How To Cook Basmati Rice (perfect, soft + fluffy!)

Here's a pretty prime example of one of those things that looks like it should be easy... but can catch anyone off guard. Yep, it's how to cook basmati rice.

You wouldn't be the only one to think there's not much behind it. I mean, how hard can boiling literal rice get, right?! But if you've found your way to this post, you'll likely know that the answer is 'It's not quite thaaaat simple...'.

It's an art form - getting the grains soft and fragrant. Getting the right balance between tender and mush. Perfecting the texture. It's not just a case of boiling literal rice.

In this post, I'm going to be breaking down everything you need to know about cooking the basmati rice of your dreams. I'm sharing everything, from the exact method to follow, the best utensils and troubleshooting the most common issues when cooking basmati rice.

🤩 The ideal basmati rice is...

Before we dive into the how, lets first agree on what we're aiming for. In my books, the perfect basmati rice is:

• Fluffy, soft and light - as opposed to clumpy and dense.
• All the grains are individual - not sticky or starchy - and definitely not broken.
• Long grains of rice, as opposed to short grains.

Like this:

🥣 Which method is the best?

There are two main methods for cooking basmati rice: (i) the absorption method, in which just one pan is used, and (ii) the boil-and-drain method, which involves draining the water from the cooked rice.

I wholeheartedly prefer the boil-and-drain method - draining the water drains out the stodgy starch and leads to fluffier, lighter and more individual grains of rice hands down. Yes, the absorption method is easier, but when you compare the results of both methods, the absorption method always fares less than ideal.

In this post, I'm going to be walking you through the stove top method. In my experience, this is the BEST way to cook Basmati rice, hands down. Watch this space for more posts in the future about how to cook Basmati rice using other methods.

🍚Method

The method for the fluffiest, softest and all-round best Basmati rice, is divided into 3 steps: 1) washing + soaking, 2) cooking, and 3) steaming (dum).

Part 1: Washing and soaking

This is a very important, and often overlooked, step. I have always noticed a difference in how well my rice cooked when I've washed and soaked it vs when I haven't.

Washing it removes a lot of starch. Starch makes rice clumpy and sticky - which is what we're actively avoiding! Soaking the rice serves more than one purpose:

• It helps loosen up any residual starch.
• It hydrates the rice grains, leading to an elongated and more 'bloomed' grain ('khilla hua daana' in Urdu) - which is considered a hallmark of excellent basmati rice.
• It reduces cook time by up to 20%
• There are health benefits too

To wash, place the rice grains in a sieve or colander, and use cold water to gently rinse the rice grains, using your hands to swish the rice around. Swishing the rice around really helps getting the starch out. Wash until the water runs clear.

Alternatively, you can also place the rice in a large bowl, add in cold water, swish it around and then pour out the water. You'll need to do this several times, until the water starts to run clear.

To soak, place the washed rice in a bowl, and add enough cold water to completely submerge the rice.

Allow this to soak a minimum of 30 minutes, ideally one hour. You can soak for up to 6 hours in my experience - but please note that if you soak it for longer than 1 hour, your rice will become a bit more delicate (i.e., brittle) and will need to be handled extra gently when cooking AND cook time may also reduce by 2-3 minutes.

Once ready to cook, drain out the water and proceed.

Part 2: Cooking

Start by taking a wide-rimmed pan. Pour in an ample amount of water, salt it generously, and bring it to a rolling boil.

How much salt should I add? As a rule of thumb, for this cooking method, there is no strict ratio for salt since we're boiling and then draining. It's like pasta, essentially. If you need a ratio though, use 1.5tsp salt for every 1 cup (200g) of rice.

Once you're at a rolling boil (think lots of aggressive bubbles), add in the washed + drained basmati rice.

Cook the rice over a high heat at this rolling boil - stirring very gently once or twice. Avoid excessive or aggressive stirring - this can break the rice grain. The best spoon to use for this would be a flat slotted spoon or a rice paddle.

Now here is the part that gets most people in a pickle - you want to cook the rice till it's al dente - about 80% done. You can check this by taking out a a few grains of rice out using your spoon and tasting it - it should be cooked, but have a bite to it.

There is no set time for how long this will take - it will vary depending on the brand and quality of rice you're using, how long the rice was soaked for, and the temperature you're cooking at. As a rule of thumb, this can take between 7-8 minutes, but use your own discretion to assess when the rice is al dente.

