Topic: MiB's Cumin and Onion Rice.

[madeinbeats]

This is a rice which showcases the flavour combination of cumin and onion. The nutty flavour of the roasted cumin and the sweetness of the lightly browned onions together with the fragrant basmati rice is a match made in heaven and must be tried. The flavour is richer and more savoury than pilau.

It's nice hot or cold. Although I've not tried it yet, it would be a perfect match with wild basmati and brown basmati rice by further playing on the sweet and nutty notes. Great as a savoury rice dish for say a BBQ or tandoor meats . As far as curries go, it can go with anything, but you can try and combine it with lighter or sweeter curries or less heavy and spicy or tomato based curries, but the choice is yours.

~ ingredients ~

1 Pint Basmati Rice
Vegetable oil/Ghee (no more than 2 Tbls or the rice will be greasy)
1 Pint Boiling Water
1 Medium Onion Sliced
Half Cinnamon Stick or Casia Bark
5-6 Green Cardamom (pinch the pods to open the pods a little - more flavour)
2 Cloves
2-3 Tsp (heaped) Cumin Seed
Half Tsp salt (or to your tastes)
~

Method

Wash the rice in a bowl, twice... Don't just run it under the tap. Be gentle with it so you don't crack the grains or when it cooks it will be mushy. If you have a gentle touch you can lightly 'scrub' the rice between your hands to help get the starch off. I use a metal bowl which is the best I think. Drain.

Soak the rice for 25-30 minutes.

10 minutes or so before the rice has finished soaking, heat the oil up in preferably a good heavy bottomed pan which must have a lid. Add the spices and the onion. Fry on a low to medium heat until the onions have nice light brown colour to them.

Tip in the pre-soaked rice and using a wooden or silicon spatula (metal or wooden spoons etc will break the rice grains resulting in mushy rice) stir and coat the rice with the onions and cumin. Work from the side of the pan and lift the rice off the bottom of the pan. Again, it's imperative to treat the rice with as much respect as possible and not crack or break the grains.

Add the boiling water and salt, turn the heat up to get it to boiling point. Give one last stir to mix in salt and lift the sticking grains from the bottom.

As soon as it's boiling put tinfoil over the pan and press it in a little so there is room for the steam to expand. Put the lid on and turn the gas to the lowest setting. Make sure the lid is tight, it is important that little to no steam escapes

Start the timer for 12 minutes exactly.

If you have electric hobs, try using CurryHell's oven rice cooking method instead.

After 12 minutes turn the heat off.

You can leave the rice sitting there and it will stay warm for quite a while. Take the lid and foil off being careful not to get burnt by the steam. Use a fork to separate the grains and hunt out the whole spices. Don't use anything that will mash the rice up like a plastic/wooden spoon. I recommend a metal spoon for serving as there is no point in mashing the cooked rice up at this point either.

[Unclefrank]

Hi madeinbeats i use dried onion flakes in the water when  boiling the rice, i fry the cumin seeds in a teaspoon of oil (for 2 people) until you can smell the aroma then add uncooked rice stir to cover the rice with the oil add water then 1-2 tbsp dried onion flakes, put lid on and wait until rice is cooked. Not as much ingredients as yours but still tasty.
Will have to give this one a go.

[Peripatetic Phil]

Black cumin or "ordinary" cumin, chaps ?  I use black cumin ("kala jeera") which I prefer with rice, and am interested to know what others use.

** Phil.

[Unclefrank]

I use white cumin, there is an indian food van in Bilston in the West Midlands that sells tikka, curries etc.. and he does his rice with cumin seeds and its wonderful goes together with any dish you have off him, so nearly every weekend i always have an indian breakfast, chicken tikka, lamb tikka, fried onions, mint dip and rice for 2.50 GBP.

[madeinbeats]

Always black cumin for me, I think it's considered superior isn't it? Is white cumin used in ethnic cooking other than Indian/Middle Eastern? I can't say I've ever seen it in any shops in Liverpool and have never experimented with it. I use black is all I know.

[Peripatetic Phil]

[N]early every weekend i always have an indian breakfast, chicken tikka, lamb tikka, fried onions, mint dip and rice for 2.50 GBP.

OMG, a full Indian breakfast for no more than I pay for a bacon roll locally -- if I didn't love Kent so much I would seriously have to consider moving North ...
** Phil.

[madeinbeats]

Hi madeinbeats i use dried onion flakes in the water when  boiling the rice, i fry the cumin seeds in a teaspoon of oil (for 2 people) until you can smell the aroma then add uncooked rice stir to cover the rice with the oil add water then 1-2 tbsp dried onion flakes, put lid on and wait until rice is cooked. Not as much ingredients as yours but still tasty.
Will have to give this one a go.

Yeah, give it ago mate you might like the fresher flavours and fragrance from the ingredients. I believe it's something that you would be happy with if you got it from a takeaway, a higher quality restaurant or from an authentic Asian home cooking experience. It's simple and rustic, but the flavours go so well that it transcends space and time and is the solution to world peace.    Well, maybe not :

[PaulP]

Hi MiB,

I'm not being funny but are you sure that is black cumin? It looks a bit like normal brown cumin seeds to me.
There is a piccy here of some black cumin seeds (Kala Jeera):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Black_Cumin.jpg

Cheers,

Paul

[Peripatetic Phil]

Don't be misled by the piccy, MIB : those grains of kala jeera are shewn at about 15 to 20 times life size !  Wikipaedia should know better than to not include a ruler

[madeinbeats]

Look guys, in all my years of making curries, I've never in my memory come across white or black labelled cumin; it's always just been called cumin. Even when I got to the Asian supermarkets in liverpool, I've never seen white cumin and black cumin labels, just cumin or jeera. It's always a dark brown colour hence, black, no? And this is the cumin that you see in the picture too... So, I'll leave it up to you which you want to use, try it 3 times, one white , one black and one 50/50!

Personally, I'll be sticking to standard jeera as this is all I can find in the shops, myself!