Coriander Rice / Cilantro Rice Recipe

Do you have lots of fresh Coriander leaves with you and clueless as to what to do with it apart from a green chutney ?? Coriander Rice is an answer to it , a quick yet flavorful rice dish with healthy goodness of vegetables !

Coriander rice or Cilantro rice is a colorful rice dish cooked in Indian Style. A one pot meal with easy to follow recipe . This rice also serves as a great lunch box option and tastes good with some raita or plain curd and salad. Whenever i am a bit lazy and not in a mood of cooking a full meal, this easy peasy one pot recipe comes to my rescue as it is not only filling and healthy but it also ads variation to the routine rice dishes . 

This Coriander rice is an easy way to feed the fussy kids with fresh Coriander and vegetables. Have used freshly ground spice mix to make the rice more flavorful. You may adjust it as per your taste. Also you may use any veggies of your choice in this rice dish. Also i have cooked the rice directly in a pressure cooker , you make cook it in an open vessel, if you wish to. To make this slight spicy and flavorful Coriander rice , you need..

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of fresh Coriander leaves
• 1 cup Rice ( i have used long grain)
• 2 green Chilies
• 2-3 pods of Garlic
• 1 large Onion sliced
• 1 small Carrot cubed
• 4-5 French beans finely chopped
• 1 Potato cubed
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1/4 tsp Turmeric powder
• Pinch of Asafoetida
• Salt to taste 
• 2 tbsp Oil
• 1 tbsp fresh scrapped Coconut for garnishing

For Spice mix we need

• 2-3 black Pepper Corn
• 1-2 Clove
• 1 small stick Cinnamon 
• 1 tsp Cumin seeds
• 1 star Anise

Method:

1. In a grinder jar , take rinsed Coriander leaves , green Chilly and Garlic cloves. Grind them to a fine paste, without adding water. Wash and soak the rice for 15-20 minutes. Mean while to make the spice mix, dry roast all the ingredients listed under spice mix . Grind them to a fine powder and keep ready.

  2. In a pressure cooker, heat 2 tbsp oil and add Cumin seeds. Once the seeds crackle, add bay leaf followed by the sliced Onions. Saute for a while until the Onions get caramelized.

  3. Now add veggies- diced carrots, potatoes, finely chopped french beans . Add Asafoetida and turmeric powder. Saute all the veggies on a low to medium flame for 1-2 minutes.

  4. Add the coriander chilly paste to the veggies and stir fry. Now add the soaked and drained rice and mix it very well.

  5. Stir fry the whole mixture for 1 more minute. Now add the freshly ground spice mix powder and salt. Mix well and add 2 1/2 cups of hot water to the rice.

  6. Close the lid of the pressure cooker and cook the rice for 2 whistles. Open the lid on cooling, flip the rice using fork. Garnish the rice with some fresh scraped Coconut and serve with a raita /curd and salad and enjoy with your loved ones !

  I  hope you would love to give this recipe a try. Do not forget to give your valuable feed back. 

For more recipes of rice dishes, do check my posts on

• Jeera Rice
• Vegetarian Broccoli Rice
• Schezwan fried Rice
• Pineapple Rice
• Sweet Coconut Rice
• Curd Rice
• Masale Bhaat
• Soy Bean Chunk Fried Rice
• Vegetarian Nasi Lemak