This deliciously fresh pilau is a great accompaniment to any Indian dish, especially seafood or poultry.
Serves 2-4 as a side dish
Ingredients
- 200g basmati rice
- 1 lemon, juiced and zested
- 2 teaspoons finely grated ginger
- Salt flakes, to taste
- Pinch ground turmeric
- 1 teaspoon ghee
Tempering Mixture
- 1 tablespoon ghee
- ½ teaspoon brown mustard seeds
- ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
- A few curry leaves
Method
- Wash rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear then soak in cold water for about 30 minutes. Drain well.
- Combine 1¼ cups of water, lemon juice and zest, ginger, a good pinch of salt, turmeric and the ghee in a heavy-based saucepan. Add rice.
- Bring to the boil, reduce heat to minimum, cover and cook for about 10 minutes, until the water has been absorbed.
- Cover with a clean dry tea towel, replace lid and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Make Tempering Mixture: heat ghee in a small saucepan until very hot. Add mustard and cumin and cook for a few seconds then add curry leaves, let them sputter for a few seconds then remove from heat.
- Pour over the rice, replace lid and set aside for a minute or so.
- Use a fork to mix the Tempering Mixture through the rice and fluff it up.
- Transfer to a bowl and serve.Note: You can make this very easily in a rice cooker but might need to make a little extra as most rice cookers won’t cook less than 300g (2 rice cooker cups). There’s no need to adjust the other Ingredients and leftovers reheat very well in the microwave.
