Basmati rice sautéed in ghee with whole spices and cooked fluffy, the notebook's simplest celebration rice, fragrant with nothing more than patience.
Lunch · 5 min prep · 20 min cook · serves 3 Newly added
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice , rinsed and soaked 20 minutes
- 1½ cups water
- 2 tbsp ghee
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 2 cardamom pods
- 3 cloves
- 1 inch piece cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- to taste rock salt
- 1 tbsp coriander leaves , chopped, optional
Preparation
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Drain the rice. Heat the ghee in a heavy pot and sizzle the whole spices for 30 seconds until fragrant.
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Add the rice and fold gently for a minute until the grains turn translucent at the edges.
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Pour in the water with the salt, bring to a boil, then cover and cook on the lowest heat 12 minutes.
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Rest off the heat, covered, 5 minutes; fluff with a fork and scatter coriander over.
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Serve with dal tadka, amti, or any curry that deserves better than plain rice.
In the tradition
Ghee rice is what the notebook makes when the dal is already good: rice cooked in ghee and whole spices so the accompaniment becomes part of the meal. In the ayurvedic view ghee is the ideal companion for rice, the fat “carries” the grain’s sweetness and keeps its heaviness kind.
Sources & further reading
- Family recipe notebook (recipe #14, "Ghee Rice: rice, water, ghee, salt")
Classical citations mark where a tradition is drawn on; modern books are shared as further reading, not as prescriptions.