A dish where the quality of the ghee is the dish. Two ingredients, one honest pot, and the kind of rice you remember from someone's kitchen.
Ghee rice is a test. Not of technique -- the technique is almost nothing. It is a test of the ghee. There is nowhere to hide.
Most ghee rice recipes bury the ghee under spices, bouillon, coriander garnish. That is fine cooking. This is not that recipe. This is the two-ingredient version -- rice and ghee -- that you find in certain homes in Tamil Nadu and Kerala, made by people who had access to good ghee and knew it needed no help.
What you need
- —1 cup seeraga samba or aged basmati rice
- —3 tbsp RamYam A2 bilona ghee (do not reduce this)
- —2 cups water
- —Salt to taste
The method
Wash the rice twice. Let it soak for 20 minutes. Drain completely -- this matters for the texture.
In a heavy-bottomed pot (not non-stick), heat the ghee on medium flame until it becomes liquid and fragrant. You will smell it change -- that slight nuttiness is the milk solids browning very gently. Do not rush this. Do not let it smoke.
Add the drained rice. Stir gently so each grain gets coated in ghee. Toast for 2 minutes. The grains will look slightly translucent at the edges.
Add water, add salt, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to the lowest setting. Cover with a tight lid. Cook for 12 minutes. Turn off heat. Rest for 5 minutes without opening. Then open, fluff gently with a fork.
What you will notice
The rice will have a flavour that is difficult to name. It is not just buttery -- bilona ghee has a depth that clarified butter does not, a slight sourness from the curd it was churned from, a nuttiness from the slow flame. Eat it warm, with a small bowl of rasam or just plain.
FSSAI certified. Traceable to source. No additives.
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