This post contains helpful tips and tricks! If you’re in a rush, please use the “Jump to Recipe” above!
💭 Why you’ll love this recipe
Quick, five ingredient, 30 minute recipe. This recipe takes no time to prepare and there’s nothing like perfect, fluffy basmati rice! Elevates and pairs well with many Indian dishes. It’s as simple as some ghee and cumin, but this jeera rice really elevates other dishes! My favorite way to eat this? With chana masala! Great for make ahead. Though it only takes 30 minutes to make fresh, you can also make a large batch and use it over the week.
📋 Ingredients & variations
My recipe is from a friend from Delhi and uses just five things: basmati rice, ghee, jeera (cumin seeds), green chili peppers, and cilantro. If you’re vegan, you can replace the ghee with avocado oil.
Notes and Variations
Spice combinations: Sometimes, my mom will add a cinnamon stick while she toasts the rice or shallots to make it more aromatic, or finish the rice with saffron. This recipe uses five basic ingredients. As for the rest? The world is your oyster! Using cooked or leftover rice: It’s so simple to make jeera rice with pre-cooked basmati rice. Toast the spices separately, and pour it over cooked basmati rice and mix it well. This is a great way to re-purpose day-old rice into the perfect Indian cumin rice.
📖 How to make perfect jeera rice
Choose the right rice and rinse it thoroughly
Basmati rice works best because it’s a long grain variety, and it’s polished and aged. Rinsing the rice (typically three times) is really important to remove the extra starchiness (which, in turn, prevents it from clumping to each other). This way, when you cook it, it is ultra fluffy!
Fun fact: did you know that room temperature rice water can be a great way to conserve water and nourish houseplants? The starch from leftover rice is good for bacteria and adds nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium.
Soak the rice and use right amount of water
Let the rice soak for about 20 minutes after rinsing to really let the rice absorb some of the room temperature water. This is key to getting that fluffy consistency, and to reduce the cooking time.
I can also literally hear my mom, “Just make sure you use 2x water for every cup of rice, Shruthi!” While that’s mostly accurate, there are some variations for making the perfect, fluffy rice.
If you’re cooking rice in a standard pot, 2 cups of water for every cup of basmati rice is fine. If you make this in an Instant Pot or a pressure cooker, I suggest using ¼ cup of water less - too much water can make it mushy. Make sure you scale the recipe so you have a minimum of two cups of water.
Toast whole cumin seeds and rice in ghee or avocado oil
I typically use ghee since it’s so aromatic, but if you’re vegan, avocado oil works just as well. First, toast cumin seeds on a low to medium flame. This is one place where I suggest you try to get cumin seeds as much as possible. But Jacques Pepin has a version that works with cumin powder. Then toss the rice in and toast the rice on a medium to high flame for about 2 to 3 minutes. Make sure you don’t stir or saute too much once you add the rice - this can cause the rice to break, and use a fork instead of a spoon!
🥣 Serving suggestions
This jeera rice can be stored in the fridge for a couple of days. I don’t recommend freezing it. I love to eat jeera rice by itself, since it’s so fragrant and delicious. But you can serve it with curries (like chana masala), simple lentils (like dal tadka!) or even mix it up with international flavors (like Ethiopian cabbage). Check out the recipes here for serving suggestions! Check out these Indian recipes that pair well with jeera rice! If you tried this recipe, don’t forget to comment and rate! ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
📖 Recipe
Note: This recipe was originally published on April 27, 2020. It was updated on 20 June, 2021 to include more tips and tricks. Actual recipe remains unchanged!
