More Rice Recipes

There’s a lot you can do with rice. It can be served as an accompaniment to curries, it can be served as just one dish with a lot of stuff thrown in. And rice can be cooked in different ways too. The easiest one that comes to mind most often is boiling and straining it. Just put one cup of rice in 4 cups of water, bring to the boil, turn the flame down and when the rice grains are cooked through an d sift, drain through a colander. You can add salt while it is boiling if you want to.

Then, you can fry it a bit and then add water or liquids to cook it. Here. The liquid isn’t drained off but gets absorbed into the rice. There’s a third way to do it and this involves a bit of frying and boiling.

Brown Rice

Fry ½ and onion till transparent in 2 teaspoons of oil. Put in a bit of cinnamon and a few cloves. Put in 1 level teaspoon sugar and stir till it caramelizes. Pour in 2 ½ cups of water and salt to taste and bring to the boil. Put in 1 cup of rice, wait till the water boils, turn down the flame, cover and wait for the water to get absorbed. Stir lightly and serve. Tastes great with a chicken or lamb curry.

Saffron Rice

In 1 tablespoon of butter, add a bit of cinnamon, then pour in 2 ½ cups of water, bring to the boil, add a few strands of saffron and one cup of rice and when the liquid boils, turn down the flame, cover and let the water get absorbed. You can serve this with just about any curry.

Variation:

Add some jaggery or treacle to taste, toss in a few raisins and a few chopped cashew nuts before you add the rice. You can even substitute one cup water with one cup milk. This could be eaten on its own or served as dessert.

Peas/Vegetable Rice

Lightly fry ½ cup of frozen peas or 1/3 cup of mixed lightly cooked and diced vegetables in 1 tablespoon oil. Add ½ teaspoon of curry powder (click here for recipe). Then add 2 ½ cups water, bring to the boil, add salt to taste and 1 cup rice. When the liquid boils again, turn down the flame, cover and cook till the water gets absorbed.

You can use 2 ½ cups of stock instead of water for a richer taste.

Coconut Flavoured Rice

In a teaspoon of oil, add mustard seeds till they pop, then add a few curry leaves (optional). Add 2 cups of water, salt to taste and 100 ml of coconut cream. When it boils, add 1 cup of rice, turn down the flame and let it slowly cook.