Jeera Rice/ Cumin flavored Rice

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I hope you all have had a very nice weekend with Diwali and Kali Puja to mark the end of Hindu festivities for this year. I am very sorry for my unannounced break from the blog. I just came down to Bangalore for a couple of days and had been busy since, working and partying.

The festival season has gone past but still the feel has not passed away. There are still sounds of crackers coming from here and there, and even at odd hours, 6 in the morning or 12 midnight. When it’s the time of festivities, eating out almost all nights, attending parties, visiting friends and relatives, having the oily and spicy food are all synonymous. So the last week ended with spice intake that should have lasted a month. I was almost craving for some non-spicy, less oily food for lunch. Yesterday I was all alone at home in the afternoon, and was very lazy to cook. There was left over rice from the other night and so thought of adding little cumin to it. The jeera rice (my version) was just the thing that I was looking for after a whole week of spices and oils. I had it with a hard-boiled egg.

A little search on the web showed that zeera or cumin flavored rice is originally from North India, I am not sure though about the exact period from when it became popular. Any suggestions or information as comments regarding its history is highly welcome. Though I had prepared the jeera rice with left over rice, you can make it with freshly cooked rice also.

Preparation time; 3min

Cooking time: 20 + 5min

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

Cooked rice (Bhaat): 1 cup

Cumin (Jeera/ Zeera): 1 tablespoon

Onion (Peyaj): 1 medium size, diced into small pieces

Sugar (Chini): ½ teaspoon

Curry leaves (Kari pata): 4/5

Green chilies (Kancha Lanka): 2, cut into small rings

Clarified butter (ghee): 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

• Heat the ghee in a wok, throw in the curry leaves, cumin seeds
• As the cumin start popping add the diced onions and sauté
• Let the onions turn soft before adding the rice
• Add the chilies and sugar
• Toss for sometime till the ghee is well mixed with the rice
• Serve hot any side dish of choice or even some raita and green salad.

Hot Tips – If you are using fresh rice to prepare this, then you can also do it this way. Do same till the sautéing the onions, put in the soaked rice (uncooked) and add just the double amount of water and let the rice get cooked.

Further Reading – Jeera Rice from Arundhati, Cumin Pilaf

Sending this recipe to a dear friend’s (Radhika) first blog anniversary celebration with the Cook For Yourself event.

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