How to Make Simple Curry Rice at Home

This version of curry rice is a sort of pilaf: rice is toasted in aromatic butter before being steamed to perfection. Perfectly spiced, it makes for a solid side dish, or a filling main. Below, we break down all the components that make this rice perfect.

Ghee

Ghee is clarified butter and using it has its pros and cons. Unlike butter, which still contains milk solids, ghee is pure fat, which means it has a much higher smoke point than regular butter and won't burn as readily. However, the lack of milk solids in ghee also means it won't develop as much flavor as butter will during cooking. If you've ever cooked with brown butter, you know just what a treat it is.

Much of Indian cooking uses ghee, which has a richer taste than most other vegetable oils. But if you want to bump up the flavor even more, go ahead and use butter—just make sure you lower the heat and keep stirring the pot to avoid burning those milk solids.

Spice

For perfect curry rice, nothing beats the flavor of a high quality yellow curry powder and some fresh curry leaves. While optional, frying the curry leaves in ghee both infuses the ghee with a mild curry fragrance as well as creating a crispy garnish to serve your finished rice with. To supplement the pre-made curry powder with some additional punch, we're also using lots of fresh garlic and ginger, as well as cumin seeds, freshly ground black pepper, coriander, and a touch of ground cayenne for heat. All of these spices get bloomed in hot ghee to help release their flavors into the fat, which then get absorbed into the rice during the cooking process.