Jeera rice is a very simple and popular Indian rice and cumin dish that may be served as a main dish or to accompany many varieties of cold and hot side dishes. This dish is probably the easiest to make of the many rice dishes in Indian cuisine. Jeera rice ingredients include long grained basmati rice, cumin seeds — which are known in India as jeera — butter or vegetable oil, coriander, parsley, mint, onions, green chilies, saffron, salt and water. Vegetables like peas, tomatoes, basil, cauliflowers and potatoes can be added to the rice if required. This rice doesn't take long to prepare, and it is best eaten hot.
To begin with, the basmati rice is soaked in salt water for about an hour and then drained and set aside; any rice can do for making jeera rice, but the long grained variety makes for a more attractive, flavored dish. Butter or oil is heated in a pan and the cumin seeds and curry leaves are added to it. When the cumin seeds start to sputter, sliced onions and sliced chilies are added to the pan and fried until the onions turn translucent. Chopped ginger, garlic, coriander and mint leaves are then added to the pan.
The soaked and drained rice is added to the pan next, along with salt and pepper; a pinch of sugar can also be added if required. After the rice has been cooking for a minute or so, water is added to the pan till it covers the rice. If colored jeera rice is desired, a pinch of saffron should be added to the pan at this point; saffron is a natural food coloring and has no health side effects. The rice should be boiled until more than half the water in the pan has evaporated. Then the heat should be turned down very low and the pan should be covered and the jeera rice should be left to cook undisturbed for the next 10 or 20 minutes.
The rice is done when all the water has been absorbed and the rice grains are well-separated and fluffy. The rice can be eaten on its own or it may be served with a vegetable or meat curry. It may also be eaten with curd and a raita or salad, or with a pickle or a sauce. Jeera rice is made in slightly different ways in many different regional cuisines in India, particularly in the Maharashtrian, Bengali and Punjabi cuisines.