This Indian restaurant style rice cooker pilau rice recipe delivers perfect results every time!
Pilau rice is a colourful Indian restaurant side dish, made with aromatic spices. Fragrant and delicious, it’s easy to infuse the spices and rice together in advance and transfer it to a rice cooker to cook to perfection. This also leaves time to organise your favourite curry dishes to eat alongside your cooked rice.
Ingredients For Pilau Rice
- Basmati Rice: I like Biona Himalayan Basmati Rice.
- Spices: Cumin, Turmeric, Cloves, Cardamom, Bay Leaf, Cinnamon Stick
- Other Ingredients: Vegetable Oil, Onion, Water
How To Make Rice Cooker Pilau Rice
One of the most important steps in cooking perfect pilau rice is making sure the rice is rinsed of any excess starch. With the rice properly rinsed it’s sure to come out fluffy and delicious, so it’s worth taking the time to do this.
Step 1: Rinse
Wash the basmati rice two or three times in fresh water until the water runs clear. Drain thoroughly and set aside.
Step 2: Fry
Heat the oil in a pot over a medium heat. Fry the chopped onion until soft (around 3 minutes). Add the cumin, turmeric, salt, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon and stir-fry for 1 minute. Add the washed and drained rice and stir well until the rice is evenly coated with the oil and spices.
Step 3: Cook
Pour the ingredients from the frying pan into the inner pot of your rice cooker and add water to the ‘1’ measuring mark in the pot. Cook the rice on ‘white / long grain’ mode. When the rice is cooked, mix well with a rice spoon, remove the whole spices and leave on ‘keep warm’ mode for 10 minutes. Mix well once more to fluff up the rice and serve alongside your favourite curry dishes.
I hope you’ll try this Indian restaurant style rice cooker pilau rice recipe. If you do, let me know in the comments how it went!
- 1 cup basmati rice (rice cooker cup)
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- Pinch sea salt
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 green cardamom pod crushed
- 1 tej patta bay leaf
- 1/4 cinnamon stick
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 small onion finely chopped
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Wash the basmati rice two or three times in cold water until the water runs clear. Drain thoroughly and set aside. In a small bowl, add the cumin powder, turmeric, sea salt, whole cloves, crushed cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon stick. Set aside.
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Heat the oil in a pot over a medium heat. First, fry the chopped onion for 3 minutes. Then add the cumin, turmeric, salt, cloves, cardamom, bay leaf and cinnamon and stir-fry for 1 minute. Finally, add the washed and drained rice and stir well until the rice is evenly coated with the oil and spices.
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Pour the ingredients from the frying pan into the inner pot of your rice cooker and add water to the 1st measuring mark in the pot. Cook the rice on 'white / long grain' mode. When the rice is cooked, mix well with a rice spoon, remove the whole spices and leave on 'keep warm' mode for 10 minutes.
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Mix well once more to fluff up the rice and serve alongside your favourite curry dishes.
For added deliciousness, try adding a little melted butter or ghee to the cooked rice, mixing through just before serving.
Do you like this pilau rice recipe? If so, buying a copy of my book might appeal to you! In The Indian Takeaway Secret you can find a host of restaurant style recipes that you can make at home. You’ll learn how to make vegetable pakora, chicken tikka, paneer cheese and more! You can buy The Indian Takeaway Secret in paperback or kindle form here.
- McGovern, Kenny (Author)
- English (Publication Language)
- 256 Pages – 05/06/2021 (Publication Date) – Robinson (Publisher)
