Basmati rice, or any rice for that matter should be served tender, and each rice grain should be separate from the other rice grains. If your rice comes out in clumps, mushy, or still hard to the bite then you are doing it completely wrong. Don’t despair though as we are going to talk you through the ways that you should be cooking basmati rice, and believe us, it may sound easy cooking rice but it can take its toll on even the most experienced chefs in our world.
Generally, rice shouldn’t take more than 20 minutes to cook and by using the right measure of rice to water ratio, along with the right heat you can have the perfect bowl of rice as a result of it.
As we mentioned above you shouldn’t be serving up a bowl of rice that is in clumps, mushed up or soggy looking. The perfect bowl of basmati rice, put simply, should be soft and fluffy with each grain being noticeably separate from each other grain. Unfortunately for most people achieving this end result can be much harder than initially expected.
One of the biggest pieces of advice I love to give to cooks, that to be honest with you is overlooked regularly is that before you even start cooking the rice you should prepare it.
Preparing rice? What do you mean?
All you need to do is grab a strainer or sieve, put the rice you wish to cook into it and then run that under some cold water for a few minutes to rinse the rice out. This is quite an important step in the process because what you actually are doing is removing a lot of starch that covers the rice. Starch is what makes your rice looking gloopy and all stuck together at the end so by just adding this two minute preoperational task to the beginning of the cooking process can really make a huge difference at the end.
The next step is to put the rice into a decent sized saucepan, but don’t add any water to the mix just yet because there is one more tip we can offer you that can help your rice become much more fluffy and light once cooked. Just take a pinch of salt and put it over the rice and then shake the rice about so the salt absorbs into the grains.
Don’t do this when cooking or at the end as it can make your rice very overpowering salty and uneatable.
Once you have added the salt the next step is important because many people add cold water and then cook the rice to a boil. Instead of cold water you should add boiling water to the rice, and as a rule of thumb it’s one cup or mug full of rice to every two cup or mug fulls of boiling water. If you cook this on a medium heat the water will evaporate away and you will be left with the perfect fluffy basmati rice left in the saucepan.
Some people don’t over the saucepan for the period where the rice is cooking but a tight fitting lid, or simply some kitchen foil that is sealed over the top can help keep the steam produced by the heat, in the pan. Again, what this does is it allows the steam to cook the rice which as we all know is a constantly increasing form of cooking in most parts of the world.
This steaming method will take slightly longer but you are guaranteed fluffy and separated grains of rice as an end result.
Once cooked you just need to drain the excess water from the rice pan and then take a fork, run it through the rice and see how it is looking. By now, you have probably just pulled off a great bowl of rice and this type of rice can go with many types of meals.
Basmati is the ideal component to curries, so you can serve up the bowl with a fresh sprig of coriander on top or you can use the rice bowl to accompany other cultural dishes from jerk chicken, peas and mushrooms, to more traditional menu items.
Cooking rice to perfection isn’t as hard as it first seems, it’s just knowing the tips and tricks that you need to do in order to help increase your success rate when cooking it. So if you haven’t already done so, we are sure you are eager to head into the kitchen and get to work on cooking some basmati rice so don’t let us keep you from it.