Basmati, jasmine or sella: choose rice for the meal

Start with the texture you want

A rice name tells you more than the photograph of the finished meal. Basmati and jasmine are aromatic varieties; sella describes a parboiled format. A pack can therefore say both basmati and sella. Do not treat those words as three mutually exclusive quality grades.

• For a layered biryani, start with the variety specified in your recipe and look for the same processing description on the bag.
• For a soft rice bowl with sauce, jasmine can be a useful choice when that is the texture you enjoy.
• For a one-pot dish, compare an easy-cook or sella option with the recipe's instructions rather than transferring a familiar basmati water ratio.

Compare like with like

Place the two product pages beside each other. Read the net contents, variety, processing description and preparation panel. Brown, white, parboiled and ready-cooked products need different handling; a two-minute microwave pouch is not a substitute for dry rice in a raw-rice recipe.

Buy a smaller pack for your first attempt with an unfamiliar type. Once you know the result and how much you use, compare the kilogram price of larger bags. A low kilogram price is useful only if you have dry storage and will use the rice.

Keep a useful cooking note

Record the brand and exact rice type, the dry quantity, cooking method and result. Change one variable at the next attempt. This is more informative than concluding that every brand of a variety needs the same water or time.

For a starting method, read our basmati cooking guide. For a complete meal, see biryani basics and the current basmati selection. Product availability and prices are shown on the linked shopping pages.

Sources and label checks

• Tilda: rice questions
• Tilda: rice types