Pudina rice or mint rice – I have shared 2 pudina rice recipes in this post. The first recipe is a one pot dish & the second one is a tempered rice made with precooked rice. Pudina rice is a delicious & flavorful South Indian style dish made with fresh pudina or mint leaves, rice & spices. Mint also called as pudina in various Indian languages is often used to flavor chutney, Indian curries and biryani.
This Pudina rice is always a winner for its simplicity, taste & great aroma. It can be served alone with some curd or a raita.
Pudina rice goes well in lunch box or even for a meal to serve with some gravy or curry. It pairs wonderfully well with any simple curry. I have tried the one pot dish with many curries like bagara baingan or chicken curry or chicken kurma and is very easy to make.
To make pudina rice (first recipe) mint, coriander leaves, green chilies, ginger garlic and onion or coconut are ground together and then roasted well to bring out the flavors and then rice is cooked in this mixture.
The second recipe is made similar to the lemon rice. It is great on flavors and tastes amazing.
Variations you can make to pudina rice
These variations are for the first recipe (one pot)
1. I have used coconut, you can replace it with onions too. Both yield good pudina rice, with different flavors.
2. You can even add vegetables like potato, peas, mushroom or baby corn too while frying the paste to perk up the nutrition.
3. You can add a handful of cashew nuts to the pot while frying the spices.
More Rice recipes
Pulao recipe
Veg biryani
Green peas pulao
Tawa pulao
Potato pulao
Pudina rice or pudina pulao recipe
Pudina rice recipe | How to make pudina rice or pudina pulao
Ingredients (1 cup = 240ml )
Ingredients for pudina rice
- 1½ cups rice uncooked
- 1 cup mint or pudina (loosely measured)
- Handful coriander leaves (optional)
- 2 green chilies
- 1 inch ginger or paste
- 3 small pods garlic or 1 to 2 large pods
- ¼ cup chopped coconut or 1 medium onion cubed
- Salt as needed
- 2 tablespoon Oil or ghee as needed
- 2.5 cups water (adjust to suit your rice variety)
- 1 to 2 tablespoon lemon juice (optional)
- 1½ cups mix veggies (optional) carrots, peas, potatoes, beans
Spices for pudina rice
- 1 bay leaf or tej patta
- 1 star anise or chakri phool
- 1 strand mace or javitri
- ½ teaspoon cumin or shahi jeera
- 6 cloves or laung
- 2 inch cinnamon or dalchini
- 4 green cardamoms or elaichi
How to make the recipe
Preparation for pudina rice recipe
- Wash 1½ cups rice and soak it for about 15 minutes.
- Pluck and wash 1 cup mint and handful of coriander leaves. Drain them completely.
- Grind mint, coriander, 1 to 2 green chilies, 1 inch piece of ginger, 3 small pods of garlic, ¼ cup chopped coconut or 1 large cubed to as smooth as possible without adding water.
How to make pudina rice
- Heat a pan with 2 tablespoons oil or ghee.
- Add 1 bay leaf, 1 star anise, 1 strand mace, half teaspoon cumin, 6 cloves, 2 inch cinnamon and 4 green cardamoms.
- Saute till they begin to sizzle.
- Add the ground paste and fry on a medium to low flame for about 2 to 3 minutes.
- Optional – If using mix veggies you can add 1½ cups of mixed vegetables now & then saute for another 2 mins.
- Pour water and add salt. Mix and check the salt. Bring it to a boil.
- Add washed and drained rice. Cook until done in your preferred way.
Pressure cooker method
- Cook the rice till the water almost evaporates.
- When there is very little water left in the cooker, close the lid.
- Cook it for about 5 minutes on a low flame and switch off.
- Do not allow to whistle. If making with normal rice, let it whistle once.
- When the pressure releases, open the lid and mix gently.
- You will see a layer of the mint mixture on top, pour lemon juice all over and mix it gently .
- Serve pudina rice with a simple onion raita or a potato kurma.
Open pan or pot method
- Cook the pudina rice till very little water is left in the pot.
- Cover and cook on low flame till the rice is fully done.
NUTRITION (estimation only)
Notes
finely chop onions, pudina, green chilies, coriander leaves,ginger garlic. Finely mince everything well on the chopping board. Crush or mash until smooth. Make sure the mixture is roasted for a while before you add water, the raw smell should disappear.
