I used to make jeera rice more frequently before Devansh was born. We would have it with dal tadka or rajma. After Devansh (I guess I can call this period AD :p), I don’t cook much for the family except when my cook is on leave. I made this jeera rice for dinner on one such day when my cook was on her month-long leave. I decided to serve Devansh the same food as the rest of the family instead of his usual dal-rice. I fed him this rice with rajma masala and luckily he ate it without much fuss. I have written how I made rajma masala kid-friendly in its recipe. Click here if you want to take a look.
When I initially learned this recipe, which was eons ago, I would use butter instead of ghee. Now, however I prefer using homemade ghee as it’s a healthier option. For this rice or pulao, I use Basmati when we have guests. But otherwise, I use the regular rice as Basmati being too polished loses out on the nutrients.

Jeera Rice
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice
- 1 small onion chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds jeera
- 1 tbsp homemade ghee clarified butter
- 2 tsp chopped coriander optional
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Wash rice thoroughly, soak it in water for about 10 minutes and then drain. (Soaking is done to remove the water-soluble pesticides from the grains. If you are using organic rice, you don’t need to soak it. I don’t use Basmati when cooking for just family as it is too polished and therefore loses out on nutrients.)
- Heat a kadai and add ghee. (I sometimes cook this rice in a cooker as it’s faster.)
- Add jeera when the ghee heats up.
- Add chopped onion when jeera starts to crackle.
- Sauté till the onion turns golden brown and then add rice.
- Sauté for about a minute, and then sprinkle in salt and mix well.
- Add 2 cups of water, and then cover the kadai.
- Cook rice on medium flame initially for about 7-8 minutes and then lower the flame.
- Cook on low flame till the rice is done.
- Add chopped coriander, mix properly, and then turn off heat. (These days I don’t add coriander as Devansh doesn’t like it if coriander gets stuck to his palate. I added some coriander just for the sake of clicking a picture.)
- Use a fork to separate the grains of rice, and serve hot with dal or curry of your choice. (I like it with dal tadka and rajma.)
hello mukta,
i like ur recipes & ur way to share it.
Thank you so much Sadhana :)