I made basmati rice on the stove for the second time tonight and consulted the Internet heavily before diving in. My first batch ended with an unedible pot of gooey, overcooked rice and a trip to my local Indian restaurant, so much care was taken this time around. I combined advice from a top Google search result and a bookmarked item I found on del.icio.us.

Here’s what worked:

  1. Measure 1 cup of basmati rice into a bowl.
  2. Pour water into the bowl, stirring the rice with your fingers to get excess starch off the rice. Drain and repeat three times or until the water no longer clouds up.
  3. Soak the rice for 30 minutes. (Next time I plan to try overnight to see if the result is even better).
  4. Put a large sauce pan on medium heat (I had really good results with a large sauce pan because the rice was thinly and evenly spread across the bottom of the pan. Other sources say medium sauce pan, so probably either would work.)
  5. Put 1 and almost 1/2 cups of water in the pan along with the drained and soaked basmati rice. (I say almost 1/2 because you should account for the water that clings to the rice after being soaked.)
  6. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 2 tablespoons of margarine.
  7. Bring to a boil. As soon as a boil is reached, put the heat on low, cover the rice, and simmer for 20 minutes.
  8. Remove from heat, fluff rice gently, put lid back on rice, and let sit for 10 minutes. (This completes the cooking process and redistributes moisture evenly.)
  9. Serve and enjoy!

My favorite tip was to, “test whether rise is cooked ‘al dente’ by pinching a grain. If there is no hard core (chalky center), the rice is cooked.” I tested the rice after 15 minutes and there was a chalky center, so I left it on for another 5 minutes with perfect results and thus the 20 minute cooking time in my recipe.

After making the rice, I discovered a great post on Lifehacker with lots of rice cooking tips. One tip I’d like to try is to add more flavor to the rice by cooking it with a star anise or some raisins and cashews.

Also, I’d like to figure out how the Indian restaurants get their rice so yellow. My basmati rice is white. Are they just dumping in the butter?

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