Indian rice pilaf with spicy mince
This is a great recipe, but the real star of this dish is the rice. It’s one of those versatile recipes that you can build so many simple meals around. You can’t really tell from the photo, but the flavour comes from a mixture of cumin seeds, caraway seeds, turmeric, garlic & onion. A great combination.
I’ve actually tagged this as a ‘kids’ recipe because it’s one of my boys’ favourite dinners – just the rice on it’s own with a few peas thrown in. I don’t blame them. It’s pretty great. In fact this would be up there as one of our top 5 family meals. It’s simple, it’s flavoursome and I know that as long as I have thawed mince on hand, I can have a great meal on the table in 20 mins.
If spicy mince isn’t your thing, try serving the rice with sliced tandoori chicken breast or a simple pumpkin and cauliflower curry. Yum!
Indian rice pilaf with spicy mince
Recipe source: The Australian Women’s Weekly
Cooking time: 20-30 minutes
Ingredients
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. caraway seeds
1/8 tsp. ground turmeric
1 cup basmati rice
2 cups chicken stock
500g beef mince
1½ tsp. curry powder
1/3 cup sweet chilli sauce
¼ cup water
4 green onions, sliced thinly
2/3 cup frozen peas
Coriander leaves, roughly chopped, to garnish
Method
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a medium saucepan. Add onion, garlic, seeds and turmeric and cook until onion is soft. Add rice and stir over heat until rice is coated with oil. Add stock, bring to the boil, then reduce heat to very low. Cover & cook for 12 minutes.
While rice is cooking, heat remaining oil in a frying pan. Add mince and cook until browned. Add curry powder and cook for 1-2 minutes or until fragrant. Stir in sweet chilli sauce, water, green onions and peas. Cook, stirring occasionally until peas are soft and heated through.
During this time, keep an eye on the rice and once it has cooked for 12 minutes, remove from heat, keep lid on and stand for another 5 minutes or until rice is tender.
To serve, top pilaf with spiced mince and coriander leaves.
