Coriander Rice Recipe

Coriander Rice Recipe also known as kothamalli sadam or cilantro rice made with cooked rice, coriander leaves thokku. The dish is a popular South Indian lunch in the variety rice menu which is great for travel or lunch box. Learn how to make aromatic coriander rice with step by step pictures and video.

Coriander Rice

I made some nice rice recipe which is one of my favourites. It is packed with full of flavour but so easy peasy to make. In fact the cool thing in this is. You can make the masala in bulk and store in freezer. So if you need to pack a quick lunch or make something very fast, take some masala from the freezer warm it in a kadai or microwave and mix rice with that. How easy is that.

Jump to:

• About Coriander Rice
• Watch Coriander Rice Video
• Coriander Rice Ingredients
• Coriander Leaves vs Cilantro vs Parsley
• How to Cook Rice for Variety Rice
• How to Make Coriander Rice (Stepwise pictures)
• Expert Tips
• 📖 Recipe Card

But it is not hard to make from scratch too, I made this within 15 minutes. I made this a month back along with some mint rice. I served it with papad, curd and pickle. Mean while check out kothammali rasam and green chutney.

About Coriander Rice

Coriander is a herb also known as cilantro, Chinese parsley, or dhania. Originating in south west Asia, coriander now grows throughout north Africa. It is known as koththamuhlli in Sri Lankan and is brewed and consumed to treat the common cold and fever because it is thought to have medicinal properties. It is good for heart, blood pressure and cholesterol. As as South Indian coriander is used in wide variety of dishes in different forms. Coriander seeds are ground into coriander powder.

Coriander rice also known as kothamalli sadham, kothamalli sadam, coriander sadham, cilantro rice is made with fresh coriander leaves, cooked rice, spices, and ghee are used to make the fragrant, flavourful, and spiced rice known as coriander rice. This is similar to my mint rice, vangi bhat (brinjal rice), coconut rice, and carrot rice.

This recipe for coriander rice is great for meal prep and storage. You can prepare the masala and store in fridge upto 10 days. When ready to serve, mix with cooked rice with some extra ghee or gingelly oil and enjoy. This is great for bachelors, office goers, and hostel students.

Similar Recipes,

Mint Rice

Tomato Rice

Tamarind Rice

Watch Coriander Rice Video

Coriander Rice Ingredients

Coriander Leaves - use fresh coriander leaves, make sure you wash it really well. You can use a combination of coriander leaves and mint leaves for a different flavour.

Tempering - I use cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, chana dal, urad dal, dry chilli, curry leaves and peanuts for tempering.

Onions - Onions are considered a basic ingredient or the foundation of Indian cooking and are used to make any gravy, curry, or bhuna dish. The flavour and aroma of onion transforms any ordinary dish into a mouthwatering and delectable one. I used onion along with the coriander leaves for grinding. You can use peeled shallots instead of onions.

Ginger - Amma used to add a small piece of ginger when grinding which provides a wonderful aroma. You can add garlic as well. Fresh ginger has a slightly peppery and sweet flavour, as well as a pungent and spicy aroma. Fresh ginger, like garlic, softens with cooking. It's a common flavouring in Asian dishes.

Ghee - I used pure ghee for making coriander rice which adds aroma.

Rice - You can use basmati rice, seera samba rice or regular ponni rice.

Coriander Leaves vs Cilantro vs Parsley

One of the main confusion happens among the green leafy family is differentiating coriander leaves, cilantro and parsley. Coriander leaves and cilantro both are same. Cilantro is also called Coriander or Chinese Parsley in India.

Coriander and parsley, both are green in colour with long stems. The shape of the leaf is what differentiates them. Parsley has pointed leaves while coriander or cilantro has flat leaves.

In this recipe, coriander or cilantro plays an important role. So try and use fresh coriander leaves you can find. The flavour of the coriander leaves should be crisp, tart, and citrusy. The dried fruit of the plant, which can be used whole or ground, is coriander seeds. It has an earthy, tart, and sweet flavour with a toasted floral aroma.

Use fresh coriander leaves, make sure you wash it really well to remove the sand, dirt or any grits. You can use a combination of coriander leaves and mint leaves for a different flavour.

Coriander Rice Thokku (Storage - Meal Prep)

This thokku or masala for coriander rice has long shelf life because we didn't add any coconut in them. My mom makes a kothamalli thokku recipe which has coconut, which lowers the shelf.

This recipe for coriander rice is great for meal prep and storage. You can prepare the masala and store in fridge upto 10 days. When ready to serve, mix with cooked rice with some extra ghee or gingelly oil and enjoy. This is great for bachelors, office goers, and hostel students.