If you are a beginner or new to Indian cooking, I highly suggest you to check the supporting step by step photos for best results. Step by step photos with description available below after the recipe card.
Lemon Pudina rice – Recipe 2
Lemon pudina rice recipe – one of the most easiest and flavorful rice that can be made for lunch box or for a quick meal. This is one of our favorites and preferred over the regular lemon rice. It can be served without any side. But to add little more nutrition to the meal, we accompany it with raita Raita or a quick mixed vegetable salad. Here are the ingredients to make
Ingredients
- 1 cup rice uncooked
- oil as needed
- 1 cup pudina leaves or mint leaves (tightly packed)
- 1 sprig curry leaves
- ½ tsp mustard
- ¾ tbsp chana dal (optional)
- ½ to ¾ tbsp urad dal (optional)
- 2 tbsp peanuts or cashews
- turmeric powder little
- lemon juice as needed(as much as we use for lemon rice)
- 1 broken red chili
- 2 green chilies (skip for kids or deseed use 1)
- olive oil (optional)
- ½ to ¾ tsp grated ginger (optional)
Instructions
- Firstly pluck mint leaves, add them to a large pot filled with water. Rinse them well in more water. Drain them in a colander.
- Soak rice for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
- Cook it and set aside to cool completely. You can cook rice in electric cooker, pressure cooker or pot. The rice must be grainy and not mushy.
- While the rice cooks, add the mint leaves to a small blender jar. Blend it little coarsely without adding water. Set this aside.
- To make pudina rice, heat oil in a pan. Next add peanuts, chana dal and urad dal when they are lightly golden, add mustard and red chili. Lower the heat. When mustard splutters, add curry leaves, ginger, green chilies.
- Ginger may get burnt, be quick. Add the pudina. Saute for 1 minute. Switch off the stove.
- Add turmeric to the pan and add this to the cooled rice. Lastly sprinkle salt and squeeze off lemon all over the rice. Mix well. I also like to add some extra virgin olive oil before the rice is mixed.
- lemon mint rice is ready.
Crystal salt can be sprinkled over the leaves and set aside for 10 minutes during cleaning. This helps to get rid of the pesticide residue on the leaves.
To skip blending the leaves in a blender, try to mince them as finely as possible
Recipe – 1 -step by step photos for pudina rice recipe
1. Add ginger garlic, pudina, green chilies, coriander leaves, onions or coconut to a blender jar and make a fine paste, as fine as possible.
2.Pour oil to a pressure pan or cooker and heat it. Saute the dry spices till they begin to sizzle. you can even add nuts at this stage or fry and keep them aside for garnishing.
3. Add the paste and fry for 2 to 4 minutes, depending on the kind of your utensil. This is done to bring out the flavor of the mixture. Do not burn, stir well, it sticks too quickly. If using mix veggies, you can add them now and saute for 2 mins.
How to make pudina rice
4.Pour water and stir in the salt. bring it to a boil.
5. Add washed and soaked rice. Stir and cook until the water almost evaporates.
6. Close the lid when there is very little water left. Put on the flame to low.Cook for just 5 minutes and switch off. do not let the cooker whistle if using basmathi rice. if using regular rice, allow it to whistle once.
7. Lastly open the lid when the pressure goes down. A layer of mint and coconut is visible on top, you can sprinkle lemon juice and fluff up the rice gently.
Serve with onion raita or potato kurma or egg masala curry.
Samselvi says
Awesome 👍 ur presentation nd the way u explained 👍
swasthi says
Thank you
Martina says
Hi Swasthi,
Tried the Pudina rice today and for a beginner, came out very well.. everyone at home liked it.. simple steps, with pics helped with the right outcome😊..Thank you soo much!!
swasthi says
Hi Martina
Glad to know! You are welcome.
Thank you
Lalitha says
Dear Swathi,,,,
i have become your fan…which ever receipe i followed in this blog came out really well….my kids like the red tomato sauce pasta with red bell pepper a lot…….byeeee….
swasthi says
Hello Lalitha
So glad to know! Thank you so much.Hope your kids enjoy more recipes from here.
shreedevi says
I tried this recipe. It came out very well.
