The most delectable and aromatic cooked Rice, which goes well with Chicken curry or Mutton curry..
Is there any ingredient which cannot be mixed with rice? If you want to find an answer, you definitely have to put a lot of thought into this. I literally throw anything from my pantry or from the refrigerator to convert cooked plain rice into a delicious rice dish. If I start counting the number of cooked rice dishes, I will have to count forever. Starting from the most common fried rice, I can make a huge list. Among the many rice dishes I’ve tasted Ghee rice is my favorite. The aroma from the ghee makes the rice rich and flavorful. It’s easy to prepare and it can be served along with chicken or mutton or beef curries.
While cooking Ghee rice, the aroma from the spices and the rice roasting in the ghee will spread all over the house in no time and everyone will be seen taking in a few deep breaths.
To make the delicious ghee rice, you would need really good Basmati rice, good quality Ghee and avoid over cooking the rice.
Ghee Rice Cooking Video
Ghee Rice
Preparation Pictures
- White Basmati Rice- 2 cups (or use Jeerakasala rice)
- Water- 3¾ cups
- Onion, sliced thin lengthwise- 1
- Bay leaves, fresh or dry- 2
- Ghee- 4 tbsp
- Salt- 1 tsp
- Ginger- 2-inch slice
- Garlic- 3 cloves
- Green chilies- 3
- Whole cardamom- 2
- Whole cloves- 2
- Cinnamon- 1-inch slice
- Onions, sliced thin lengthwise- 2
- Oil or ghee- ½ cup
- Cashew nuts- 10
- Raisins- 1 tbsp
- Cilantro, chopped- to garnish
- In a bowl, soak the rice in water for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, drain the water & rinse the rice taken in a strainer till the water gets clear. Keep aside the rice.
- Grind the above mentioned ingredients 'to grind' in a blender and keep aside.
- Place a large saucepan over medium heat, add the ghee.
- To the ghee, add the onions, salt, bay leaves; saute until the onions turn translucent.
- Add the ground mixture, saute until the raw smell of the ginger/garlic goes away- about 3 minutes.
- Add the rice to this and saute for 3 to 4 minutes. Don't let the rice turn brown.
- Add 3¾ cups of water.
- Cover the saucepan with its lid and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until all the water has dried off & the rice has turned fluffy.
- Remove the pan from the heat & keep covered for a few minutes- the rice will set well.
- Fry the onions in oil or ghee until golden brown, transfer to a paper towel.
- Roast cashew nuts in the oil or ghee used for frying onion until golden, keep aside in a paper towel.
- Roast Raisins in oil or ghee till it bubbles up, keep aside.
- Garnish the cooked ghee rice with fried onions, roasted cashew nuts , roasted raisins and cilantro.
- Keep covered for a few more minutes.
- Serve warm with your favorite curries & enjoy.
- After the rice has roasted in ghee-onion/ginger/garlic/green chilies mixture, transfer the roasted rice into a rice cooker pot.
- Rinse the saucepan in which rice was roasted with 1 cup water and add this water to the rice, along with the 2½ cups water. In the rice cooker- for 2 cups rice, only 3½ cups water is required.
- Cover the rice cooker pot with its lid and turn on the rice cooker, let cook.
- After the rice has cooked well, fluff the rice using a fork.
- Garnish with fried onions, roasted cashew nuts, raisins and cilantro, enjoy.