Tawa Pulao (Mumbai Style)

Tawa Pulao is a popular street food dish from Mumbai that can be easily made at home using fresh vegetables, leftover or pre-cooked rice, Pav Bhaji masala, and other spices. If you want to make your own Tawa Pulao, you've come to the right place. Our recipe is vegan and naturally gluten-free.

Jump to:

• What is Tawa Pulao?
• Our Tawa Pulao is:
• How to make a simple and delicious Tawa Pulao
• Serving Suggestions
• FAQ & Tips
• Tawa Pulao
• More Vegan Indian-style Recipes:

What is Tawa Pulao?

This Indian street food dish is a popular meal cooked in a huge Tawa (flat cast-iron or aluminum plate) using cold rice, fresh vegetables, spices such as Pav Bhaji Masala, turmeric, cumin seeds or cumin powder, chili powder, and others.

Popular among street vendors in Mumbai, this dish is well-known throughout India. It is similar to the classic veg Biryani but uses a different cooking method and milder flavors.

The classic recipe is vegetarian, as it uses butter or ghee. Our recipe is vegan made with vegan butter or vegetable oil.

Our Tawa Pulao is:

• Vegan
• Gluten-free
• A Side dish (can be served as a main dish too)
• Indian-inspired
• Mildly spicy
• Easy to prepare
• A quick dish

How to make a simple and delicious Tawa Pulao

Ingredients

Rice. Tawa Pulao is a rice dish that uses cold basmati rice. You can choose to use leftover rice or pre-cooked rice once this has been cooled. You can use brown rice to prepare this meal too.

Garlic and ginger. These ingredients are key to preparing a ginger garlic paste that will flavor the dish.

Fresh veggies. For our Mumbai-style Tawa Pulao, we use onions, green bell pepper, fresh tomatoes, carrots, and red chilli.

Pre-cooked vegetables. We use boiled potatoes, carrots, green beans, and green peas for our rice dish.

Spices. For a proper Tawa Pulao recipe, you will need Pav Bhaji Masala. We use the MDH brand to cook our recipe. Other spices used in our recipe are turmeric powder, ground cumin, and red chili powder.

Vegan butter or vegetable oil. Traditionally, regular butter or ghee is used to cook this Mumbai rice dish. For our recipe, we swap it for a vegan butter or vegetable oil of your choice.

Garnish. Freshly chopped coriander leaves and lemon juice are used to garnish the dish.

Things to prepare before you start cooking your Tawa Pulao

Rice

You can use leftover or pre-cooked fresh rice to cook Mumbai style Tawa Pulao. If you are using rice from the same day, be sure to let it cool completely.

To cook the basmati rice, the ratio we recommend is 1:2 (rice to water) after rinsing the rice with cold water.

Place the water and rice in a medium-sized saucepan. You don't need to use a large pot if you are not making rice for many people. Bring the water to a boil with the saucepan uncovered. When the water starts to boil, reduce the temperature to the lowest and cover the pan with a lid that fits perfectly to prevent the steam from escaping.

Once most of the water has evaporated, turn off the heat and let the pan rest, covered, for another 8-10 minutes.

Then, using a spatula or a fork, gently fluff the rice to release any remaining steam.

To cool the rice faster, you can spread the rice in a shallow pan and leave it in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the ingredients for this recipe.

Pre-cooked Vegetables

For our Tava Pulao, we use boiled potatoes, green beans, and peas. To prepare these ahead, we simply bring some water to boil, add the potatoes cut into cubes, the green beans cut into 3-4 cm pieces, and the peas.

Leave the veggies boiling for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes are tender but still holding their shape. Drain the water and rinse with cold water.

Step-by-step Method

As we don't own a large tawa (and probably won't you), for our Tawa Pulao recipe, we use our Wok and it works really good. You can use a big frying pan as well.

1. Melt the vegan butter in the wok or frying pan and add the onion, finely sliced. Sauté while you keep stirring until it starts to soften and golden.
2. Add the ginger and garlic paste, and finely chopped fresh tomatoes and green peppers. Cook for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the fresh chili finely chopped and the spice blend. Stir and add little water to make sure the spices don't burn. Cook until all the water has evaporated.
4. Next, add the boiled vegetables (potatoes, carrots, peas, and green beans).
5. Add the rice. To incorporate the rice with the rest of the ingredients, we recommend using two serving spoons instead of a cooking spoon. This will avoid breaking the rice grains.
6. Sprinkle some freshly chopped coriander and drizzle some lemon juice before serving your Pulao dish.

Serving Suggestions

Pav Bhaji Pulao is a versatile dish that can be served as a side dish or a main dish if you add your favorite protein to it.

At home, we love serving this meal with garlic chutney, papadom, and this lovely Vegan Raita from The Curious Chickpea. You could serve it with naan, roti, or paratha too.

As well, this rice dish makes for a perfect side dish to accompany our creamy Aubergine Curry, or this hearty Dal Makhani.

FAQ & Tips

If you tried our recipe, please leave a comment or tag us on Instagram @Sixhungryfeet. We are always happy to see your creations!

More Vegan Indian-style Recipes:

• Cauliflower Manchurian
• Vegan Mango Lassi
• Crispy Onion Bhaji
• Vegan Butter Cauliflower
• Butter Bean Curry