This delicious Spiced Indian Rice recipe is a tasty side dish to eat with your next Indian meal. It's made with fried onions and whole spices such as cumin seeds, whole cardamom pods and whole cloves. It only adds a few more minutes to your usual rice making routine but packs so much flavor!
What is Indian Rice?
Indian Rice is a tasty spiced rice from Southern India and it's know by several names. Often it's called Ghee Rice or even Indian Yellow Rice. It's rice that is cooked with spices, giving it amazing flavor and yellow colouring.
It's made with fried onions and whole spices such as cumin seeds, whole cardamom pods, whole cloves and turmeric. It only adds a few more minutes to your usual rice making routine but packs so much flavor without overpowering your meal.
How to Make Yellow Indian Rice
I always make my rice using a stove top method, but I you could also use a rice cooker too. It's always made with Basmati Rice and Ghee. Ghee is an Indian butter, similar to clarified butter, but I'm using butter in this recipe. You can find ghee in most grocery stores and use that if you have it. Before we get ahead of ourselves, you need to prepare a spiced onion mixture first.
You fry the onion and garlic in butter, until it starts to become golden brown. Add the cinnamon quills, cardamon seeds, cumin seeds, cloves and turmeric, and stir until it's fragrant. This only takes about 1 minute.
Wash your rice to remove any excess starch, place in pot and add the spiced onion mixture to it. Add chicken stock, bring to a boil, cover with lid and cook until rice is done. This takes about 20 minutes. When the yellow rice is cooked, serve and garnish with chopped cilantro.
How to Cook Rice
I don't usually use measurements when cooking rice, but use a visual method. When I cook rice, I always wash it first to remove any starch. You can't skip this step, no one likes sticky rice! After washing, place in a sauce pan. You need to add enough water to cover the rice. I use the finger knuckle method. Not sure if that's the right name. However, the water needs to be no higher than the first knuckle of your finger from the top of the rice. Even a little less, or the rice will be too soggy. If you place your finger on the rice, touching it with your fingertip, the height of the water should reach maximum of your first knuckle. I think I over explained that!
Bring the water to a boil for 2 minutes until it starts to evaporate to the level of the rice. Give it a stir, reduce heat and cover with a lid for 20 minutes. It's that easy, you don't need to measure!
How to Eat Indian Rice
This is an Easy Indian Rice recipe that is perfect as a side dish, or even eat it on its own. You could also make it with olive oil and vegetable stock to make a vegan rice recipe. I find it goes perfectly with Butter Chicken or Lamb Korma, which are 2 of my favorite curries.
If you know Indian cuisine, you might be thinking of Banana Leaf Rice when I say Indian Rice. It's a dish that originates in Southern India, and is popular in Malaysia and Singapore. It's a white rice that's served on a banana leaf with vegetable and pickles.
Banana Leaf Rice meals are usually eaten by hand, and obviously on a banana leaf. What a great way to save on the dishes! Etiquette requires that the banana leaf is folded inwards after your meal. It's a sign of gratitude to the host. I thought it was fun to make my Indian Rice served on a banana leaf, which I had growing in my yard. Growing up in Canada, I never imagined I would live in such a tropical place.
Indian Rice Recipe Tips
- If you don't have Basmati Rice, you can use regular white rice
- Add extra vegetables to the rice like sautéed green peppers or peas
- Add slivered almonds when serving the rice
- Add raisins when cooking the rice
This Indian Rice recipe is so easy to prepare. You probably have all the ingredients in your pantry, well maybe not the cardamom seeds. Don't be intimidated the next time you prepare an Indian meal. Impress your friends and family at your next dinner party. For fun, serve it on a banana leaf! Don't make plain boring white rice, this rice recipe is much tastier! You might also love my Pineapple Fried Rice too! Bon Appetit! Приятного аппетита!
Ingredients
- 2 cups uncooked Basmati rice washed
- 2 medium onions chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 cinnamon quill
- 2 whole cloves
- ½ teaspoon chilli flakes
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon whole cumin
- 2 cardamom pods
- 1 tablespoon butter to fry or ghee
- 2 cups chicken stock
Instructions
- Fry onion and garlic in butter or ghee until they start to turn slightly golden.
- Add the cinnamon quill, cloves, cumin seeds, chili flakes, turmeric and cardamom and stir until fragrant, about 1 minute.
- Wash the rice and place into a pot. Mix in the onion mixture, pour in the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Allow stock to evaporate to the level of the rice. Stir, put a lid on the rice, reduce heat to lowest setting and allow to simmer for 20 minutes until rice is cooked.
- Fluff the rice before serving. Garnish with chopped cilantro and serve alongside your favorite Indian curry, such as Butter Chicken or Lamb Korma.
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