Indian Rice

My husband and I love Indian food! But it’s a recent love. Up until about a year ago, I don’t think we’d ever tried Indian, which is kind of strange considering I grew up in Washington and we lived there as a married couple for a couple of years, in an apartment complex that was over 50% Indian, maybe even 60-70%(we were right near Microsoft) and so there were lots of Indian food places close by. So anyway, last year Scott heard of an amazing Indian restaurant in the area from a buddy from work who is from India and we thought we’d give it a try and we’ve loved it ever since! It is so flavorful!

We have some favorite dishes and I’ve been able to recreate a few things that we really like which I will share over the next few weeks. My kids inevitably always go for the rice and the naan bread. Two of our five children will put the sauce over their rice but the others are still very hesitant, though they’ll eat their mandatory 3 bites so they can have the naan bread. That being said, I would like to share our brown Basmatti Indian rice recipe with you today. There’s a couple of different ways to do this: in the rice cooker, or the old fashioned way, boiling water and then adding your dry rice and spices. Brown rice cooks longer than white, so plan on making this an hour before dinner, or, if you have a rice cooker like mine, you can make it much earlier on in the day and set your delay timer so that it’s ready when you need it.

THE RECIPE:

Indian Rice

1 c Brown Basmatti Rice (or just brown rice; more often than not, I use a short grain brown rice)
2 1/4 c water
**if using a rice cooker, use two of the rice cooker cups and as much water as your rice cooker says to use when making brown rice plus about a 1/4 c more(I add more water to all my rice recipes which helps the rice not get too dry), mine says to fill water to line number 2 on my cooker….all spices listed below are the same

1 tsp better than boullion (I buy this at Costco, vegetable or chicken)
1/2 tsp red curry powder
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 Tbsp dried onion (or you can use 1/4 c fresh onion chopped, but saute it in a Tbsp of olive oil first then add water and rice)

Combine all ingredients in rice cooker and cook according to cooker instructions. Or if you don’t have a rice cooker, heat a medium-sized pot to medium heat on stove. Add water and bouillon and increase heat until water boils. Add turmeric, curry powder and rice and stir to combine. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for about 40 minutes or until all water is absorbed. Fluff with fork before serving.

*You can use other types of rice like Jasmine, or you could use a white rice, but if you use a white rice, reduce the amount of water and cooking time to follow the package directions.

*If doubling the recipe, you’ll need to increase the cooking time to around an hour when cooking on the stove. Watch the rice near the end and once the water is absorbed, it’s done.

Serve with Massaman Curry and Naan bread.