Garlic Turmeric Rice | Easy Yellow Rice

Turmeric Garlic Rice is a very healthy and easy-to-make, flavor-packed rice recipe prepared using garlic, turmeric powder, and veggies of your choice.

This dish can be made in less than 12 minutes if you have cooked rice or leftover rice. Also, this is one of the best recipes for lunchbox, dinner parties, or great as a side with tandoori chicken, chicken tikka, or other grilled meat or veggies.

What is turmeric?

Turmeric is a rhizome from the ginger family. This root is sometimes used fresh, similar to ginger. But more commonly, it is available in a powdered form where fresh turmeric is first boiled and dried and then ground into powder. Turmeric is anti-inflammatory and an anti-oxidant. Turmeric is also commonly used for food coloring and as a spice in Asian, Indian, and Mediterranean cooking.

Some of my favorite recipes using Turmeric include:

• Immunity Booster Ginger Turmeric Tea
• Moong Dal or Lentil Khichdi
• Batata Poha 
• Patholi using Turmeric Leaves
• Lemon Rice or Chitranna

Before making any rice dish, you should always know to cook rice perfectly. Rice dishes like biryani, pilaf or pulao, or fried rice tastes excellent only when the rice is fluffy and cooked to perfection. Nobody would love to have biryani or pilaf with mushy rice. Agree? I am sharing some of the tips that I have learned all these years to cook rice perfectly to be used in rice dishes.

How to cook rice perfectly?

I always love fluffy and long grain rice while making any rice dishes. Some tips that I have learned so far to cook the perfect rice:

• Wash the rice 2 to 3 times in water until water runs clear. Washing removes any extra starch so that your rice won't end up being mushy.
• To get the rice of perfect texture, always soak the raw rice for 20 to 30 minutes if you have time.
• I generally cook rice in boiling water until 90 percent done and then drain and cover the pot so that the remaining cooking of rice is completed in that steam or residual heat. This is an easy method as you don't have to worry about the exact water to rice ratio.
• Other methods to cook rice: The exact rice to water ratio varies depending on whether the rice is cooked on the stovetop to in an Instant Pot / Pressure cooker. Note that the amount of water required also depends on the variety of rice used. While making rice dishes, I use long-grained basmati rice, jeera rice, or jasmine rice. The rice to water ratios given below will work for these rice varieties. For 1 cup basmati rice or jasmine rice, use 1 ½ cups of water in the stovetop method. For the instant pot or pressure cooker method, use 1: 1 ratio for rice to water.
• Allow the cooked rice to cool completely even before mixing it in rice recipes. Else, the rice grains will break while mixing, and it will end up mushy.

Coming back to Garlic Turmeric Rice:

I have used garlic, turmeric, and a few veggies available in my pantry to prepare this rice dish. Use any veggies of your choice. If a non-vegetarian version of this dish, feel free to add chicken, shrimp, boiled egg, etc.

Ingredients

2 tablespoon Oil
¼ cup Carrot, finely chopped
¼ cup Corn, fresh or frozen
¼ cup Green peas, fresh or frozen
¼ cup Green bell pepper or Capsicum
¼ cup Red bell pepper or Capsicum
¼ cup Onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoon Garlic, finely chopped
Salt, to taste
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 cup Uncooked rice (or 3 cups cooked rice)

How to make Garlic Turmeric Rice (Yellow Rice)

Cook the rice in your preferred method. Read the post above to know how to cook rice perfectly if interested.

In a pan on medium flame, add 1 tablespoon of oil. To this, add carrots and saute for 30 seconds. Next, add corn and green peas and continue to saute for another 30 seconds. Add bell pepper or capsicum and saute for 1 minute. Transfer these sauteed veggies to a bowl and keep them aside.

In the same pan, add another tablespoon of oil, garlic, onion, saute for 5-6 minutes or until garlic becomes fragrant on medium flame. Next, add turmeric powder and saute for 15 seconds.

To this, add cooked rice, sauteed veggies, and toss until combined.

Tips:

• My kids don't eat spicy food, so I generally do not add any spices. Feel free to add red pepper flakes or pepper powder if desired.
• You can include fresh herbs or greens if needed.
• Ground cumin or whole garam masala spices can be added.
• To make it more rich and flavorful, you can even cook the rice in coconut milk or broth.
• I have used coconut oil to make the recipe. You can use olive oil, desi ghee, or butter.
• Use any long grain rice like basmati or flavorful rice such as jeera rice or jasmine rice. Leftover rice also works best with this recipe.

Can I make this dish in one pot or one pan?

Yes. Just after sautering onion and garlic, add all ingredients (including veggies) along with rice and 1 ½ cups of water. Bring it to a boil and simmer for 12 to 15 minutes or until rice is cooked through. Just note that veggies will be soft and not crunchy in that case.

Can I make this turmeric garlic rice using fresh turmeric?

Yes. You have to grate a turmeric finger and add it to the recipe. Since the fresh turmeric has strong flavors and color, use just ½ teaspoon instead of 1 tsp.

Which rice works the best while making garlic turmeric rice?

Any variety of rice works, but basmati or jasmine is used to enhance the flavor of the dish.

Instant pot turmeric garlic rice

Add 1 cup water and 1 cup rice to your Instant Pot. Secure the lid with vent in sealing position. Set the manual or pressure cook button for 4 minutes. Let the pressure release naturally for 10 minutes, and then quick release any remaining pressure.

Fluff the rice with a fork. Remove it in a separate bowl and let it cool completely before you start making the rice.

Turn the Instant pot to SAUTE MODE. Add oil. To this, add onion and garlic and saute for 3 to 5 minutes or until fragrant. Add turmeric powder and salt and saute for 10 to 15 seconds.

Next, add carrots, green peas, corn, bell peppers and saute for another 2 to 3 minutes.

Finally, add the cooked rice and toss until combined or heated through. Turn off instant pot.

Video Recipe for Garlic Turmeric Rice

Detailed video recipe for garlic turmeric rice (simple yellow rice)

Recipe card

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