This is my favourite rice for any curry dish of Indian, Pakistani or British-Indian origin. It is so simple that whenever I make a curry I rarely just boil up some plain rice. I eat it as a side dish so I keep it pretty mild and don’t go overboard with spices and herbs. I prefer a subtle spiced rice as an accompaniment. That being said though, this rice could be eaten on it’s own and I do confess to demolishing a lot of it while waiting for the other curry dishes of the meal to cook. I prefer to cook up a lot and use it for a couple nights to make a curry stretch further. I also use it for lunches by chopping up and frying some Taifun Tofu filets or Wheaty "Chorizo" Spacebar and mixing them though the rice. The rice tastes great reheated in the microwave.
Ingredients
- 400g Basmati Rice
- 1 tbsp non-dairy margarine
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 15 cloves (You will want to pick these out after the rice has cooked so it helps if you remember how many you put in)
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 green cardamom pods
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 medium red onions, finely sliced
- 100g frozen peas, just thawed (Funnily enough, before I proof read this, it said 100 frozen bees – I don’t recommend this though)
- 800ml water
- 1 tsp salt
Directions
| 1. | Wash the rice and soak for 20 minutes. |
| 2. | Heat the margarine and oil in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over moderate heat and add cumin seeds, cloves, bay leaf and cardamom pods. When the spices are fragrant and start to pop, add the sliced onions and sauté until golden brown. Add the peas and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add water and salt, bring to a boil. |
| 3. | Drain the soaked rice and add to the saucepan. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium-low and cook for 10 minutes. Check every now and then and stir to stop it sticking to the bottom. Be careful though cause over stirring can break the rice grains. |
| 4. | Remove from heat and leave lid on to allow the rice to keep steaming for another 10 minutes. Set aside until ready to serve. When ready to serve remove all the spices except for the cumin seeds (call me crazy but this is my favourite part, trying to find those cloves, it’s like playing Where’s Wally). If you don’t mind that strong burst of clove flavour and a little bit of crunch you can leave the cloves in. |
- Serve as a side to any curry.
Vegan Mofo 2010 Day 9
