Jeera Rice In Instant Pot
Learn how to make super fluffy & delicious instant pot jeera rice (indian cumin rice) in minutes. Pairs perfect with all kinds of indian curries.
Equipment
- Instant Pot Or Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 cup (~220g) basmati rice I use extra long grain basmati rice
- 1.5 tablespoon ghee or oil
- 1 inch cinnamon stick dalchini
- 2-3 green cardamom hari elaichi
- 1-2 cloves laung
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
- ¼ teaspoon salt or to taste
- 2-3 drops lemon juice
- 1 cup water room temperature
- 1 tablespoon cilantro finely chopped (for garnish), optional
Instructions
Wash and Soak the Rice
- Place rice in a large bowl. Wash the rice under running water 3-5 times or until the water starts getting clearer. While washing, gently rub the rice taking care not to break the grain.
- Once properly, washed, add excess water to washed rice and soak the rice for 20-30 minutes.
Temper & Cook The Rice
- For reference, I use 3 qt Instant Pot.Once rice is soaked, drain and discard excess water. Measure water for cooking the rice as noted. Gather all the ingredients before you start cooking.
- Plug on the IP. Press Saute button. You will see 'On". Wait till you see a timer. It automatically sets timer to 30 minutes.
- Once the timer starts, add ghee and let melt. Immediately add the cinammom and green cardamom. Fry for 5-7 seconds in ghee.
- Cancel the saute mode and add the cumin seeds. Let the cumin seeds crackle for 3-4 seconds, dont let burn.
- Immediately add the rice, water, salt and 2-3 drops of lemon juice. Tip - Some people like to saute rice with ghee first and then add water, however I avoid it because the after soaking for long, the rice grain is soft and might break.
- Gently stir everything and secure the IP lid.
- Press pressure cook mode on "HIGH" for 5 minutes with vent in sealing position. If you are not using extra long basmati rice, set timer for 4 minutes.
- Once the instant pot beeps, let pressure release naturally for 5 minutes. Thereafter, release the pressure manually.
- Wait for 2-3 minutes. Open the lid. Using a soft spatula, a small saucer ot fork, fluff the rice starting from side of the pot. Always begin fluffing the cooked rice from the side of pot, don't dip into the center, this will preserve the shape of rice grains.
- Add finely chopped cilantro on top if desired and serve warm! For stove top and pressure cooking instructions, please refer to the blog post.
Video
Notes
- Wash the Rice - Take time to wash the rice. When you wash rice, you are not just cleaning it, but also getting rid of excess "easily" soluble starches on the surface of rice. While washing, gently rub the rice. Washed rice cooks to less sticky.
- Soak The Rice - Don't skip this step.This step is the most important part in the process of cooking basmati rice. Soaking helps in removing even more soluble starches from the rice grains. Secondly, soaked rice cooks evenly than unsoaked grains. Lastly, sokaed rice cooks to a much softer and fluffier texture.
- Spices - I recommend not going too heavy on spices. Firstly, you want to preserve the natural aroma of basmati rice itself , and secondly, you don't want to overshadow the fragrance of cumin seeds. The goal is for the rice to carry the delightful scent of cumin without being overwhelmed by other spices. Do add few whole spices to complement the taste of cumin, however be light-handed. You don't want your pot of cumin rice to smell of cinnamon!
- Cumin Seeds- Take utmost care that the cumin seeds dont burn. They should crackle and turn dee brown in color. If they turn black, they will taste bitter and look awful too. If your IP shows "HOT" or burn, take the IP insert out before adding cumin seeds. If using cooking pot or pressure cooker, take off the stove for a bit.
- Rice Texture - Depending on how you and your family prefer the rice texture, adjust the water (add little extra) for a softer rice. Using the times noted in my recipe, the rice is not too soft.
- Onions - If you want to add onions to your jeera rice, you can do so. I suggest adding thinly sliced yellow onions, because red onions sometimes become green after rice has cooked. Lightly fry the onion in oil before you add rice.
- Resting - Allow the rice to rest for a few minutes after its fully cooked. This firms up the grains of rice and that means extra fluffy rice.
Nutrition
Calories: 271kcalCarbohydrates: 48gProtein: 4gFat: 6gSaturated Fat: 4gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.3gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 152mgPotassium: 90mgFiber: 1gSugar: 0.1gVitamin A: 14IUVitamin C: 0.5mgCalcium: 30mgIron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!