Wadi Chawal (Punjabi Wadi Rice)

A flavorful and nutritious Punjabi rice recipe, this Wadi chawal is a delicious wholesome meal. Made with aromatic whole spices, wadiyan and basmati rice, this wadi pulao or biryani is a heathy meal for the whole family.

This Punjabi wadi chawal is also called as Wadiyan wale chawal. My family loves wadiyan, and my sister gets these specially from Amritsar. I store them in the refrigerator for longer shelf life.

Sharing here my mom's recipe for this delicious rice dish. It is super easy and does not need much ingredients similar to my Chana Dal Pulao and Matar Pulao.

One tip - If you are using the authentic wadiyan, these can be super spicy. So as you will see in the recipe, I use just 1-2 wadiyan per cup of rice. Especially when making this pulao for kids, I recommend to add just one wadi for one cup of rice.

What is Punjabi wadi?

Punjabi wadi are actually sun-dried dumplings made with lentils and Indian spices. The lentils are ground to paste along with the spices and the ground paste is spread as small chunks to sun-dry.

The wadi has a meaty taste and texture and can be substituted for both meat and soya chunks. They are also vegan and gluten-free. Although wadis are not generally that spicy, but some wadiyan like Amristari wadi can be quite spicy.

Wadi's can be made with different dal, the Amritsari wadiyan I am using here are made with Urad dal. There are also moong dal wadiyan, which are more easily available everywhere. Moong dal wadi's are not to spicy.

You can add them to rice like in this recipe, or make a curry such as Aloo Wadiyan.

It is so interesting that many different regions in India make dumplings similar to wadiyan. See this article to find out more.

How to make Vadi Chawal?

Preparation

To make this Punjabi Vadi recipe, I usually use the urad dal wadiyan. Make sure that you add only one wadi for each cup of rice, as they are quite spicy. Break down the wadi to small pieces, as shown in the image above. You can use a mortar and pestle (silbatta or hamaan dasta in hindi)

Before you get started on this vadi recipe, rinse and soak the basmati rice about for 20 minutes while you are prepping the other ingredients. Rinse and drain the rice before you start making this pulao. Also, thinly slice onions and green chilies.

Frying the wadi

• Heat oil in a heavy bottom pan and let it heat. Add the crushed wadi to the ghee/oil and sauté a bit till it becomes brown in color.
• Remove the wadi from the pan and set aside in a clean and dry plate or bowl

Making the pulao on stovetop

• In the same pan, add some more oil/ghee and add the whole spices, sauté them well till they release their aromatic flavor.
• Then add the diced onions and green chilies and sauté them till the onions become golden brown.
• Now add the drained rice along with the wadi, garam masala, salt and stir them well.
• Add the water and stir well so that nothing gets stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• Turn the heat to low and cover the pan. Let it cook till the water gets absorbed, and rice are cooked. Then turn off the heat.
• Add lime juice to the pulao and fluff the rice with a fork. Let it sit uncovered for a few minutes.
• You can serve this pulao with a side of cooling cucumber raita.

How to make this Punjabi wadi chawal in Instant pot?

• Follow the instructions above to saute the ingredients on sauté mode.
• Then cook the rice in Rice mode for 12 minutes on low pressure and when the cooker beeps, do a 5 minute NPR. This means let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then manually release the pressure and open the instant pot.
• Add lime juice and fluff the rice with a fork.
• Leave it uncovered for a few minutes and then serve it with cooling yogurt.

Hope you enjoy this authentic Punjabi Wadi Chawal recipe.

Here are some more rice recipes you might enjoy:

• Meethe Chawal (Zarda Sweet Rice)
• Vegetable Biryani
• Spinach Rice
• Beetroot Pulao

📖 Recipe