Ghee Rice - Neyy Choru / Bagara Khane

Ghee Rice or NeyChoru is rice fried in ghee along with aromatic spices and then cooked to perfection. It is finally seasoned with Fried onions, Cashews and Raisins.  Neyy Choru is our traditional food (from Kaniyakumari District) served on special occasions. It is usually served with spicy Chicken and Mutton gravies.

Next to Briyani, this rice has the top priority in our customs. We make this dish mostly on the weekends.  The aroma of this dish while cooking will trigger everyone’s hunger and will attract them to the table on time.

Ingredients

Biriyani rice – 2 cups
Ghee – 5 to 6 tsp
Cashew nuts – ½ cup
Clove – 4 to 5 pieces
Crushed peppercorns – 4 to 5 no.
Raisins – ¼ cup
Crushed ginger – 1 tsp
Crushed garlic – 1 tsp
Lime juice
Onions (sliced) – 2 no.
Bay leaf – 2 no.
Cardamom – 4 no.
Cinnamon – 2 sticks
Chopped coriander leaves – ¼ cup
Salt – to taste
Water – 4 cups

Ghee rice served with mutton curry and raita

Method of preparation

Wash and drain the rice and keep it aside.  Heat three teaspoons of ghee in a pan. To this, add cashew nuts and stir, till it becomes brown. Remove the cashew nuts. Repeat the procedure with raisins.

Take some more ghee and heat in a big vessel. Put cloves, followed by cinnamon, cardamom, crushed pepper, and ginger-garlic paste. Stir well. To this, add pieces of big onion and stir a bit. Now add coriander leaves and stir again. Add some split pieces of bay leaf. When everything is cooked, add water (2 cups of water for 1 cup rice) and cook till the water comes to the boiling stage. Add rice and lemon juice and Stir gently and close the vessel. Cook for five minutes or till done. You may add little saunf powder if your want.

Garnish with cashew nuts, raisins, fried onions (optional) and serve the ghee rice hot. I like it with our spicy traditional mutton curry.

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