Pudina Rice (Mint Rice)

Pudina Rice is a one pot delicious, healthy and fragrant Indian dish made with rice, mint leaves and spices. ‘Pudina’ is a Hindi word for ‘mint leaves’, which is a fragrant herb widely used in Indian cuisine to make chutney, curry, biryani, pulao & a lot of rice dishes. Make super aromatic and healthy mint rice in 2 ways following my easy recipes in this post.

This South Indian style Mint rice is always a winner for its simplicity, taste and refreshing aroma. Both these recipes are a great way to use up any fresh mint leaves left behind in your refrigerator. Since mint leaves are the star in this dish, I have not used any other veggies. But if you prefer, you can add some mixed vegetables like potatoes, peas, carrots and beans. Do note the flavor changes with the addition of veggies.

About Mint Rice

Pudina rice can be made in 2 ways. The first method is a one pot recipe where ground mint leaves, coriander leaves, green chilies and onions/coconut are sautéed and then the rice is cooked with it. You can serve this with any curry, plain yogurt, raita or a simple curry. Both vegetarian and non-vegetarian curries go well. Pudina rice can also be taken to school or work. Some vegetable salad or kachumber goes well too.

Since fresh mint leaves aid digestion, this kind of a dish is great to pair up with any heavy curries. Here are some delicious dishes that go well with this – Bagara baingan, Mixed Vegetable kurma, South Indian Chicken kurma and Chicken curry Here is a picture of the one pot dish.

You can make this in a regular pot, stovetop pressure cooker or in a instant pot. I have the instructions covered for all the cooking methods. We used basmati rice here for both the recipes but you can make it with any kind you prefer. But my personal choice is to use aged rice – basmati or sona masuri. Aged rice is firmer and retains its shape well in this kind of dishes.

The second method is similar to the South Indian lemon rice and we call this as lemon pudina rice at home. I can’t tell you how delicious, unique & amazing this tastes! With this method (picture 1) you basically cook the plain rice and then temper it similar to the lemon rice but you have the mint leaves added to the tadka. You will love this method if you are too bored with your regular South Indian Lemon Rice.

More Rice recipes
Pulao recipe
Veg biryani
Green peas pulao
Tawa pulao
Potato pulao

Photo Guide

Recipe 1 – One pot Method

How to make Pudina Rice (Stepwise photos)

Preparation

1. Wash 1 cup aged basmati rice or any short rice. Soak it for about 15 minutes, until you pluck and prepare the mint and coriander leaves. Pluck ¾ cup mint leaves (without stalks) and ¼ cup coriander leaves (optional, can include tender stalks). Wash them in plenty of water, a few times. Remove and place them in a colander, shake off to drain as much water as possible.

2. To a grinder jar, add the coriander and mint leaves along with

• 1 to 2 green chilies (if making for kids, use a little black pepper and omit chili)
• ¾ inch ginger (peeled or use paste)
• 2 medium garlic pods
• ⅓ cup grated raw coconut (or ¼ cup chopped or ⅓ cup yellow onion cubed)

3. Grind to a fine paste, as fine as possible. Avoid adding water.

4. Heat 1½ to 2 tablespoons ghee or oil in a pan or cooker. If using Instant pot, cook on a saute mode. Add the following

• 1 small bay leaf / tej patta
• 1 star anise /chakri phool
• ⅓ teaspoon cumin seeds or shahi jeera
• 3 to 4 cloves /laung
• 1 inch cinnamon /dalchini
• 2 to 3 green cardamoms /elaichi
• 1 small strand mace /javitri (optional)
• 10 to 15 split cashews (optional)

5. Add the paste and saute for 3 to 4 minutes, until it turns aromatic and loses the raw flavor. If you want you may add 1 cup mixed veggies, such as potatoes, beans, carrots, peas etc & saute for 2 to 3 mins. These are optional and I have not used it here.

Make Mint Rice

6. Pour water and stir in ⅓ teaspoon sea salt. Taste test and adjust salt, it should be slightly salty.

How much water to use? Aged Basmati rice will need 1½ cups water to cook in a stovetop pressure cooker, 2 cups in a regular pot and 1¼ cups in Instant pot. If you do not use aged rice, you need to cut down the water. Aged short rice like sona masuri needs more than 2 cups to cook in a pot, 2 cups in a stovetop cooker and instant pot cooker.

7. Drain the water from the rice completely and add it to here and mix well. If using a regular pot (not cooker), bring it to a rolling boil and reduce the heat to medium. Cover and cook until the water is absorbed and the rice is cooked fully.

6. Stovetop Pressure Cooker – Cover the cooker and cook on a medium heat for 1 whistle if using basmati rice or 2 whistles if using short rice like masuri. When the pressure drops, open the lid.

Instant Pot – Pressure cook for 5 mins if using aged basmati rice. If using aged short rice (like masuri/ ponni) cook for 9 mins. Quick release the pressure if using basmati, wait for natural release if using short rice.

7. When you open the lid, a layer of mint and coconut is visible on top. Sprinkle lemon juice and fluff up the rice gently with a fork.

Serve with onion raita or potato kurma or egg masala curry.

Expert Tips

• You may clean your leafy herbs with salt & vinegar. Spray vinegar and sprinkle some salt over the mint leaves. Let rest for 10 minutes before rinsing them well. This helps to get rid of any residue on the leaves.
• Raw coconut is used in the first recipe, but you may replace it with onion. But coconut and onion impart different flavors. With onion it will still taste good. But make sure you use yellow onion and saute the mint onion paste really well before pouring water.
• You can also add a cup of mixed vegetables or a handful of cashews while sauteing.

Lemon Mint 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

1. Firstly pluck mint leaves, add them to a large pot filled with water. Rinse them well in more water. Drain them in a colander.
2. Soak rice for at least 15 to 20 minutes.
3. 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.
4. While the rice cooks, add the mint leaves to a small blender jar. Blend it little coarsely without adding water. Set this aside.
5. 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.
6. Ginger may get burnt, be quick. Add the pudina. Saute for 1 minute. Switch off the stove.
7. 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.
8. lemon mint rice is ready.

Related Recipes

Recipe Card