How to cook Basmati Rice

How to cook Basmati Rice

Basmati/ Long grain rice

Basmati rice / long grain rice is served with many Indian curries and can be cooked in many different ways (rice cooker, pressure cooker, micro wave, etc.). I use drain method to cook my basmati rice as I like my rice grains separated which makes it look beautiful and taste great.

Rice is an integral part of my diet, and without rice my meal would be incomplete. There are so many ways to eat rice; it can be as simple as plain rice, as delicious as biryani and as easy as khichdi (which by the way I call Indian risotto ;)).

The key to making rice perfect is soaking it for at least 15 to 30 minutes and cooking it in the rice proportion of water. And the right proportion of water may vary depending on the variety of your rice. So here’s a method that is pretty much a universal and should work for any variety of basmati rice. What makes basmati rice different from other types of rice is that it’s less starchy, and so less sticky.

Everybody asks me how you make your rice and so here it is….

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1 cup Basmati rice

Oil 1 tbsp. (optional)

Water for soaking 2 cups

Water for cooking 1.5 to 2 l

Salt to taste.

Method:

       Wash the rice with cold water and drain, thrice and soak for at least 30 min ( there is no right  amount of water and you don’t need to measure it but let’s say, for 1 cup of rice soak it in 2 cups of water)

     In a cooking pot bring 1.5 t 2l of water to boil (leaving enough room at the top of the sauce pan to avoid spillage, using a kettle is a lot easier just transfer the water to the pan) add salt and a tbsp. of oil.

       Drain the rice, add drained rice to the pot of boiling water in about a minute or two the rice would come up ( almost like its dancing). Cook for 7 to 8 minutes.

        Use a spoon to check if the rice is cooked ( cooked rice will look puffed up and shouldn’t be raw in taste, some of you might already know thatJ)

       Once cooked, drain the rice and serve it or transfer to a bowl and keep covered until ready to serve.

 

How to Make Basmati/ long grain rice

Tips:

Cooking time may vary depending on the time you soaked it, the longer you soak lesser the time to cook.

Adding oil to the boiling water keeps the rice fresh for a longer time.

Once cooked, leave the rice covered.

You can make endless variations to this rice by adding your choice of flavors.