Indian rice. Here’s a tasty way to enjoy humble rice with your favorite comforting meals. Perfectly tender rice, whole spices for extra flavor and turmeric for health benefits - making this incredibly aromatic and delicious rice is easy. Maximum flavor with minimal effort!
You don’t need exotic ingredients to create an epic dinner. Believe me, even the humble rice can be turned into a delicious dish with the best recipe. Recently, there has been a global shift in everything we do including cooking. One of the positives is that we learned how to make delicious food with very basic ingredients without compromising on taste and nutrition.
This Indian rice is a great example for this - humble rice turned into a spectacular healthy meal. Fluffy rice is seasoned with whole spices, ground turmeric and topped with crispy fried onions. Total deliciousness in one bowl!
How To Make Indian Rice
The first step - choose good quality basmati rice. Well, you can make this dish with long grain or jasmine rice, but I highly recommend basmati rice for best outcome. I love the long thin fluffy strands of the rice. Start with rinsing the rice under cold running water followed by soaking for about 30 minutes. And that’s my little secret to fluffier beautiful rice.
After 30 minutes, drain the water. Now all you need to do is stir fry this rice in aromatic spices. I like to add a few whole spices to this dish like cinnamon, bay leaves, cardamom pods and cumin seeds. The depth of flavor coming from these spices is absolutely incredible. But make sure you remove the bay leaves and cinnamon stick before serving.
Once you sauté the dried spices in a little oil, add a sprinkle of ground turmeric. Alongside the gorgeous yellow hue, turmeric comes with umpteen health benefits. It’s another delicious way to make your food more nutritious.
At this stage, add in the rice and a dash of saffron milk. I dissolved a few saffron threads in a little milk to bring in more flavor to this dish. You can top this rice with fried onions, cashew nuts and coriander (cilantro) leaves.
Amazingly flavorful yellow Indian rice with the perfect balance of spices!
More Rice Recipes:
- Greek Spinach Rice (Spanakorizo)
- Palak Pulao | Indian Spinach Rice
- Cuban Black Beans and Rice
- Japanese Garlic Fried Rice
- Curd Rice | Yogurt Rice
- Cumin Rice | Jeera Rice
- Curry Rice | Curried Rice
- Thai Chicken Fried Rice
- French Onion Rice
- Cranberry Rice
- Tuna Fried Rice
- Turkey Fried Rice
- Special Fried Rice
Indian Rice | Video
Ingredients
Cook rice:
- 2 cups basmati rice
- Juice of 1 lemon
- 1 teaspoon oil
- Salt to taste
Saffron milk:
- 4 strands of saffron
- 1 tablespoon milk
Stir fry rice:
- 1 tablespoon ghee or oil
- 2 cm cinnamon stick
- 2 cardamom pods crushed
- 1 bay leaf
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon ground turmeric turmeric powder
To garnish:
- 1 onion sliced thinly and fried in oil or ghee
- 10 cashew nuts fried in oil (optional)
Instructions
- Rinse basmati rice under cold running water 3-4 times. Place in a large bowl. Cover with water. Soak for 30 minutes. Drain water. Set aside.
- To cook rice, bring a large pot of water (approximately 10 cups of water) to boil. Add rice, lemon juice and oil. Season with salt. Stir gently. Cook, covered, for about 10 minutes or until rice is tender. Drain water. Set aside.
- To make saffron milk, combine together saffron and milk in a small bowl. Set aside for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile heat 1 tablespoon ghee or oil in a large frying pan. Add cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, bay leaf and cumin seeds. Sauté, stirring, for one minute or until aromatic.
- Add ground turmeric. Stir fry for 30 seconds.
- Add rice and saffron milk. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
- Garnish with fried onions and cashew nuts (if using).
- Serve with your favorite curry or Indian stir fry.
To Make this in Instant Pot:
- Place soaked rice and 4 cups water in the pot. Add lemon juice, oil and salt. Stir gently. Cook over high pressure for 6 minutes. Release pressure naturally. Remove rice from pot.
- With the instant pot on saute mode, stir fry whole spices in ghee or oil. Add ground turmeric and stir fry. Add rice and saffron milk. Stir fry 1-2 minutes. Garnish with fried onions and cashew nuts.
Video
Notes
- You can substitute basmati rice with long grain or jasmine rice. However, use the former variety for authentic taste.
- Remove cinnamon stick and bay leaf before serving
Nutrition
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Vanessa says
The flavors are just amazing, the family loves this.
Anonymous says