Ghee Rice or Neychoru is a Kerala Style Rice dish where rice is cooked with lots of ghee and spices. This dish is perfect to serve as a side dish with your everyday meals. Here is how to make it.
If you like to make such simple and tasty rice recipes for your meals, then you can also try Hyderabadi Bagara Rice, Restaurant Style Indian Jeera Rice, South Indian Tomato Rice, South Indian Lemon Rice or South Indian Coconut Rice.
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About This Recipe
Ghee Rice, also called Neychoru, is a flavourful one pot Kerala Style rice which is usually prepared during the festival days or for special occasions.
It is South Indian comfort food that is cooked with basmati rice along with a large dollop of ghee. Use good quality or desi ghee for this dish, for the best taste. Whole spices and nuts are added in the recipe, which makes it even more delicious.
You can also add some vegetables like green peas, potatoes, beans and carrots to make Vegetable Ghee Rice if you are packing it for your kid’s lunch box. It is a great way to add vegetables to your kid’s diet.
Here, I have used a pan to make it, but you can also use a pressure cooker to make the same. The ratio of Rice and Water is 1:2 in this recipe. If you are increasing the quantity of Ghee Rice, then just make sure that you use double the quantity of water as compared to rice.
The recipe takes only 20 minutes to get ready, thus making it great to serve for your weekday meals or to pack in your office/school lunch box.
This recipe is,
- Easy
- Flavourful
- One-Pot Meal
- Gets ready in 20 minutes
- Apt to pack in Lunch Box
- Can be served with any Curry
Ingredients
To make Ghee Rice, you need Long Grain Basmati Rice, Nuts and Spices.
Rice – I always make sure to use Basmati Rice to make this dish, as they are thinner and longer than the traditional rice. Having said that, any rice works great in this recipe.
You can also roast the rice for 2 minutes before adding the water to get separated and fluffy rice grains.
Ghee – This is the key ingredient in this recipe, which adds a nice aroma to this dish. Use good quality ghee for the best taste and flavor. You can also use homemade ghee for this one.
Nuts – For nuts, I have used cashews and raisins, but if you like you can add some chopped Almonds too. Roast the cashews until golden brown and raisins until they fluff up before adding other ingredients.
Spices – In spices, the use of cardamom, cinnamon, black peppercorns and cloves simply makes it stand out from other rice recipes.
Other Ingredients – Other than these, we will need onion, green chillies, salt and water.
You can adjust the amount of green chilies as per your taste. If making for your kids, you can skip it too.
Onions add a nice crunch in this rice recipe. Brown the onions a little, it adds a nice sweet caramelized flavor in the neychoru recipe. Coconut milk can also be added as a substitute to water for extra flavor.
Step By Step Recipe
Wash the rice well 2-3 times. Soak in 4-5 cups of water for 30 minutes.
Heat ghee in a pan.
Add cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, and black peppercorns handle them crackle for a few seconds.
Add cashew nuts and fry until they are slightly browned.
Now add raisins and fry until they plum up.
Add onions and fry until they turn brown.
Drain the rice and add it in the pan along with green chillies, water and salt.
Cover the pan and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked well.
Remove the pan from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes. Fluff the rice gently using a fork. Serve hot.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can! Just skip the process of adding raw rice and water and add cooked leftover rice instead. Traditionally, it is made with raw rice, but this is also a great way to use up your leftover rice.
Follow the same recipe and pressure cook the rice for about 2 whistles or cook on a medium flame for about 8 to 10 minutes.
Soaking the Rice before cooking will give you separate and fluffy rice. Also do not overcook the rice, cook it for a proper time as mentioned.
Also, make sure the measurement of rice to water is also correct.
No, I would not recommend it. Ghee is the main ingredient in this recipe, that cannot be replaced.
To prepare it in an Instant Pot, turn it on and select the SAUTE mode. Once Hot appears on the display panel, add ghee.
Add cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves, and black peppercorns handle them crackle for a few seconds. Add cashew nuts and fry until they are slightly browned.
Now add raisins and fry until they plum up. Add onions and fry until they turn brown. Drain the rice and add it in the pan along with green chilies, water, and salt. Rice to water ration when cooking in an Instant pot is 1:1. For every one cup of riv=ce, add 1 cup of water.
Cancel the SAUTE mode and close the lid. Pressure cook for 4 minutes, 10 NPR then release the steam manually.
Open the lid and carefully mix the rice with the fork. Serve hot.
Variations
Coconut Ghee Rice – You can cook the rice in coconut milk instead of water or add grated coconut in the rice.
Vegetable Ghee Rice – Add your favorite vegetables to make it even more nutritious and wholesome.
Fruits Ghee Rice – Just like vegetables, you can even add fruits such as Mango, Pineapple, or Pomegranate in the rice.
Nuts Loaded Ghee Rice – Along with Raisins and Cashews, add more nuts such as Pistachios, Almonds, etc to make this recipe.
Storage Suggestions
This Ghee Rice stays in the fridge for about 2 – 3 days. While reheating if you find it a little dry, sprinkle a little water and heat it properly.
You can either heat Ghee Rice in a pan or in the microwave.
Serving Suggestions
Ghee Rice tastes the best along with a delicious Vegetable Kurma or any other Kurma that you prepare at your home.
You can also serve it along with Chicken and Mutton Curry.
Ghee Rice also makes for a great side dish along with your festive vegetarian curries too.
Just serve it along with some flavourful Raita such as Carrot Raita, Easy Cucumber Raita, Roasted Beetroot Raita, Palak Raita, or any other Raita of your choice.
Pro Tips By Neha
Use long grain basmati rice, as they turn out to be most flavourful and aromatic.
Ghee is a must in this recipe. Do not substitute it with any other ingredient.
Soak the rice beforehand, so that you get separate and fluffy rice.
If you have less time on your hands, you can use a pressure cooker to make this rice. It takes less time as compared to rice cooked in a pan.
This recipe can be easily doubled or tripled, if making for larger crowds.
Want to make it more wholesome? Add in vegetables of your choice. It is also a great way to feed your kids all the vegetables.
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Recipe Card
Ghee Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup Basmati Rice
- 3 tbsp Ghee
- 1 inch Cinnamon
- 2 Green Cardamom
- 2-3 Cloves
- 2-3 Black Peppercorns
- 5-6 Cashew Nuts
- 10-12 Raisins
- ½ cup Onion (Sliced)
- 2-3 Green Chillies (Split into half)
- Salt to taste
- 2 cups Water
Instructions
- Wash the rice well 2-3 times.
- Soak in 4-5 cups of water for 30 minutes.
- Heat ghee in a pan.
- Add cinnamon, green cardamom, cloves and black peppercorns handle them crackle for a few seconds.
- Add cashew nuts and fry until they are slightly browned.
- Now add raisins and fry until they plum up.
- Add onions and fry until they turn brown.
- Drain the rice and add it in the pan along with green chillies, water and salt.
- Cover the pan and cook until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked well.
- Remove the pan from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Fluff the rice gently using a fork.
- Serve hot.
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!