Baked Rice
- Total Time
- 1 hour 15 minutes
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:Serves 6 to 8
- ⅓cup extra-virgin olive oil
- 2heads garlic, cloves peeled
- 12-14 medium-size shallots, peeled and quartered lengthwise
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 2whole sprigs fresh curry leaves, left on stem, or substitute a handful of dry curry leaves
- 2cups basmati rice
- 2teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste
- ½teaspoon saffron threads, soaked in 2 tablespoons boiling water for 30 minutes
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
340 calories; 9 grams fat; 1 gram saturated fat; 7 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 58 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 8 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 402 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat oven to 425. Put the oil into a sauté pan set over medium heat. When the oil shimmers, add the garlic cloves, shallots and lemon zest, and cook, tossing occasionally, for about 15 minutes, until the garlic is golden brown and soft. Add the sprigs of curry leaves, and cook for approximately 2 minutes more, or until the leaves are starting to crisp.
- Step 2
Pour the garlic and shallots into a large ovenproof baking dish, approximately 10 by 14 inches, and spread the rice over the vegetables in an even layer. Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of salt over the rice, and then pour 3½ cups of boiling water over the rice. Cover the dish tightly with aluminum foil, and place in the oven for 30 minutes or so, until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is light, fluffy and starting to turn crisp around the edges.
- Step 3
Remove the dish from the oven, uncover and drizzle the saffron and its soaking water over the dish. Re-cover the dish with aluminum foil, and allow it to sit on the stovetop for another 5 or 10 minutes, then serve.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
LMK
It would be helpful if Times food writers offered substitutes for ingredients like curry leaf that might be hard to find outside a major city. I checked a few food website and here are some suggestions (none is exactly the same): fresh bay leaves (not the dried out ones); lemon balm (use 2/3 as much as curry leaf): lime zest (zest of 1 lime=8 curry leaves); basil plus a little lemon juice. Hope this is helpful.
susie O
Hint: For easier clean up, just brown the garlic and onions in a Dutch oven with a lid and load the rice, water and salt into the same pot. Brown rice also works in this recipe. For two cups brown rice you'll need about 4 1/4 cups water and a slightly longer bake time. Everybody loved this rice and it freezes nicely!
ellen
Curry leaves are not the same as dried curry powder. Curry powder is a fragrant spice blend of many different herbs and spices.
Curry leaves are the leaves of the curry tree (Murraya koenigii or Bergera koenigii) and have none of the aromatics that you'd be getting in the powder mix.
Betsy Karpenkopf
Judging from past experience in using saffron, I am pretty sure he means to pour boiling water over the saffron and let it sit for 30 minutes or so.
Kate
This is outstanding. I used 2 bay leaves instead of hunting down curry leaves. After adding the soaked saffron and water, I added another 2 T of water as the rice seemed to need just a bit of help to get fully tender.
This is an excellent recipe for a dinner party because once it's out of the oven and you've added the saffron, it can sit, re-covered in foil, for a long time. Mine sat for about 40 minutes and was still warm and perfect all around.
roxana
It's a good idea to wash the rice - keep rinsing until the water runs clear - or it will be clumpy. And make sure to grind the saffron threads to a powder and then add the boiling water. I just use really hot water from the tap and it works fine. And instead of olive oil, I'd use grapeseed. It has a higher heat level and you have a better chance of crisping the rice at the bottom of the dish which is the best part. These are all tips from my Persian cooking heritage.
Sj
How do you keep two tbs of water boiling for 30 mins?
Hephaestis
If you have to travel to the ends of the earth to find curry leaves, that would place the 1 hr 15 min prep time in doubt. I'll leave the curry leaves out, won't substitute curry powder thanks to the sage advice of other commentors, (and not add sage either), and add pine nuts to the Step 1 saute to give a bit of earthiness to the dish.
Ann
The cloves of two heads of garlic are peeled, but left whole. Garlic releases less of its flavor when cloves are left whole as opposed to being chopped up or minced. Just as in the French recipe for Chicken with Forty Cloves of Garlic - the essence of garlic is there but not overwhelming.
BB
lol! it's 2 tbsp of boiling water and saffron soaked for 30 minutes, not boiled for 30 minutes. :-)
Hephaestis
I made this yesterday without curry leaves or any substitute for them and it was delicious. This is by far the tastiest rice I have ever eaten.
