Jeera rice

Indian-spiced rice recipe for the electric rice cooker. The name just means rice with cumin, and 2 kinds of cumin are the stars of the show here.

I use this as a base for my faux biryani like Cheater's Hyderabadi chicken biryani, but I also often spice up rice this way in the rice cooker as an accompaniment for curries — usually leaving out the saffron threads.

Nigella seeds (Nigella sativa) are often sold as "black cumin" in English-speaking countries, but they're not the same thing as kala jeera or shahi jeera (Bunium persicum), which looks like small, darker, thinner cumin seeds. If kala jeera/shahi jeera isn't available in your local Desi shop, just replace it with more ordinary cumin.

Ingredients

• 4 180mL rice cups dry basmati rice (3 U.S. cups)
• 1/4 tsp saffron threads
• 10 whole black peppercorns
• 6 whole green cardamom pods
• 3 whole cloves
• 3 whole allspice berries
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 Cassia cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tsp whole cumin seed
• 1/2 tsp whole kala jeera seed
• 1/2 tsp ginger-garlic paste

Directions

Soak saffron threads in 1/4 cup warm water for 15 minutes. Add basmati rice to rice cooker, layering with saffron water (include the saffron threads). Fill rice cooker with water to the appropriate line and add remaining ingredients. Cook on normal cycle -- do not use quick or pressure cooking modes, if they are available. When rice is done cooking, whole spices should have risen to the top. Remove and discard them, then fluff rice. I often like to mix in a small amount of ghee or oil before serving.