Jeera rice
Preparation Time
3 minutes
Cooking Time
32 minutes
Difficulty Level
easy
Meal Type
Lunch
Serves 4
Key Ingredients
- Basmati Rice
About This Recipe
Jeera rice is the rice restaurants plate under paneer butter masala and dal makhani: basmati simmered in water that first met a ghee tempering of crackling cumin, then rested and fluffed so every grain stands apart. It is plainer than a pulao on purpose, because the curry carries the meal and the rice carries the cumin.
How to make jeera rice comes down to four moves: soak, temper, cook, rest. The rice soaks for 20 to 30 minutes so the grains lengthen, then goes into the pot where the jeera has crackled in ghee. The water ratio is one and a half cups to a cup of rice, and the cook is 12 to 15 minutes on low with the lid on. The resting step is not optional: ten minutes off the heat, still covered, finishes the grains in their own steam, and only then do you fluff. That is the answer to jeera rice kaise banate hain.
The grain is basmati, naturally aged and grown in the Uttarakhand and Punjab plains; our guide to rice (chawal) covers cooking the grain itself, and types of rice in India sets it beside sona masoori and kolam. The cold, curd-set cousin for a summer plate is curd rice.
Ingredient List
Serving Size:
1x
2x
3x
Rice
- Basmati Rice — 1 1/2 cups
- Water — 2 1/4 cups
- Salt — 1/2 tsp
Tempering
- Ghee — 2 tbsp
- Jeera (cumin seeds) — 2 tsp
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Serving Suggestions
Serve hot, straight from the pot, under dal tadka, dal makhani, paneer butter masala, rajma or any gravied curry, with raita and pickle on the side. It packs well for a lunchbox and reheats with a sprinkle of water. Covered in the fridge it keeps for up to two days, fluffed again over low heat.
Tips for Cooking Jeera rice
Soak the rice the full 20 to 30 minutes; soaked grains lengthen instead of breaking. Keep the lid on for the whole cook and resist stirring, which snaps the grains. The jeera goes in whole and gets 15 to 20 seconds in hot ghee, until a shade darker; burnt cumin turns the whole pot bitter. Rest the pot off the heat before you lift the lid, and fluff with a fork, never a spoon.
Chef’s Note
Use aged basmati for the longest, fluffiest grains, and let the pot rest the full ten minutes; that step is the difference between separate grains and a sticky pot. A serving comes to about 339 kcal, 6.1 g of protein and 2.5 g of fibre; the numbers count the rice, ghee and cumin, and the salt is not in them. A cup of raw rice here weighs 200 g.
Per serving (approx.): 339 kcal, protein 6.1 g, carbs 59 g, fat 8.1 g, fibre 2.5 g. Computed from IFCT 2017 / USDA values for the listed quantities. Measures: 1 cup = 240 ml, 1 tbsp = 15 ml, 1 tsp = 5 ml.
Happy Cooking
!!
ByCOWBERRY
Jul 24, 2026
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