Aromatic Garlic Rice

This aromatic garlic rice will be ready in 20 minutes for any type of main dish you have prepared. 

Rice is a very important side in my house and we have rice at least once a day. As Sri Lankans, if we didn’t have rice for the day it is like something is missing in our life ( I know it sounds crazy 😉 ). Preparing rice is easy but to prepare 3-4 curries to go with that is not a quick job when you are busy, so I try to make quick rice dishes for a busy schedule. You can check out the rice dishes that I make very often when I have no time to make 3-4 curries. You might think why do we need 3-4 curries. Sri Lankans have rice and curry for lunch which consists of 2-3 vegetable curries and one fish/meat dish every day which is a healthy and balanced diet. 

There are many varieties of garlic rice recipes on the web. I have tried a few which turned out good but for me, the essence of garlic is not sufficient. Some used water to cook the rice and some used chicken/vegetable stock. I like my garlic rice to have a more garlicky flavor so I enhanced the flavor with 10 large cloves of garlic and a teaspoon of garlic powder. Using cinnamon and pandan leaf for the rice gave it a lovely aroma. I have this rice with fried eggs and chili oil or with Chicken Meatball Curry which is so comforting. 

Aromatic Garlic Rice

Recipe by Ruwani Ravin KumarCourse: SidesCuisine: Asian

Servings

4

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

40

minutes

This aromatic garlic rice will be ready in 20 minutes for any type of main dish you have prepared. 

Ingredients

• 1½ cups basmati rice / long grain rice

• 1½ Tablespoon sunflower oil / olive oil

• 10 large cloves of garlic sliced in to strips

• 12-15 curry leaves

• 1 3 inch cinnamon stick

• 1 small red onion chopped finely

• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1½ Tablespoon butter

• 2½ cups water

• 2 3 inch pandan leaves

Directions

• Wash and drain1 ½ cups of rice and keep aside
• Keep a pot / large saucepan on low heat and add 1 ½ tbsp oil to it. Next add the sliced garlic and fry until light golden brown. Make sure to stir a few times to cook it evenly.
• Remove from the pan, put on a plate and spread and leave a side to cool. Add the curry leaves to the oil and fry for a minute. Remove from the pan and spread it on the same plate with the garlic to cool.
• Now add the cinnamon stick and finely chopped red onion and fry until the onion turns pink and translucent. Increase the heat to medium high.
• Next add the rice, garlic powder, salt and butter. Stir well to combine. Add water, pandan leaves and bring it to a boil.
• When it starts boiling reduce the heat to low cover and cook for 15-18 minutes.
• Turn off the heat. Add half of the fried garlic into the rice and fluff the rice with a fork and let it cool slightly before serving.
• Garnish with rest of the fried garlic and curry leaves. Serve warm.

Notes

• RICE COOKER INSRUCTIONS – turn on the rice cooker on saute mode or cook mode and follow upto step 5 and cover and cook until it’s done.
• ACCOMPANIMENTS – Fried eggs,meat,fish or veggie curries and salad