This Indian restaurant style stove top pilau rice recipe delivers perfect results every time!
Pilau rice is a colourful Indian restaurant side dish, made with aromatic spices. Fragrant and delicious, with onion and spices cooked into the rice and then transferred to a pot to finish cooking. Perfect served with your favourite Indian takeaway style curries.
Ingredients For Stove Top Pilau Rice
- Basmati Rice: Excess starch rinsed off. I like Biona Himalayan Basmati Rice.
- Spices: Cumin, Turmeric, Cloves, Cardamom, Bay Leaf, Cinnamon Stick
- Other Ingredients: Vegetable Oil, Onion, Water
How To Make Stove Top 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 Rice
Wash 150 grams basmati rice rice two or three times in fresh water until the water runs clear. Drain thoroughly and set aside.
Step 2: Fry
Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a pot over a medium heat. Fry 1 small onion, finely chopped until soft (around 3 minutes). Add 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, 2 whole cloves, 1 green cardamom pod, crushed, 1 tej patta bay leaf and 1/4 cinnamon stick 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 Pilau Rice
Cover with 225 millilitres fresh water. Bring to the boil, cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce the heat to the lowest possible available. Cook stove top pilau rice for 12 minutes. Remove from the stove top but keep the lid on and let the rice rest for another 10 minutes. Mix well to fluff up the rice and serve alongside your favourite curry dishes.
I hope you’ll try this Indian restaurant style stove top pilau rice recipe. If you do, let me know in the comments how it went!
Stove Top Pilau Rice
Equipment
- 1 pot with a tight fitting lid
Ingredients
- 150 grams basmati rice
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon turmeric
- 1/8 teaspoon sea salt (a pinch)
- 2 whole cloves
- 1 green cardamom pod, crushed
- 1 tej patta bay leaf
- 1/4 cinnamon stick
- 225 millilitres water
Instructions
- Rinse 150 grams basmati rice two or three times in fresh water until the water runs clear. Drain thoroughly and set aside.
- Heat 2 teaspoons vegetable oil in a pot over a medium heat. Fry 1 small onion, finely chopped until soft (around 3 minutes). Add 1/4 teaspoon cumin powder, 1 teaspoon turmeric, 1/8 teaspoon sea salt, 2 whole cloves, 1 green cardamom pod, crushed, 1 tej patta bay leaf and 1/4 cinnamon stick 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.
- Cover with 225 millilitres water. Bring to the boil, cover with a tight fitting lid and reduce the heat to the lowest possible available. Cook for 12 minutes. Remove from the stove top but keep the lid on and let the rice rest for another 10 minutes. Mix well once more to fluff up the rice and serve alongside your favourite curry dishes.
Do you like this stove top 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 chicken pakora, paratha, madras curry and more! You can buy The Indian Takeaway Secret in paperback or kindle form here.
- Make your favourite Indian takeaway dishes at homeKenny McGovern’s obsession with recreating takeaway and fast food dishes over the years has led him to the belief that Indian cooking is perhaps the greatest example that variety really is the spice of life
- The different herbs and spices used in Indian dishes creates a vast range and depth of flavour, from spicy, sweet, savoury and sour curry sauces to fragrant and aromatic sides
- The Indian Takeaway Secret is a meticulously researched love letter to Indian cooking, containing delicious examples of traditional Indian cooking and street-food style dishes alongside popular recipes honed and developed largely in the UK, as well as the fusion food offered in many Indian restaurants today
- Inside you will find restaurant classics like pakoras, bhajis, Dansak and Tikka Masala; classic dishes such as Sharabi and Tarka Dal; as well as street food favourites including Disco Fry Egg, Akoora and Aloo Subzi
- With this vast array of tasty takeaway recipes for every occasion, you’ll be able to enjoy all your favourite Indian food from the comfort of your own home – and at half the price!