Thanks
swasthi says
You are welcome Shreedevi
Iby says
This mint rice was yum 😋. After making your andhra chicken curry I was left with lots of mint. I made this recipe and my family loved it with your garlic eggs. Good work!
swasthi says
Hi Iby,
Thank you for sharing the pictures. Glad your family loved the mint rice.
Bhargavi says
It’s too good.Thanks for posting this recipe.
swasthi says
Welcome Bhargavi
Revathi says
Today I tried first time, it came out well. I enjoyed a lot. Thank you so much. It went well with raita.
I am a big fan of yours.😀
I love to cook and except who eat my food also enjoy it. My wish or dream comes true always because of you.
Next to my mother and mother in law recipes, I follow yours. Thanks again.
swasthi says
Hi Revathi,
You are welcome. Happy to know your pudina rice came out good. Thank you so much for trying the recipes.
🙂
Tanvi says
I am learning how to cook South Indian dishes and I love your recipes! My family loves your coconut rice, and tonight I made your mint rice. Thank you so much for sharing your wonderful recipes with us 💜
swasthi says
Hi Tanvi,
You are welcome. Happy to know the recipes have been useful. Thank you for comment.
🙂
Sheela says
Very nice and easy recipes from you. I like them a lot. Keep sharing
swasthi says
Hi Sheela,
Thank you so much! Yes sure will keep sharing.
🙂
Veena says
Mint pulao was awesome. Everyone at home Enjoyed the food. Thanks for sharing this recipe
swasthi says
Welcome Veena
Krishnaveni says
In love with the recipe… Came out Soo well … Thanks a lot…
swasthi says
Welcome Krishnaveni
Thank you so much for the comment
Anupama says
I have been following your recipes for quite sometime now.They ALWAYS turn out well for me.Thank you sooo much!!!
swasthi says
Welcome Anupama
Glad to know the recipes are useful. Thanks a lot for trying
Ray Pancholi says
I tried the pudina rice. It was not exactly the same way. Some steps went missing but the result was wonderful. I am happy that I tried something new and simple. I really liked ur website and hopefully next time I follow tje whole procedure.
swasthi says
Thanks Ray
lakshmi says
Very nice recipe, i tried n my mother liked a lot, it tastes delicious. U r very talented swasthi daily i used to visit ur site n tried so many recipes all came very well. Is there any possibility to see all my comments at one place bcoz sometimes i am forgotting where i post the comment n searching everwhere for ur answer ?
swasthi says
Thanks for trying Lakshmi. Glad to know the recipes are useful.
Sorry lakshmi, There is no way to see the comments in one place. Yes its true we forget.
🙂
Padmavathy Nayak says
Mint rice came out well. Thank you
Samu says
Made with fresh desi ghee, my wife and kids enjoyed ? the taste….thanks
N.Puneetha says
Excellent dish try it really awesome
chandana says
Can I use dry coconut instead of fresh one?
swasthi says
Hi Chandana
The rice will get a different flavor with dry coconut. You can just replace fresh coconut with an onion. But you will have to fry the ground pudina onion till the raw smell of onions goes away
Rachel Fernando says
Hello Swasthi,
I really appreciate your hard work, admire your passion in cooking and dedication.
I am a person who was with a zero interest in cooking, but now thanks to you, I am cooking awesomely everyday. When I made your punjabi egg curry recipe my friends were lip-smacking and licking my box…
Now I am planning to cook pudina rice,
And I felt this is high time to show my gratitude.
Looking forward from you for Bengali recipes…
With lots of respect,
Rachel
swasthi says
Hi Rachel
You are welcome, Glad to know you. Thanks for trying the recipes and sharing the outcome. Appreciate your comment. Yes will try to share bengali recipes too.
Thanks again
🙂
sowmiya says
Puthina rice recipe is very super. I try that.
swasthi says
thanks sowmiya
Ramaraj says
Namaste Madam, I Cook for Lord Krishna so I tried this Recipe offered it to Lord Krishna and Eaten it, It was good, Regarding Bachelors tips it was very useful,
Thank you
Jai Sri Krishna
swasthi says
Namaste Ramaraj sir
Thanks for trying and sharing the outcome.
Jai sri krishna