Say goodbye to bland, boring rice with this South African jewel of a recipe. Simple to make yet delivering an array of complex flavours and aromas that can be enjoyed with a multitude of dishes including curries and other meat and fish dishes. Most traditionally though, yellow basmati rice is served with Bobotie, South Africa’s national dish. This dish is radiantly yellow, buttery, sweet and sequined with sultanas.
What is the origin of Basmati yellow Rice?
Many countries like Spain, India, Indonesia and Sri Lanka have their own version of Yellow Rice. It’s simply white rice given a yellow tone with either turmeric, saffron or annatto and spiced according to local cuisine. In South Africa, Yellow Rice is a direct translation from the Afrikaans name ‘geelrys’ (geel=yellow, rys=rice) and is flavoured with turmeric, cinnamon and sultanas. This recipe also contains cardamom, which raises it to a whole new level of heavenly goodness.
Yellow Rice originates from the Cape Malay communities who found a home in Cape Town after they were tragically brought over as slaves in the 17th century. The Cape Malays are known for their fantastically aromatic, mildly spiced cuisine, often containing fruit. Yellow Rice is the epitome of this.
Ingredients and substitutions:
- Basmati rice - You can replace the basmati rice with long grain or brown rice
- Butter - To make this vegan, you can replace the butter with a vegan butter or coconut oil
- Spices - Cinnamon, cardamom, turmeric, salt
- Castor sugar - If you don't have castor sugar to hand, feel free to replace it with normal sugar
- Sultanas - Can be replaced with raisons or golden sultanas
How to make this recipe:
- Throw all the ingredients together in a pot. I prefer to use a cast iron casserole dish, but any lidded pot will do
- Bring the water to a gentle simmer. Once the butter has melted, cover with a tight fitting lid and leave to simmer undisturbed on a low heat for about 12 minutes.
- Have a look to see if all the water has been absorbed. A good clue that it's ready is if you see small holes appear on the surface. If not, simmer for a minute or two longer. Remove from the heat and leave covered for a further 10-15 minutes.
- Fluff up the rice with a fork and serve
FAQ:
The colour is due to the addition of turmeric, which contains the bright yellow chemical Curcumin.
This is a versatile rice dish but ideally should be served with Bobotie. It can also be served with:
• Meat dishes like stews and curries
• Fish and seafood
• Vegetarian dishes made with lentils or soy
Absolutely! Because brown rice takes a little longer to cook, cover the uncooked rice with boiling water for about an hour before cooking with the spices and other ingredients. This will soften the brown rice a little and give it a head start.
Yes! Just replace the butter with vegan-butter or coconut oil.
It’s comically easy to make. Dump all the ingredients in a pot and cook – job done!
No, the main ingredient is rice with a few added spices and sultanas. It’s a cheap way to deliver a beautiful meal in a large quantity if you need to flesh out your main dish.
Yes, you can freeze it. Reheat in the microwave and fluff up with a fork.
No, this is a mild dish as it contains none of the ‘hot’ spices, only warm and earthy turmeric and cinnamon, plus cardamom for added aroma.
Anything else to know?
Many Yellow Rice recipes omit cardamom but I really feel this is an essential part of the aroma of the dish. Top tip – Don’t try to peel the pods with your nails to get the seeds out, place the whole seeds in your mortar and pestle and crack them, then remove the husks before grinding down the seeds.
Easy homemade Basmati yellow rice - South African
Equipment you may need
- 1 Cooking pot with tight fitting lid
Ingredients
- 350 gram Basmati rice
- 60 gram butter
- 1 tablespoon castor sugar, heaped
- 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 6 Cardamom pods, shelled and seeds crushed in a mortar and pestle
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- 6 tablespoons sultanas
- 1 teaspoon salt - or to taste
- 700 millilitre water
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in a large pot and cover with the water. Give it a gentle stir to combine
- Place on a low heat until the butter has melted and the water comes to a gentle simmer
- Cover the pot with a tight-fitting lid and leave to simmer for 12 minutes. Have a quick peek to see if the water has been absorbed, if not, give it another few minutes (small holes on the rice's surface is a tell-tale sign that it's ready). Once fully absorbed remove from the heat and leave standing for another 10-15 minutes, keeping the lid on tightly
- Fluff up the rice with a fork, tip into a warm bowl and serve
Notes
- If you do not have Basmati rice to hand, plain long grain rice will work just as well
- You can use normal sugar instead of castor sugar
- No ground cinnamon? You can add one cinnamon stick to the pot which can be removed once the rice is cooked
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