About:
Jeera pulao is basically rice flavoured with cumin and lightly spiced with whole garam masala.
Just to make it healthy I used bulgur wheat instead of rice and spiced up with green chilli and pepper as a variation. Jeera pulao perfectly complements a well made dal or a vegetable curry.

Health benefits of Bulgur:
Bulgur is what’s left after wheat kernels have been steamed, dried, and crushed. Bulgur makes a healthy and quick addition to any meal because it’s 100 percent whole wheat that’s specially prepared to decrease cooking time. It’s a good source of fiber, protein, iron and vitamin B-6. One thing to keep in mind, a cup of bulgur has fewer calories, less fat, and more than twice the fiber of brown rice.

Serves: 2
Cooking time: 20 minutes
Preparation time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:
• Bulgur -1cup
• Cumin seeds-1tsp
• Shahi jeera/ caraway seeds-1tsp
• Bay leaf-1
• Star anise-1
• Cloves-3-4
• Cinnamon-1/2inch stick
• Green chilli-3num
• Pepper corns-5-6
• Garlic-3pods
• Salt-to taste
• Oil-1tbsp

Garnishing:
• Coriander/ roasted cashews/ fried onions (use any of your choice
• Chopped Pistachios

Procedure:
• Wash and soak bulgur in enough water for 30mins, drain water and keep aside.
• Combine green chilli, garlic, pepper corns, cumin seeds and ground it to coarse.
• Heat oil in a sauce pan add bay leaf, shahi jeera , ground masala , clove, cinnamon, star anise and saute for 2-3mins.
• Add in drained bulgur and fry for 3-4mins.
• Add 1 cup water, salt and cook on a medium high flame for 12-15mins or until bulgur is cooked
• Garnish with coriander and serve with dal/ any side dish of your choice.

Note:
• If you have less time to soak bulgur can cook directly by adding 1:2 ratio bulgur:water. As I had soaked before cooking added less amount of water.
• Bulgur is similar to brown rice but it takes less time to cook.
• You can use brown rice/ white rice instead.
• You can even use ghee for sauting it gives nice aroma to the dish.
• If you want less spicy skip green chilli and just use black pepper