing such instant and delicious recipes.
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Shradha, that’s so great to hear 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of it!
Turned out really good
Thank you
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Chandra, thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you!
Hi, your recipe looks amazing. I just got IP duo and my question is which mode to select to cook pulao in your recipe – rice mode or pressure cook. Thanks
For my recipes, always use the “pressure cook” button – or the “manual” button depending on which model you have – then adjust the time according to what my recipe says 🙂 I hope that helps!
I doubled all the ingredients as I was cooking for a bigger crowd, but got a burn error 🙁 Is there something else I should do if I’m doubling the portions? I ended up finishing the cooking on a stovetop and the taste was still amazing!
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The recipe turned out amazing. I loved it. My rice turned out to be a little mushy. I quick – released the pressure after 6 mins and kept the lid on for 5 mins. Next time I will try with 4 mins and naturally release the pressure.
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Shana, thank you for letting me know how the mint pulao turned out for you 🙂
I tried this recipe today. Came out really good.Thank you!!
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Sudha, I’m so happy to hear that!! 🙂
This is SO delicious. It really blows my mind that I’m able to make Indian food at home that is as good as a restaurant – have made several of your recipes, thank you! Will make this regularly, so easy.
Barbara, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for letting me know how much you like my recipes 🙂
Hi, i have a silly question — I am trying to make this recipe with 4 cups of rice. Should I just be using 4 cups of mint, ie. should the rice:mint ratio be followed exactly. I know mint tends to have a bitter flavor when too much is added. Thanks!
This was VERY good. I was surprised at how fluffy the rice was, and how forgiving the recipe as well. I didn’t have enough mint and skipped the serrano pepper since my daughter can’t handle spicy food, and it was still marvelous.
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Lenka, I’m so glad you liked the mint pulao! Thanks for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂
Thank you for the recipe. I made this rice twice and got the burn signal both times. Do you have a suggestion before I try it a third time? I am not ready to call it quit.
Sylvie, are you using an 8 quart by any chance? All of my recipes are tested using a 6 quart. If you have more surface area, you will likely need to use more oil. Let me know if that’s the issue!