(Shah) Jeera Rice

Jeera rice - an Indian dish with rice and cumin seeds. It is easy to prepare unlike biryani and pulao. Jeera is the Hindi word for cumin seeds. I've prepared chicken curry (I'll blog the recipe soon) and the combo was nice to eat.

Ingredients

Rice : 2 cups; wash and soak for 30 minutes
(Shah) Jeera / cumin seeds : 1 tablespoon
Onion : 1 small; finely sliced (optional)
Ghee/Butter : 1 tablespoon
Bay leaves : 2
Sugar : 1/4 teaspoon (optional)
Salt : to taste

 

1. Heat ghee in a heavy bottom pan. Once it's hot, add bay leaves and sliced onion. Saute till onion turns translucent.

2. Add cumin seeds, sugar and saute few seconds (take care not to burn cumin seeds).

3. Add the drained rice, salt and saute for a minute.

4. Add sufficient amount of water (about 3.75 cups) and bring to boil. Serve hot once rice is completely cooked.

Facts about cumin seeds : Cumin is the second most popular spice after black pepper. Cumin's distinctive flavour and strong, warm aroma is due to its essential oil content. Dry cumin seeds boiled in hot water is used to cure indigestion, stomach problems and false labour. Although cumin seeds contain a relatively large percentage of iron, extremely large quantities of cumin would need to be consumed for it to serve as a significant dietary source.