How to cook perfect basmati rice

Why basmati deserves a little care

Basmati is a long-grain rice from the Punjab and the foothills of the Himalaya. The good stuff is aged after harvest, which dries the grains out so they absorb more water and stretch to almost twice their length as they cook. That is why well-made basmati stays separate instead of turning sticky – as long as you wash off the loose starch and don't overcook it.

Use whole long-grain basmati or sella for pulao, jeera rice and biryani. Broken basmati is meant for khichdi, kheer and quick weeknight rice with dal, and it needs slightly less water.

Step 1: rinse

Put the rice in a large bowl, cover it with cold water and swirl gently with your fingers. The water turns cloudy; pour it off and repeat. After three or four changes it will be nearly clear. Don't scrub the grains against each other, or the delicate tips will snap.

Step 2: soak

Cover the rinsed rice with fresh water and leave it for 20 to 30 minutes. The grains turn opaque white and slightly bendy. Avoid soaking for more than an hour, otherwise the outside softens before the centre is cooked. Drain thoroughly in a sieve – excess water throws off your ratio.

Method A: absorption (everyday rice and pulao)

This is how most home cooks in South Asia make plain rice. Nothing is poured away, so all the aroma stays in the pot.

Serves 4

• 300 g basmati (about 375 ml by volume), rinsed and soaked
• 450 ml water (roughly 1 : 1.2 by volume for soaked rice; 1 : 1.5 if you skip the soak)
• ¾ tsp salt
• 1 tsp ghee or oil, optional

1. Bring the water, salt and ghee to the boil in a heavy-based pan.
2. Tip in the drained rice, stir once, gently, and let it come back to the boil.
3. When little craters appear on the surface and you can barely see any water (after about 3–4 minutes), turn the heat right down to the lowest setting.
4. Cover tightly and cook for 10–12 minutes. No stirring, no peeking.
5. Switch off the heat and leave it covered for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork, working from the edge towards the middle.

If your lid doesn't fit snugly, wrap it in a clean tea towel. The cloth catches condensation that would otherwise drip back and make the top layer soggy.

Method B: boil and drain (for biryani)

Here you cook the rice like pasta in plenty of water. It is forgiving, and it is the starting point for every layered biryani.

1. For 300 g of soaked rice, bring about 2 litres of water and 1 tbsp salt to a rolling boil. The water should taste properly salty.
2. Add whole spices if you like: 1 bay leaf, 3 green cardamom pods, 3 cloves and a small piece of cinnamon.
3. Add the rice and keep it at a lively boil. For biryani, drain after 5–6 minutes, when the grain still has a firm core (about 70 per cent cooked). For a side dish, give it 7–9 minutes.
4. Drain, return to the pan, drizzle with 1 tbsp ghee, cover and steam on the lowest heat for 5–8 minutes.

For biryani, the part-cooked rice goes straight on top of the meat and finishes cooking there under a sealed lid. Which spice mix suits which regional style is explained on our biryani masala page.

Quick variation: jeera rice in 20 minutes

Heat 1 tbsp ghee in a pan, add 1 tsp whole cumin seeds (jeera), 1 bay leaf and 2 cardamom pods and let them sizzle for 30 seconds until fragrant. Stir in the soaked, drained rice for a minute so every grain is coated, then carry on exactly as in Method A. Scatter over fresh coriander and serve with dal, rajma or any curry.

Troubleshooting

• Mushy rice: too much water or too long a soak. Use 50 ml less next time. To rescue this batch, spread the rice thinly on a tray and dry it for a few minutes in a warm oven.
• Hard in the middle: sprinkle over 2–3 tbsp hot water, cover and steam on the lowest heat for another 5 minutes.
• Burnt bottom: the heat was too high. Lift off the top rice without stirring. A heavy pan or a heat diffuser makes a real difference.
• Broken grains: rinsed too roughly or stirred during cooking. After the first boil, only fluff.

Storing leftovers safely

Cooked rice shouldn't sit on the hob for hours. Spread it out to cool, get it into the fridge within an hour and eat it within a day. Reheat it only once, until piping hot all the way through – in a pan with a splash of water or in the microwave. Day-old cold rice, by the way, makes excellent fried rice.

How much rice per person?

Allow 70–80 g of uncooked rice per person as a side, and 100–125 g when rice is the main event, as in pulao or biryani. A party of 20 therefore needs around 2–2.5 kg of basmati. You'll find larger sacks in our rice and flour section, and if you're in Dresden you can collect them from the shop on Bautzner Straße 16 rather than carrying them across town.