I am dedicating this blog post to my friend Rajeev, who tells me he is struggling with cooking rice let alone curry.

I normally chuck the rice in with spices and some random amount of water and then occasionally check to see if I need to add more water. This normally works-ish.

But ‘My Tamil Kitchen’ is all about learning to do it right –  so here is how my mum would make rice in a rice cooker.

I have also included a step extra if you want to make yellow rice which adds both colour and flavour.  Mum said they nearly never made yellow rice back in Jaffna. When I asked her why – she said she thought that it was probably because the curries were so delicious it didn’t matter that the rice was white.

INGREDIENTS (easily serves 4)

• 2 cups white basmati rice
• 6 cardamom pods
• 1/2 a cinnamon stick broken into quarters (I put the whole stick in without breaking it)
• 8 black peppercorns
• 2 tsp ghee
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder (only if making yellow rice)

METHOD

• Wash the rice three times in water and set aside
• Put the ghee in the rice cooker and hit the cook button
• Add the cardamom, cinnamon and peppercorns to the ghee
• Cook for about 4-5 minutes without lid, stirring occasionaly
• Add the rice, turmeric*, salt and water to the rice cooker and cover with lid
• Once the rice has cooked, if the rice feels too dry, add a bit of water

*only if making yellow rice

Note – If you want to make a vegan version of this or don’t use buy ghee – throw all the ingredients together and hit the cook button.