This rice has a lovely cumin taste that brightens up many bland dishes! Delicious variants of this dish include adding onion, ginger, entire black peppercorns, cloves, or a cinnamon stick after the cumin seeds. For a rice that is flavor-packed, you could also combine all of the aforementioned possibilities!
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 15 mins |
| Total Time: | 20 mins |
| Servings: | 2 |
| Yield: | 2 servings |
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 cup dry jasmine rice
- 1 ¾ cups water
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a medium size saucepan over a medium-high heat. Drop in the cumin seeds, and cook until they splutter. Do not allow the cumin seeds to burn or become really dark brown in color. Add the rice and fry it in the oil for about 1 minute.
- Add the water and salt and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to low and cover the saucepan. Cook the rice for approximately 15 minutes. If you feel the rice is getting burnt near the base of the pan as it cooks, one trick is to place the saucepan on another flat pan or griddle which is directly on the flame. Toss with a fork.
Reviews
Just yummy make it all the time
Most delicious rice I’ve ever made – thank you. The proportions were perfect, even the water – no water left over and no rice burned. I accidentally used a whole tsp of cumin seeds instead of 1/2 tsp, but I doubt it matters. First time I’ve ever fried rice, so that part was quite fun 🙂
Very nice and not to strong a flavor for us. I used 1 1/2 teaspoon of Cumin, and after a few minutes of it simmering in the oil, added about a teaspoon of finely chopped garlic, and 3 tablespoons of finely chopped sweet onions, and continued cooking until onions transparent… then added a couple good grinds of salt, about a teaspoon of butter and the dry rice… after a couple of minutes in goes the water, and I added a good shot of chicken bouillon.. I used the ratio of rice and water, and followed the cooking directions from the package of Jasmine rice that I had to finish it off…
I really liked it. I used coconut oil since that is what I had in hand. The first time I cooked it, it was very good. The second time, I used basmati rice and added a pinch of cardamom and it was out of this world.
I didn’t have jasmine rice so I used basmati instead. The result was both aromatic and flavorful. The key with basmati rice is the “rice to water” ratio… just follow the guidelines for the brand of basmati you have and you should be fine. I made this with Chicken Tikka and Naan recipes from All Recipes and my hubby couldn’t stop raving about the entire meal!!!…lol.
this recipe is great! I did it with parboiled rice since I didn’t have access to jaasmine or basmati and it turned out amazing! thank you for this recipe.
Made this exactly as the recipe stated and it was phenomenal!!! Served with Tiki Marsala
this is how i make my basmati rice every time. delicious!
It was just YUMMY. The only changes/additions I made was instead of water I used chicken broth and tossed in a handful of frozen peas. It was tastey. I used it as a side dish to BBQ spare ribs and steamed carrots. I love cumin so this was really flavorful. I will make it often.
Absolutely what I was looking for!! I was so excited when I took the first bite. I added turmeric to the rice water while it cooked, so it gave it a nice yellow colouring 🙂 Thank you!!
Meh. This wasn’t bad, but not “great” either. Plain jasmine or basmati rice would complement an Indian meal just as well (sorry!). I could barely detect the presence of cumin in this. Jasmine rice is aromatic to begin with – and that’s the prominent flavor I picked up (i.e. that of the rice itself). All in all, I’m glad to have given your recipe a try, but unfortunately, it’s just not for me. Thanks anyways, MEDHALEE. 🙂
BAsmati Rice is drier than Jasmine and the cumin being a bit hard plus the dry rice didn’t do much for me.
Great simple recipe. Added fresh cinnamin, ground pepper and cloves.
my good friend who is Indian gave me a wonderful cumin rice recipe a few years ago I make it regularly. In her recipe a scrambled egg is mixed in and if you like a few peas it is delicios!
Lots of nice flavor in this dish. I used Basmati rice and it turned out perfectly. I served this with Middle Eastern Cumin Meatballs and it was a great pairing. I’ll definitely fix this again. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
Fine, but even with twice the cumin seeds the flavor was too mild. I would add cumin powder in addition and I’ll try some of the other additions the author suggested.
A quick tip to add more punch to the cumin rice is to add a few drops of lemon juice before covering the pot (ie before the rice has been cooked). That splash of zest is especially refreshing.
Yum! I also added some whole cloves. (like at our fave. Indina place) My husband loved it and was very impressed. Served with chicken tikka masala from this site….it was amazing!
One of our standby recipes now! I actually use a tablespoon of the cumin seed because we like the flavor so much. The key is to add a good half teaspoon of salt at least, and then the flavor is to die for. Adding garlic and onion to the oil would be a plus! I usually use chicken or vegetable broth instead of water in this recipe. All of these things punch up the flavor and then it isn’t bland at all.
good. next time i make it -and there will be a next time- i might play with the spices a bit and make it a little more interesting. but it was really really good. perfect with butter chicken. yum.
Cumin adds a very nice flavor to the rice. Was nice served with slow roasted chicken.