Semiya Pulav / Semiya Pulao / Vermicelli Pilaf

Cleaning up the pantry could give you ideas - sometimes weird that you regret and sometimes useful ones that you are glad you went by it. While I was cleaning up and organizing the pantry, I found a pack of semiya/vermicelli left unattended for so long. I wanted to use it up as quickly as I can, with its expiry date approaching soon. 

Now that Semiya Kheer was not a good option to finish off that amount of Semiya, I started breaking my head thinking how could I not waste the semiya but put to good use by cooking something that would be appreciated by both of us.

So this Pulav was what came to my mind, to have during tea time. We absolutely love it. Unlike rice pulav, a side is not a must. That makes it even more quicker to make without giving another thought of what should go as a side with it.

                                      

Ingredients

1. 2 cups of Semiya /vermicelli
2. 1 cup of red onion, thin sliced
3. 1 1/2 cup of carrots, cut into small strips
4. 1 1/2 cup of green beans, slit and cut into small strips
5. 3 tbsp of ghee/clarified butter
6. Cashews and rasins for garnishing
7. 2 1/2 cup of water
8. Salt to taste 

Method

• Heat a skillet. Add a tbsp of ghee to it. Roast the cashew and raisins in it and remove it onto a bowl.
• Now drop in the onions and add salt to taste. Adjust the heat and stir it and cook it untill the onion gets tender. Remove it onto a bowl. 
• In the same skillet, add a tbsp of ghee. Add the carrots, beans and salt to taste. Adjust the heat and stir fry untill they are half done. Remove it on to a bowl.
• Again, add a tbsp of ghee and once hot, add the semiya/vermicelli to it and roast it untill they turn golden brown. Do not burn it or over roast it. Add the cooked onion, carrots and beans to it and give it a mix. Add water and salt to it(salt was already added for onion, carrot and beans when we cooked it, so adding just a little considering the amount of semiya/vermicelli would be enough). Let it come to a boil. Stir it and lower the heat to medium. Let it cook for about 5-8 minutes or untill the water evaporates and the semiya/vermicelli gets cooked, while you stir at intervals. Once done toss it with a fork.
• Remove it on to a serving plate and garnish it with roasted cashews and raisins. Serve it hot with some raita. Its super yummy for the little effort that goes into it.

Tips

1. You could cut down the amount of ghee by cooking the carrot,beans and onion in olive oil and restricting the use of ghee/clarified butter for roasting the raisins,cashews and semiya.
2. Do not over cook the semiya, else they might get all mushy.
3. I love the flavor of semiya roasted in ghee that adds on to the taste. Moreover, without a little ghee what would Pulav/Pilaf taste like :).  However, you get roasted semiya which you could buy to avoid the roasting of semiya.
4. You could add some green peas too, to make it colourful and tasty.

I still have some more semiya left, which I am still thinking what to create out of it, which does include some weird ideas as well :P. So pardon me if you see another post with Semiya. Oh, don't worry, I might share the story of how the weird idea turned out to be, but would post the recipes of only the ones that come out well :) .