Rice is one of those side meals or meals that one gravitates to when they want a quick fix. Most often than not, you are likely making it plain, with just the essentials, water and salt. Anyway, I’m here to tell you, no matter the hurry you’re in, you can actually whip up some exciting rice dishes to accompany your curries and stews. Ain’t that great?
Looking at rice as a blank canvas you have endless possibilities, today I’ll share just three simple yet flavourful recipes. I tried to cover all tastes from the citrus flavours to something heart warming and of course something sweet.
1. Lemon and Dhania Rice
This is pretty easy, seeing that the lemon and dhania are added at the very end. You can be busy making plain steamed rice then with just a squeeze of lemon juice and some chopped dhania you have something else.
Ingredients
1 cup white rice
2* cups water
Salt and pepper to taste
Juice of half a lemon
A handful of dhania,chopped
1 tbsp butter/ margarine
Serves 3-4 people
In a sufuria add your water, salt and pepper once boiled, add in your rice. Let the rice simmer.
Once the rice is cooked and still hot, add the chopped dhania ,lemon juice and butter then fluff with a fork while combining.
Serve and Enjoy.
2. Jeera and Turmeric Rice
Coconut milk has a way of uplifting just about any meal and it’s no different when it comes to rice. This is also another quick and easy recipe that combines the nutty flavour of coconut milk with the sweetness of dried fruit. I chose to use a mixture of sultanas and raisins,not only do they add texture and some sweetness they also tint the rice giving it a lovely colour.
Ingredients
1 cup white rice
1* cup water
1 cup coconut milk
Salt and pepper to taste
3/4 cup dried fruit
Serves 3-4 people
In a sufuria add the water, milk, salt and black pepper and let it come to a boil.
Once boiled add in your rice and let it simmer, when the rice is three quarter way done add the dried fruit,cover and let the rice cook completely.
When the rice is cooked through, fluff to combine with the dried fruit.
Serve and Enjoy.
3. Jeera and Turmeric Rice
Don’t mind the fancy name jeera is just cumin. Cumin has quite a distinctive aroma and flavour that is quite heart warming and combined with turmeric you get a bowl of colourful and flavourful rice.
Ingredients
1 cup white rice
2* cups water
1 tbsp cumin seeds
3 green onions chopped
3/4 tbsp ground turmeric
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil for frying
Serves 3-4 people
In a sufuria, heat the oil then add the cumin seeds for a few seconds, you’ll know the cumin is ready as your kitchen will be filled with such an earthy aroma. Then add the green onions and cook until fragrant.
Add the turmeric powder, salt and black pepper and stir. Then add in your rice and combine, finally add the water.
On high heat let the rice come to a boil then reduce the heat to let it simmer until cooked.
Once cooked,fluff with a fork and serve.
No excuses for serving plain white rice every other day.
There you have it, three very different recipes to make your rice exciting.
Which one would you make first?
*The 1 to 2 ratio of rice is per the rice I was using ,the ratios maybe different for other brands, refer to your pack of rice.
