Rice with Green tea and Orange zest flavour

An ongoing Rice recipe event on a blog site inspired me to do some experiments with rice. I brain stormed a lot and eventually found myself utterly confused whether to make pulao,biryani or fried rice. Tired, I decided to have a green tea to reduce my stress and then it struck me..."rice with tea flavour". A simple steamed basmati rice with  green tea flavour appeared a very exciting option and I decided to give it a go.
 After all, in Thai cuisine, many dishes are often cooked with delicate flavours like lemon grass, coconut or jasmine. I was inspired.
So here goes my daring experiment with rice..

                             Rice flavored with green tea with lemon and orange zest.

Ingredients:
1 Cup Basmati Rice
3 Green tea bags
A few slices ginger
A cinamon stick
A pinch cumin seeds
1 tbsp orange zest
3 tbsp Lemon juice
Salt as per taste
1 tsp Veg oil
2 cups Water

Put the tea bags in 1 cup of hot boiling water for atleast 2 minutes to allow for flavours to come out of tea bags .
Heat oil in a deep pan with high sides. Add the orange zest, ginger slices and cinamon stick to it. After few seconds, add washed rice to it and mix it very gently.
Add salt and cumin seeds to it and mix properly.
Take the tea bags out now and squeeze them properly ensuring the flavours get into the water.
Pour this tea water into the rice and add 1 cup of extra water in it. The ratio is 1 cup rice:2 cups water, though at times you might need to add a little more water towards the end.
Stir it gently and cook in medium heat till the rice is tender enough, cooked and water is fully absorbed. Add some more water if you feel so. When the rice is almost 90% cooked, switch off the gas and cover with a lid. Let it get steamed for another few minutes. Usually this entire process should take anywhere between 10-18 minutes.

Special step: Take the lid out and smell the aroma. It is bound to de-stress you. Gauranteed...

Serve it hot with your choice of curry(I served it with egg curry!!).

Happy Cooking!!!