Jeera rice is a popular Indian dish made with basmati rice, cumin seeds, and various spices. It can be served as a main course or as a side dish with vegetables or meat curry. The rice is boiled until the water evaporates and then left to cook undisturbed for 10-20 minutes.
Jeera rice is a very simple and popular Indian cumin rice that can be served as a main course or to accompany many variety of cold and hot side dishes. This dish is probably the easiest to prepare among the many rice dishes in Indian cuisine. Jeera rice ingredients include long grain basmati rice, cumin seeds – which are known in India as jeera – butter or vegetable oil, coriander, parsley, mint, onions, green chillies, saffron, salt and water. If necessary, vegetables such as peas, tomatoes, basil, cauliflower and potatoes can be added to the rice. This rice doesn’t take long to prepare and is best eaten hot.
To begin with, the basmati rice is soaked in salted water for about an hour, then drained and set aside; any rice can make for making jeera rice, but the long-grain variety makes for a more flavorful and appealing dish. Butter or oil is heated in a pan and cumin seeds and curry leaves are added. When the cumin seeds begin to spit out, the sliced onions and sliced red chillies are added to the pan and fried until the onions become translucent. Chopped ginger, garlic, coriander and mint leaves are then added to the pan.
The soaked and drained rice is then added to the pan, along with salt and pepper; a pinch of sugar can also be added if needed. After the rice has been cooked for about a minute, water is added to the pan until the rice is covered. If you want colored jeera rice, add a pinch of saffron to the pan at this point; saffron is a natural food coloring and has no health side effects. The rice should be boiled until more than half of the water in the pan has evaporated. Then the heat should be turned down very low and the pan should be covered and the jeera rice should be left to cook undisturbed for the next 10 to 20 minutes.
Rice is done when all the water has been absorbed and the rice grains are well separated and fluffy. The rice can be eaten on its own or it can be served with a vegetable or meat curry. It can also be eaten with curds and raita or salad, or with a pickle or sauce. Jeera rice is made in slightly different ways in many different regional cuisines in India, especially in Maharashtrian, Bengali and Punjabi cuisines.
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