This cashew rice recipe comes from India and is one of our authentic Indian rice recipes.
It is a delicious side dish that is easy to make and brings the lovely aromas of India to your kitchen.
If you are a lover of Indian food, you’ll want to make this recipe over and over. It pairs perfectly with most Indian dishes.
Cashew rice doesn’t have to be served with Indian food though. It’s a great accompaniment for Western foods as well.
Try serving it with spatchcock chicken, roasted with butter and herbs.
The crunch of cashews mixed with the rice and spices is really quite a wonderful combination. Cashews are a rich nut. Toasting them really brings out the flavor and adds more crunch.
I love recipes with cashews. They are my favorite nut, but you don’t see them added to too many recipes.
The recipe also has a light cinnamon flavor from adding in a cinnamon stick. You don’t get a strong cinnamon taste, just a hint of it mixed in with the other flavors. It’s really quite nice.
Cashew rice is easy to make. You simply boil together the rice (washed), butter or ghee and some flavorings for less than 20 minutes. Toast the cashews in butter or ghee. Add them to the finished rice and you are done. It’s that simple.
The Secret Ingredient in this Cashew Rice Recipe
There is one other ingredient though that makes this cashew rice recipe stand out.
The recipe calls for an ingredient calls hing, which is a common ingredient in Indian kitchens but often not heard of in the West. I know I had heard of hing but wasn’t really familiar with what it is.
Well I’m going to give you the short briefing that I got about hing and why it is so important to Indian cooks.
What is Hing?
Hing or heeng is the Hindi word for something called asafoetida (also spelled asafetida). It is a dark brown, resin-like substance that is derived from the root of a plant called ferula. We buy it dried and ground.
Asafoetida or hing is a staple ingredient in Indian cooking. Unfortunately hing is known for its strong and unmistakable odor.
I know, it doesn’t sound very appetizing so far does it? Well hang in with me for just a moment.
Don’t worry about the odor. Hold your nose while you add it to your dish. Just know that when it is cooked, hing loses it’s pungent odor and mellows to a more mild leek and garlic type flavor.
Indian people use hing, especially in vegetarian dishes like this cashew rice recipe, because it enhances the flavor of other herbs and spices when you add it to a dish. They say that it doesn’t have a very distinctive taste on it’s own. It just allows all of the other spices to meld together and shine more.
In authentic Indian recipes it is used a lot. Someone once told me that she couldn’t really explain what hing tastes like. It just makes everything else taste better.
You don’t have to have hing or asafoetida on hand. First of all this recipe just uses a pinch of it, so if you don’t cook Indian food a lot it’s an unnecessary purchase.
Secondly I have a list here of things you can use instead of hing. So any time you see hing as an ingredient in an Indian recipe, know that you can use any of the following single ingredients or ingredient combinations to substitute.
Substitutions for Hing or Asafoetida
Single Ingredient Substitutes for Asafoetida
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Onion paste
Chives
Garlic flakes
Sauteed garlic
2 Ingredients Combination Substitutes:
Onion paste and minced garlic
Onion powder and garlic powder
Shallots and garlic powder
Chopped leeks and garlic
Chives and minced garlic
For example, you can make a blend of 1/4 teaspoon onion powder plus 1/4 teaspoon minced garlic to substitute ½ teaspoon hing.
All of that said, you might want to give hing a try. I think it’s always wonderful to learn more about another culture’s cooking and how they bring flavors to life in their recipes.
Tip:
Apparently in India the hing you buy is pure asafoetida. If you purchase it made in the US it is usually mixed with wheat. If you are wheat intolerant I suggest you go to an Indian grocery store and buy a version that is imported from India.
I hope you enjoy this recipe. Let me know in the comments box below the Pinterest image.
Cashew Rice Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup basmati rice
- 1/2 cup cashews, roasted
- 2 tablespoons ghee, or melted butter
- pinch hing, or onion powder (or see other replacements above)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 3/4 cups water
- pinch turmeric
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup raisins, (optional)
Instructions
- Wash and rinse the rice.
- In a 1 quart pan put 2 tablespoons ghee or melted butter, hing (or the replacement listed above), and the rice. Stir the mixture over medium heat for 30 seconds. Add water, the cinnamon stick, turmeric, salt and the raisins.
- Bring to a full boil, then cover and cook on very low heat for 18 minutes.
- While the rice is cooking, brown the cashews in a bit of butter over medium low heat. Stir the cashew pieces into the finished rice.
- Garnish with coriander leaves before serving if desired.
- Serves 4.
Notes
Variations:
These are both optional but I love adding extra vegetables for the added nutrition and great color.
1/2 cup peas
1/2 cup carrots, chopped
 Nutrition
If you like this cashew rice recipe, try our Indian rice pulao too.
Browse all of our rice recipes here.
You will find our Indian influenced recipes here.
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1. https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2016/06/22/482779599/meet-hing-the-secret-weapon-spice-of-indian-cuisine