I sauted the shallots and lemon zest for 8 minutes and then added the garlic (plus 2/3 cup of raw pine nuts) and continued to saute another 7 minutes. I followed the rest of the recipe as written. The rice was tender and just a little crispy.
As others have noted, the garlic gets very mellow during the baking. The amount of saffron seemed just right.
Juli S
What a beautiful baking dish - can you share what it is/where to get one? I see many beautiful serving/baking pieces in the NYTimes recipes - it would be great if the recipe author could share information about the pieces.
Hector Lahera
Indian food stores sell fresh and dried curry leaves. Call before you go; they run out of the fresh.
Jennifer
If you're able to find fresh curry leaves, stock up and put the extra in a baggie for the freezer. I used some last week that were in the deep freeze for a decade and they still had some life to them.
Paula Blanchard
I used brown basmati rice (which requires a longer cook). I baked the rice by itself with just the water, salt and lemon zest for 30 minutes, and then mixed in the sautéed shallots, garlic and curry leaves and baked for an additional 30 minutes. Turned out perfectly. SOOOO YUMMY
Amber
I rinsed the rice, as others have done. And I only had a few shallots, which I sliced. I like cumin seed in basmati, so I shook some in without measuring at the end of cooking the shallots and garlic. I would have added black mustard seed if I had any. The main thing for me on this recipe was baking it to get the fluffy texture I get from my local Indian takeout place. This was just thing.
Barbara
This was fantastic. I had half shallots and half onion. Also no curry leaves so I added a little curry powder. The flavors were wonderful I will make this again.
Anne Gearity
Does this really take 2 heads of garlic/ 12 shallots? Seems like a lot.
julie
For the person who asked about the dish in the photo - I think it's from The Ancient Cookware La Chamba collection. https://ancientcookware.com/la-chamba-collection
MomA
Burlap and barrel sells ground curry leaf powder online. That is what I used when I couldn’t find a curry plant to grow this year. It was just as yummy
KT
Curio spice sells dried whole curry leaves.
isaac
Made this with simple chicken breast. I didn’t think the chicken complemented the rice that well. It was very oily. I would use 1/4 cup and make sure to drain the oil if using 1 pan. 12 Shallots we’re too much for us, around 8 would be good. They were fairly overpowering. Another commenters idea of adding raisins or roasted cashews sounds interesting! Overall was lovely. Should make excellent meal prep and a good one to experiment with.
Kim B.
Everyone loved this recipe. Next time I will crush the saffron threads better and perhaps use 3 fresh bay leaves but otherwise it was perfect as written.
Sheryl
I substituted chicken stock for the water and used a heavy hand with the lemon zest. I smashed the garlic cloves with a knife. I used lime leaves while waiting for my dried curry leaves to be shipped. The curry leaves are worth buying and easy enough to get the dried.
nikkileeks
Fantastic recipe as usual , you can add in star anise or cilantro leaves and skip the saffron I think it’s delicious
Bess
Per suggestions re: American sizes of garlic and shallots, I reduced called-for amounts by 1/3. Lightly caramelized these in a 9" diameter (3 qt?). Also followed the suggestion to add zest with curry leaves. I would increase the salt to 2.5 or 3 tsp. No foil, just the dutch oven lid, 25 minutes was enough time.
Case
I didn't have curry leaves so I added a dash of garam masala and dried rosemary. Tastes great!
Susan
Can't remember if I commented already but this dish is so perfect, I will risk a repeat post. I followed exactly, no substitutions. For those (like me) that could not find curry leaf or saffron at local store, Amazon sells both. As another noted, you can save on cleanup by sautéing and baking in same enamel cast iron skillet. The garlic and shallots caramelize and mellow during cooking. This is my new go to rice dish and deserves the 5-star rating it currently enjoys!
Skydweller
Pierre Franey has several rice recipes that call for baking (rice with curry powder, rice with pine nuts). All call for 17 minutes of baking time. I have found a couple more minutes don’t hurt. All are delicious!
Susan
This is by far a favorite at my house. Made exactly to recipe. There is so much flavor but not overwhelming and goes well with just about everything. I make this about once per week because when it's gone, I immediately start to crave it again. Thanks for sharing.
Michael
Made this for a dinner party of six people with Ottolenghi's lamb shawarma. The rice was better than the lamb. Followed instructions exactly, which I rarely do. Saved leftover curry leaves in the freezer as suggested by other notes.
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