If you want crazy tasty rice to go with your curries, pilau rice is just the thing you need on the table tonight.
And it’s easy. Really easy. Like no-brainer easy. If you can boil water, you can make pilau rice.
OK – maybe it’s a little more complicated than boiling water. But not a lot. Seriously. Want to nail it every time? Read on.
Foolproof basmati rice
There are a lot of opinions on cooking rice. One mug. Two mugs. A finger deep above the surface. Up to your first knuckle.
Rinse. Don’t rinse. Soak. Don’t soak. Make it standing on one foot. But only facing east. Except Tuesdays. Tuesdays you face west.
I have a theory about that. If it works all these different ways it’s probably near bullet proof.
I don’t know that for a fact. But if everybody has a way to make rice. And they are all different. Then it’s probably pretty hard to screw up.
I have my way. And I know it works. So it’s what I go with. This has never failed me. And it’s precise. No feel. A formula. Scale it up or down. It just works.
1 cup of rice. 1 and 1/2 cups of water. A teaspoon of kosher salt. Bring to a simmer uncovered. Cover and reduce the heat to low. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Wait.
After 20 minutes turn off the heat. Reset the time for 5 minutes. When that second timer goes off you are good to go. It is just that easy.
Want 2 cups of rice? Use 3 cups of water. Two teaspoons of kosher salt. Everything else stays the same.
Pilau rice is just seasoned rice
There’s no mystery here. Rice. Water. Aromatic spices. Salt. And some ghee to make it a bit decadent. That’s it. You are just building on the foolproof basmati technique above.
You can dress it up if you want. Add peas. Top it with fried onions. Flaked almonds. Whatever you want.
But at the end of the day this is just rice. Really tasty rice. But just rice. There’s no secret. No magic. And it doesn’t need to be a big production.
I never thought I’d write this post. It actually never occurred to me that anyone would care.
But I get asked. A lot. So here it is. Happy to share.
Three simple things make pilau rice
When I make pilau rice I want three things. I want it yellow. Turmeric takes care of that.
I want the aroma to blow me away. That’s where the whole spices come in.
And I want it lush. Rich. I want every grain of rice wrapped in flavour infused buttery goodness. A little ghee takes care of that.
What I don’t want is to spend a lot of time and effort making it. Call me lazy but I don’t see the point. Nobody needs this to be more difficult than it needs to be.
If I want rice to be the star I make chicken biryani. I love a good biryani. But if it’s a supporting player, this technique does it for me. I serve pilau rice on the side. With other dishes.
Bloom your spices in ghee
The difference between pulau rice and Tuesday night white rice is one simple step. Bloom some whole spices in ghee. Before you cook you rice.
I grew up Indian. So I’m pretty happy with plain basmati rice. I think it’s the perfect counterpoint. Balanced. But I get that people want flash. And pulao rice brings a little bit of flash.
From an execution perspective rice pilau and white basmati rice are really close. So if you want rice pilau, it’s barely any extra work.
Melt some ghee. Toss in some whole spices. Fry briefly. Add the rice. Stir. Add the water. And just make rice. that’s it. Like I said. Easy.
You can make pilau rice as complicated as you want. Or you can just do this. And focus on the star of your Indian meal. Your call. I like it easy.
Easy Indian pilau rice
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ghee
- 4 green cardamom
- 1 2" piece cassia bark
- 1/2 tsp cumin seed
- 1 tej patta Indian bay leaf (optional)
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 1 tsp kosher salt – a bit less if you are using regular sea salt
- 1/2 tsp turmeric
Instructions
- Pick a pot with a tight fitting lid. For 1 cup of rice a 2 quart saucepan is a good size.
- Heat the ghee over medium heat.
- Add the green cardamom, cassia bark and cumin seed. Little bubbles should form around the spices. Cook for around 30 seconds.
- Add the rice and stir. Add the water. For basmati using this technique the proportions are always 1 rice to 1 and 1/2 water. One tsp of kosher salt per cup of rice.
- Add the turmeric and Indian bay leaf (tej patta). Bring to a lively simmer.
- Reduce the heat to low and cover. Set a timer for 20 minutes. Do something else for a while.
- When the timer goes off (20 minutes after you covered the pot), turn of the heat. Do not uncover. Move the pot off the burner.
- Set a timer for 5 minutes. Keep doing something else. After five minutes remove the lid and gently fluff the rice. Inhale that aroma!
Hi Romain,
Can you do a fried mushroom rice recipe?
Kind regards
Leigh
I will put it on the list.
Hi
I’m new to your site, and was recommended to your site by a friend.
I only have an induction hob , what heat settings do you recommend I use for your rice recipes.
ie. simmer etc.
Thanks in advance
Ian
Welcome!
Unfortunately I don’t have an induction hob to test this for you. Simmer is so you get gentle bubbles forming. Low is trickier unfortunately. This works on gas and electric (resistive) stoves. All I can suggest is you try it once on your low and if the rice is underdone bump the setting slightly and try again. It may seem a bit of a pain to do this but once you know you are set for as long as you own your stove.
I’ve always used 1 part rice to 1.5 parts water and unless you take your eye off the needle, it’s impossible to screw it up. However, I did not know how effective your method of flavouring the rice was until I tried it tonight. Fabulous! Thank you
If you set a timer it really is impossible to screw up. Delighted you liked the little bit extra that flavours up the pilau!
Yes, it works really well. Will you be publishing any recipes or techniques for keema and keema pilau rice?
Keema pilau rice. That’s something I need to put on the list. There are a number of keema recipes on the site already. Do a quick search to find them.
At last, a recipe for absolutely perfect rice, thank you so much for sharing although I’m still trying to get the timing right for double the quantity so any tips here would be greatly appreciated. It freezes perfectly also.
I find this recipe scales with quantities without changing the time. If you are finding it a little underdone perhaps add a minute or two to the 20 minute simmer stage? Conversely, if it’s a little overdone roll back a minute or two?
Hi Romain
In order to double your recipe would you double the spices too?
Yes. This recipe scales linearly.
Hi Romain. I have tried out a number of your recipes (Indian and French so far) and they have all exceeded ou expectations. We are so pleased to have found your website and we have recommended to many of our friends. It’s great stuff and thanks for putting the blog together.
You are very welcome. Glad you are enjoying the recipes!
thank you for sharing…. have friends coming up on Friday, making your butter chicken indian restaurant style – which is magnificent. I will try your Pilau Rice (and feed back 😉 )as opposed to my normal steamed basmati rice.
Sounds like your friends are a lucky bunch to have you cooking for them!
Pilau Rice came out really well. Tried it with your Makhani recipe which tasted better than the local eateries round where I live. One quick question about the Pilau…. I made it just a wee bit too moist. Any tips to make slightly drier?
Glad you liked it. Great to hear about the makhani as well. You could try an extra minute or two on low before you let it stand. Probably a minor variation between low on your stove and low on mine…
Would all the timing work with brown basmati rice? Just wondering 🙂
Don’t think so. From what I hear brown basmati would take longer. I’ve never tried so I don’t have timing for you. Sorry.
No worries, if I try it I’ll let you know 🙂
Ive commented before but once again, your recepies are fabulous. Thank you so much for sharing them.
Thank you for saying again. Feel free to comment as often as you wish. It helps me out!
Fab recipe…have you got sagg aloo recipe reataurant style also?
I do. You can find all the Indian recipes on the blog under the recipes/indian tab in the menu at the top.
https://staging2.glebekitchen.com/saag-aloo-indian-restaurant-style/