How to prepare Turmeric Rice (9 Easy Steps)

Turmeric Rice is one of my favorite rice, it is easy to prepare, it also doesn’t require so many ingredients to make it. You also do not have to make tomato stew to prepare this rice. To make Turmeric rice, use the ingredients below and follow the steps mentioned below.

Ingredients for cooking Turmeric rice

These are the ingredients for making Turmeric rice

• Long grain parboiled rice
• 2 teaspoons turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon Nigerian curry powder
• 1 teaspoon black pepper powder
• 1 small red onion
• 2-3 cups chicken stock
• A small quantity of red pepper
• A handful of green peas
• Salt (to taste)

What you should know about the ingredients

1. Use enough turmeric powder to colour the rice. Please note that the rice may not look so yellow when you add the parboiled rice to the turmeric mix in the pot but when the rice is done, it will become very yellow.
2. Turmeric is known as yellow ginger in Nigeria. It is known as ajo or ata ile pupa in Yoruba and kurkum in Hausa. You can buy turmeric powder in big supermarkets e.g. Shoprite in Nigeria.
3. I used chicken stock for this recipe because I served the rice with onion baked chicken, I used soft chicken which I baked from raw so no boiling of the chicken done to get some chicken stock. This means that for taste, I added chicken stock which I always have in my freezer. I get this chicken stock when I prepare side dishes like prepared chicken.
4. If you want to prepare this with Fried Chicken or grilled chicken, cook the chicken with thyme, onions, stock cubes and whatever else you use to season your chicken. Then add the water from cooking that chicken (chicken stock) to the rice during Step 1 in the cooking directions.
5. If you are in Nigeria, red bell peppers are available in big foreign supermarkets. Use tatashe as alternative to the red pepper. The quantity of red pepper you need is so small, see the video below.

Before you cook Turmeric Rice or Yellow Rice

1. Rinse and cut the red onions into small pieces.
2. Rinse, remove the seeds and cut the red pepper into small pieces.
3. Prepare the chicken you will serve it with. You can serve with  peppered chicken or onion baked chicken.
4. Parboil the long grain parboiled rice. For the quantity of rice stated above, add to boiling water, stir, cover the pot and once it boils again, leave to boil for 10 minutes or till you can easily cut the grain of rice with your finger nails.

How to prepare Turmeric rice

To prepare your rice you must follow these steps.

1. Pour the chicken stock into a sizeable pot.
2. Add the turmeric powder, Nigerian curry powder and black pepper.
3. Cover and cook till it boils.
4. Add the parboiled rice, stir and make sure that the liquid in the pot is at the same level as rice. If not, top it up.
5. Taste for salt and add some if necessary. Stir, cover again and start cooking on medium heat.
6. If you parboiled the rice correctly as described above, the rice should be done by the time the water dries up. Taste to confirm. If not, you will need to add more water and reduce the heat to prevent burning. Continue cooking.
7. When you can no longer see the water in the rice, add the diced red pepper, onions and green peas. Stir only the top of the rice, cover and continue cooking.
8. The rice is done when all the water dries up.
9. Stir with a spatula till the vegetables and the rice are well combined. Yummy!!!