Garlic and Ginger Rice
Flavored with garlic and ginger and cooked in chicken broth this easy rice dish is not only tasty it would complement any main dish that calls for rice. Can be made on the stovetop or rice cooker for ease and convenience.
Nearly a year ago, I went back home to the Philippines and traveled around South East Asia to research for my cookbook – Rice. Noodles. Yum. (Everyone’s Favorite South East Asian Dishes).
Incidentally, I can now announce that you can pre-order my book on Amazon and anywhere where books are sold (even at Target and Walmart!). I am beyond excited to share it all with you.
I visited 6 countries in my region – Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore and of course – the Philippines, to bring you the best rice and noodle dishes in the area.
I watched and learned how chefs and cooks alike create the most delicious and tummy-pleasing food made from rice and noodles. It was a lot of fun and I learned so much in the process.
Wow! I almost wished my trip never ended as I could never have enough of the amazing food in this part of the world.
This brings me to this delicious rice dish – Garlic and Ginger Rice. Being a Filipino, rice is so essential to our daily life and in the Philippines, it’s no big deal that everyone eats rice perhaps 3x a day or more.
Rice is the staple and no viand is complete without the accompanying rice dish! However, sometimes plain rice, while good on its own, can be a bit boring.
Sometimes, an entire meal can be lifted up by having a delicious side dish – rice, in the Asian context, cooked and flavored with more than the usual tap water. This is that kind of rice.
To be sure, it has a subtle taste so as not to overwhelm or overpower the main dish yet it’s delicate flavor coming from aromatics like ginger and garlic add that extra depth of flavor that makes a meal truly satisfying.
I especially love this with roasted chicken and if you can make or purchase it – authentic Hainanese Chicken (a very popular chicken dish from Singapore), which is always served with this rice.
The rice itself is cooked in the made-from-scratch chicken broth from the Hainanese Chicken dish (soon I will write a recipe for that!), so all that flavor from the chicken (and all that tasty fat!!!) is absorbed by the rice which makes it delightfully pleasing.
But don’t worry, you don’t need to make Hainanese Chicken so you can make this rice. A good quality store-bought or homemade chicken broth is enough to bring this dish to life.
Next time you are making some Asian dish and want to have rice that’s fancier than the usual plain rice, you have this!
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Garlic and Ginger Rice
Ingredients
- 2 cups long grain rice like Jasmine, uncooked
- 2 tablespoons oil of choice
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 11/2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 1/2 cups good quality store bought or homemade chicken stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup fresh cilantro, coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Rinse the rice twice. Drain well. Heat the oil to medium in a sauce pan (big enough to accommodate the rice and water with enough space to allow rice to expand as it cooks) or rice cooker/multi cooker with a saute function. Stir-fry the garlic and ginger until very aromatic and golden brown, about 2-3 minutes. Add the drained rice and continue to stir-fry until fully coated with the oil and is fragrant about 2-3 more minutes.
- Pour in the chicken stock and stir in the salt. Bring to a boil uncovered (if cooking with the sauce pan). Once it begins to boil, cover then allow to simmer on low and cook for 18-20 minutes or until the liquid has been fully absorbed and the rice is tender. If using the rice cooker, simply cover and click on the “cook” button. The rice cooker would automatically go to warm mode when it’s done cooking. Turn off heat and allow the rice to sit for another 10 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped cilantro. Serve immediately with your favorite Asian dish.
Last updated on September 20th, 2023 at 02:28 pm
I could have happily eaten just a bowl of this rice on its own, but it was fantastic with a red curry that we made!
Curry is such a great pairing with this rice. Now I wish that’s my dinner too. Thanks, Dara!
Congratulations on your book! That is such an amazing milestone! I love rice and am always looking for new ways to flavor it. This recipe sounds amazing and I can’t wait to try it! Having another side dish recipe is what I’m always searching for.
Thank you very much Julie! This rice is a very versatile side dish for sure.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I tasted a version of this in college 20 years ago, long before I thought about writing down recipes, and I’m so glad I stumbled across this one. It took me a few tries to get it just right. I live in the Denver area and cook at about 5,400 feet above sea level, so I had to tweak the liquid vs solid proportions a bit. Your mileage may vary, but for this recipe I use about 2 cups jasmine rice and 3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups broth.
I love this recipe because it’s simple and has only a few ingredients, yet it instantly elevates any meal that depends on rice as a complement. This rice is so damn good! It took me a few tries to get it right, but even the not-quite-perfect, slightly crunchy attempts were delicious. And this recipe really does get better every time. Pressure cooking yields a stickier result than slow cooking. In short: This is the best rice!
I live right at sea level in CT so I have no clue about cooking at such high elevation. I’m glad you were able to adjust this and make it work for you. Thanks for the feedback and glad you enjoyed this rice. So tasty, indeed!
I’m disabled and have to use garlic and ginger that comes minced. I don’t know how much minced ginger is 1 1/2 inches of root.
Because they don’t have as much flavor as the fresh one I’d say use at least 2 tablespoons or adjust to taste. Enjoy.
Can I use toasted sesame seed oil?
I use sesame oil in a dish usually during the last minute of cooking or simply drizzle it over the food because of the flavor it imparts. Having said that, I am not sure it would make a difference if you use it to saute the rice because the long cooking may make the flavor disappear anyway. If you do like to show the sesame taste, it’s probably best to just drizzle some at the end of cooking but it’s up to you if you wish to try it. Do let us know.
Do you take out slices of ginger at the end? Or do you eat them?
You don’t need to eat it if you don’t want to. It’s there for flavoring. Enjoy!