You know how I love my rice. It’s the perfect, inexpensive, blank canvas for any meal. I’ve been stuck on my favorite yellow jasmine rice for years, but sometimes I want my rice to be a little more subtle. That’s where cumin rice comes in. This is not a traditional jeera rice recipe, but rather my “what works for me” version of jeera rice. I always keep jasmine rice in my cabinet, so I used that instead of basmati, and I loooove butter with rice, so I used that in place of cooking oil or ghee. The result is a subtle but flavorful rice that I know I’ll be making often!
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What Do Cumin Seeds Taste Like?
If you’ve never had cumin seeds this recipe might be a bit foreign to you. They have a uniquely earthy and slightly peppery taste that is hard to describe. To me they taste distinctly different than ground cumin. I like them so much that I can just crunch down on them like snack. If you’re new to cumin seeds or want a slightly more subtle flavor, start with one or one and a half teaspoons of cumin seeds instead of two teaspoons.
Where to Buy Cumin Seeds
Cumin seeds are usually very expensive in major grocery stores because they’re not a common ingredient used in American cooking. Instead, check the bulk spices section at stores like Whole Foods, which is also nice because you can buy a tablespoon or so at a time. If you have any international markets in your area, especially those specializing in Indian food, you can probably find them there for a steal. I hope you can get your hands on some because they’re SO good!
Make Your Cumin Rice Vegan
If you want to make this recipe vegan, you can just swap out the butter for your favorite cooking oil.
Cumin Rice
Servings 6 1 cup eachIngredients
- 1 Tbsp butter ($0.11)
- 2 tsp cumin seeds ($0.30)
- 1.5 cups long grain jasmine rice ($0.72)
- 1 clove garlic ($0.08)
- 1/2 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 3 cups water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Add the butter and cumin seeds to a medium sauce pot. Sauté the cumin seeds in the butter over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the butter starts to turn golden brown. Do not let the butter burn.
- Add the uncooked rice to the pot and continue to stir and cook for 2-3 minutes more to toast the rice.
- Mince the garlic and add it to the pot along with the salt and water, and stir to combine. Place a lid on the pot, turn the heat up to high, and let the liquid come up to a boil.
- Once it reaches a boil, turn the heat down to low and let it simmer (with lid) for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn off the heat and let it sit undisturbed for 10 more minutes before lifting the lid.
- After resting for 10 minutes, remove the lid, fluff with a fork, and serve.
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Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!How to Make Cumin Rice – Step by Step Photos
This is what cumin seeds look like. As I mentioned in the intro, I bought a small amount from the bulk spices section of Whole Foods. This is really convenient for me, since I probably won’t use them often. You’ll only need about 2 tsp for this recipe. …If you have extra, they’re quite good to snack on IMHO!
Add one tablespoon butter to a medium sauce pot with 2 tsp of cumin seeds (or you can do 1.5 tsp if you want to go light). Sauté the cumin seeds in the butter over medium-low heat for 1-2 minutes, or just until the butter starts to turn golden brown. Do not let the butter burn. Letting it get slightly golden adds to the nutty flavor of the dish.
Once the butter is golden brown, add 1.5 cups uncooked long grain jasmine rice and continue to stir and cook for 2-3 minutes more. This toasts the rice and intensifies the flavor. After toasting the rice, add 1 clove minced garlic and 1/2 tsp salt. Finally, add 3 cups water and stir to combine.
Place a lid on the pot and turn the heat up to high. Let the pot come to a boil, then turn the heat down to low. Let it simmer on low (with the lid) for 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it sit undisturbed for 10 more minutes. After 10 minutes, lift the lid and it will look like this.
Then just fluff it with a fork and it’s ready to serve! Yummy. :)
I ate so many forkfuls right out of the pot that I guess I kind of just had cumin rice for lunch. Oops.
And that’s it! :) Super good and goes with a lot of different flavors!
Stupid question, but do you have any specific recommendations on what to pair this with (like your Indian Inspired Recipes section)? I bought some cumin seeds but have no idea what flavors go well with them since I’ve never tasted them before. Thanks!
I bet it would be great with these Coconut Curry Lentils!
Reporting back, the rice was awesome with that recipe. I’d use it for any recipe using curry powder as the main spice, they went together really well. 🤤
I’ve made this a couple times now and I decided to swap out the water and salt for chicken broth since while I loved the flavors the first time around it didn’t quite have the overall punch I was expecting. Definitely saw an improvement once I did the swap.
I much prefer this to the “Jasmine golden rice” which I find surprisingly bland.
My supermarket has an ethnic section with super cheap cumin seeds. Right next to the Goya stuff.
My Harris Teeter offers a new spice section that has little bags of spices. Stuff like cumin and sesame seeds — things that you normally wouldn’t buy. The great part is all bags are 99 cents so it’s very cost effective to experiment. If you happen to like a particular spice, then you can purchase a larger container for about $1.69.
I love cumin seeds, this sounds perfect in rice!
This was so good! Husband made this along with cilantro lime chicken. There were hardly any leftovers. Will definitely make again!
Cardamom pods.. Not seeds. And take the pods out when it’s done cooking, because they taste horrible when you crunch down on them.
I looooooove cardamom.
Throw in some cardamom seeds and at the end a little lemon juice and it will bring out even more flavour :)
Thank you for this! Cumin is the only spice I feel like I truly understand, so pretty much everything that comes out of my kitchen ends up covered in cumin! I love it so much…but until now I’ve been afraid to try whole cumin seeds! This seems simple enough, so it’s time to diversify my cumin consumption ;)
Thanks for pointing out that bulk markets found in Whole Foods and other supermarkets can be great places to purchase spices at bargain prices. I’m at least an hour and a half from any place offering these, but when I’m on vacation near a specialty supermarket, I always come home with piles of little bags of herbs and spices. $10 gets me 2 bottles of flavor from my local supermarket while that same $10 can get me months worht of wonderful things in tiny bulk bags, usually a dozen or more. Don’t assume that you can’t afford to shop at some of these stores, because bargains lurk
Thanks for this recipe! I made it with long grain brown rice and it turned out so good. This will be a regular recipe for me.
This is where a good ethnic grocery is invaluable. Cumin is also used in Hispanic cooking, but it’s frequently used ground.
This recipe reminded me of a hilarious joke. https://youtu.be/zNlKR2wrGZU
(NSFW)
The video is almost 20 minutes long. When you include a link like you did, it would’ve been nice to say something like, “…and the joke can be heard at about the 3-minute mark…” Just sayin’
Have you made either this or the saffron rice in the instant pot? How do you modify the recipes for it?
I haven’t, but the IP has a “rice” button, so I assume that you can use the sauté function first, then add everything else and press the rice button. :)
I make this in my rice cooker with brown jasmine rice and I just throw all ingredients in and select ‘brown rice’ so I imagine you would get good results by using the rice setting on an Instant Pot.
I find inexpensive cumin seeds in the little packets of spices that are often in the Mexican food aisle.