Aromatic and refreshing cumin rice…
Cumin seeds and ground cumin have been an integral part of Indian cooking. The smoky flavor of cumin imparts so much flavor to any dish. Not just for flavor, it has amazing health benefits too. Cumin seeds keeps the digestive system on track. In South India, cumin seeds are used more than ground cumin while in North India both are used. Not just in Indian cooking, ground cumin is used widely in other cuisines as well: Mexican, Mediterranean etc.
Cumin rice is very popular in North India, cumin seeds are sautéed in ghee or oil and basmati rice is added to it and cooked. The rice gets aromatic and tastes really delicious.
Cumin Rice or Jeera Rice
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Thasneen
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Indian
Serves: 4 People
Ingredients
- Ghee- 3 tbsp
- Whole cardamom- 2
- Whole cloves-2
- Bay leaves- 2
- Cumin seeds- ½ tbsp
- Basmati rice- 1½ cups
- Water- 1¾ cups
- Salt- a few pinches
Instructions
- Rinse the basmati rice taken in a strainer under running water.
- Place a saucepan over medium heat, add ghee.
- Add cardamom, cloves, bay leaves and cumin seeds, saute.
- Let them turn aromatic and cumin seeds turn light brown in color.
- Add the basmati rice, roast it for a couple of minutes.
- Add salt to taste.
- Transfer the rice to a rice cooker, rinse the pan used for sautéing the rice with water and add to the rice cooker.
- I used 1¾ cups of water, turn on the rice cooker and cook the rice till the water dries off.
- You could cook the rice in the saucepan itself, I l prefer rice cooker as the rice won't turn mushy and will be fluffy.
- Adding too much water can make the rice mushy, in rice cooker water should be only little more than the rice added. For 1½ cups rice only 1¾ cups of water is needed.
- After the rice has cooked, remove the pot from the cooker and let it cool down.
- Serve this aromatic cumin rice along with your favorite curry.
Notes
If you want you could add veggies like peas, carrot, beans (cut small) etc, saute in ghee and cook with rice.
