Kurma Rice (Nasi Kurma)

As I mentioned the other day, I had cooked the "powerful" Indian Chicken Curry and ate it with Kurma Rice.  I was actually tired of eating white rice and thought I would cook something different to go with the chicken curry.  However, there were some ingredients which I had to do without as there was nothing much left in my fridge.  That meant it was time to do some serious marketing.  Therefore, my Kurma Rice was very rugged that day.  Nevertheless, it had my husband singing my praises.  Honestly, that made all the effort in the kitchen very much worth the while for us, don't you agree?

Ok ladies, I shall cut to the chase and get to the ingredients.

Ingredients:

2 and a 3/4 average drinking mug of any kinds of rice - washed and set aside in your rice cooker (best if you use Basmati rice, washed and soaked for about 20 to 30 minutes, drained and then set aside in the rice cooker)
1 large onion - finely sliced (sometimes I use 4 shallots)
3 garlics - finely sliced or chopped
2 to 3 cm cinnamon
1 to 2 cm ginger - finely sliced or chopped
3 cloves
3 cardamoms
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
3-4 stalks of corianders leaves - chopped
2 green chillies - finely sliced
1 spoonful kurma powder (I used House brand)
1 spoonful full cream yogurt
1 piece Knorr chicken cube - dissolved in a small bowl of water
2 pieces pandan leaves - washed and snipped into about 4 cm pieces
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon Ajinamoto, if you prefer
salt to taste
3-4 stalks of mint leaves - plucked from stems and roughly chopped (I ran out of these)
a handful of fried shallots (I ran out of these)
2 tablespoons of ghee or any cooking oil that you prefer

Method:

1.  Heat ghee in pan.  Once ghee is hot, add in cinnamon, cloves, cardamoms, fennel seeds and cumin seeds.  Saute for a few seconds.

2.  Add in the finely sliced onions, chopped garlics and chopped ginger.  Saute until onions are withered.

3.  Add in kurma powder.  Saute for about three to five minutes or until fragrant.

4.  Add in the chopped coriander leaves and sliced green chillies.  Stir fry for about a minute or two.

5.  Add in tumeric powder and stir fry for about another minute or two.

6.  Add in the pandan leaves.  Stir fry for about another minute or two until you smell the fragrance from the pandan leaves.

7.  Fill up your rice cooker with the small bowl of water with dissolved chicken cube.  Add in water as you would normally require when you cook your rice.  (Note: For Basmati rice, for every 1 mug of Basmati rice, you need 1 and a half mug of water).  Add in the stir fried mixture and yogurt.  Add in the teaspoon of sugar, salt to taste and Ajinamoto, if you prefer.

8.  Give a stir to thoroughly combine.  Place the lid and cook your rice as per normal.  Once your rice is 3/4 cooked, open the lid and fold your rice from bottom to top so that the yogurt is thoroughly mixed with the rice.  Replace lid and let rice cooked fully.

9.  Once rice is cooked, open the lid again and sprinkle the fried shallots and mint leaves all over and  fold them into the rice using bottom to top motion.  Replace the lid again.  Ready to be served after five minutes.

Goes with everything curry!  Enjoy and Happy Kitchen-ing!!