How to Cook Rice for Variety Rice

For any type of variety rice you have to take great care when cooking rice. Traditionally in Asian household rice cooker is used to cook rice which is easy, convenient and timesaving. But if you don’t own a rice cooker, you can cook rice in just a sauce pot. There are two method in which you can cook rice. Draining method and absorption method. Any which way you choose, cooking rice is quite easy. Make sure you check my blog post “how to basmati rice”for detailed instructions. 

Absorption Method

Cooking rice using absorption method is by far the easy way to cook rice. All you have to remember is to follow few steps and the correct ratio of water to rice. Rice cooked using absorption method needs to sit in the fridge and get cold before making fried rice. 

Ratio for Cooking Rice in Absorbtion method

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 1.5 cup water
• 1 tsp salt

1. Take rice in a bowl and wash it really well with different changes of water. Now take it in a bowl and cover with water. Let it soak for a minimum of 15 mins, you can soak it up to 1 hour max.
2. Now strain the rice, take it in a sauce pan. Cover with 1.5 cup of water, add some salt and mix well. Bring this to a boil, cover the pot and simmer to the lowest flame. Cook this for 12 to 15 mins by which time the rice must have absorbed all the water.
3. Now turn off the heat, open the lid and fluff it with a fork. Cover the pot again and leave to sit for 15 minute. Use as required.

Draining Method

The key point you have to remember when cooking basmati rice by draining method is, you have to always stand near it and also keep on tasting the rice, so you never end up in mushy sticky rice.

Ratio for Cooking Rice in Draining method

• 1 cup basmati rice
• 5 to 6 cups water
• 2 tsp salt

1. Take rice in a bowl and wash it really well with different changes of water. Now take it in a bowl and cover with water. Let it soak for a minimum of 15 mins, you can soak it up to 1 hour max.
2. Take water and salt in a sauce pan. Bring it to a full boil. Once it starts to boil, strain the soaked rice in a colander and add it into the water. Cook until rice is tender which will take around 6 to 7 minutes. 
3. Once rice is cooked, strain the rice in a sieve and cover with a lid for 5 minutes. After 5 minutes you can spread the rice in a plate and use as required.

How to Make Coriander Rice (Stepwise pictures)

Grinding Coriander paste

1)Take coriander leaves, peeled shallots, peeled ginger, green chillies in a blender.

Pro Tip: You can even add in peeled garlic for a different flavour. If you want, you can add in grated coconut in this as well.

2)Grind the masala to a paste. you can add little water when grinding. Don't make it to a smooth puree. It can be slightly coarse too.

Tempering Spices

3)Heat oil or ghee in a kadai. Once the oil is hot, add peanuts. Let it roast for one minute till it gets light golden.

4)Add in urad dal and chana dal. Allow them to sizzle in the oil for a minute. Let the dals gets light golden.

5)Add in a small piece of cinnamon stick, cardamom and bay leaf. Fry them for few seconds. Always make sure the flame is low. Once the spices gets aromatic.

6)Add in dry red chillies and curry leaves and mix well. For a different texture, you can use cashews in this recipe.

7)let all the spices sizzle till golden brown.

Cooking Thokku

8)Now add in the ground onion and coriander paste. Now we are going to cook this on medium heat till oil separates.

9)Don't cover the pot which will darken the green coriander leaves colour. Cook the masala till it gets thick.

10)Add salt to taste.

11)Add in lemon juice to taste.

12)Cook the coriander leaves thokku till this point. Oil or ghee should be separated from the mix which will make this thokku last longer.

Mixing in rice

13)Add in cooked rice into the thokku and mix well. Make sure every grains of rice is coated with the masala.

Pro Tip: Using leftover cold cooked rice is good for these kinds of variety rice.

10)Serve coriander rice hot.

Expert Tips

• You can use leftover cooked rice for this recipe which provides best results.
• You can make double batch of the kothamalli thokku and store in fridge.
• Along with peanuts, cashews can be used too.
• You can add half mint leaves along with coriander leaves when grinding. 
• Gingelly oil can be used instead of ghee.
• Garlic can be added with ginger when grinding. 

Storage

This recipe for coriander rice is great for meal prep and storage. You can prepare the masala and store in fridge upto 10 days. When ready to serve, mix with cooked rice with some extra ghee or gingelly oil and enjoy. This is great for bachelors, office goers, and hostel students.

More Rice Recipes to Explore

📖 Recipe Card

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