Once you're at this stage, drain the water out of the rice using a sieve or colander. You can discard the water.

Part 3: Steaming (dum)

(Optional step: Preheat a flat pan, like a tava, over a medium heat, and once it's warm, place it under the pot you'll be steaming the rice in. This helps prevent overly dry or burnt rice at the bottom. See the images below if this visual doesn't quite make sense)

Turn the heat down as low as you can get it.

Using the same pot, heat some butter, oil or ghee - 1 teaspoon for every 1 cup (200g) of rice. This is optional, but highly recommended.

Add back the drained basmati rice, and very gently fold the butter/oil/ghee into the rice, so it's evenly dispersed.

Place a tight-fitting lid on. Ideally, line the lid with a clean tea towel - you can use foil or cling film if you don't have a clean tea towel. Here's how this set up will look like:

So that's the pre-heated flat pan at the bottom (which again, is optional but highly recommended), then your pot of rice, topped off with a tight lid lined with either a clean tea towel, foil or cling film.

Allow the rice to sit over this very low heat for 15-20 minutes. During this time, do not remove the lid or disturb it.

This step is crucial to get that fluffy, pillow-y soft texture.

Once the time is up, you can remove the lid and fluff the rice up using that flat slotted spoon or rice paddle.

Your fluffy, soft and fragrant basmati rice is ready.

✋🏼 Handling cooked basmati rice

This is IMPORTANT - you can cook basmati rice like a pro, but if you're handling it like a maniac, you'll end up with sad, broken rice.

1. Always use a flat slotted spoon or a ride paddle to stir, fluff and serve rice. Absolutely avoid wooden spoons like the plague - they're far too clunky to handle basmati rice without damaging it. Anything like the following pictures works well:
   
   
   
2. Immediately after the steaming time is up, fluff up the rice even if you do not intend on serving it immediately. This will ensure the rice does not stick or clump together.
3. If you will be serving rice in a different dish, it's best done in a flat platter/tray-like dish. This helps prevent rice getting weighed down in any middle layers and getting mushy.

🌟 Best basmati rice brands

I'm obsessively incredibly passionate about great rice. Using quality basmati rice is one of the best things you can do to up your rice game. You cannot out-soak, out-wash or out-cook poor quality basmati rice. These are my top picks, in no particular order:

• Tilda Grand Extra Long Basmati Rice
• Daawat Extra Long Basmati Rice
• Laila Xtra Long Basmati Rice (the black bag only - other types of rice from Laila haven't impressed me)
• East End Royal Basmati Rice
• Zebra Basmati Rice
• Shama Basmati Rice

Most of these brands are available in the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and other countries.

❓ The best pot/pan to cook basmati rice in

You ideally want to always go for a large, wide pan when cooking rice. The more spread out you can get your rice, the better.

When your rice is spread out, you have less weight being pushed onto the grains in the middle and bottom. Less weight = less chance of breakage, more evenly cooked rice, less chance of mushy rice.

Here's a visual for the kind of pots/pans you're looking for:

Conversely, using a tall pot which keeps the rice all jam-packed is more likely to lead to stodgy, mushy rice - these are best avoided for rice. Stock pots and pressure cooker-type shapes usually fall into this category. Again, a visual:

My rice burns/becomes hard at the bottom

This is a problem with the heat during the steaming/dum process. The heat is too high or too harsh on the bottom layer of rice, causing it to dry out or burn.

Solutions:

1. Your heat during the steaming/dum is likely too hot - you'll need to reduce it to as low as you can get it. If you're using the largest burner, use one of the smaller burners at their lowest heat instead.
2. Use a flat pan under your cooking vessel during the steaming process - it helps to diffuse the heat, so it isn't too harsh on the bottom layer of the rice.

My rice cooks unevenly (some grains are cooked, some are still semi-raw)

Lots of potential issues we need to rule out here:

1. Did you wash and soak your rice properly, as per the method I've shared? Uneven cooking can be caused by excess starch.
2. Make sure you're generous with the water when boiling the rice. Using enough water will allow the rice grain to boil evenly, and take in as much water as it needs to hydrate and cook fully. There's no such thing as too much water when cooking rice.
3. Use a wide-rimmed pan, not a tall and thin pot. A wide-rimmed pan allows the rice to cook evenly, whereas a tall and thin pot = lot of rice in the centre = steam and heat reaches the bottom and top layers of rice but doesn't quite reach the centre layer = uneven cooking.
4. Use a larger pot. Using a vessel that's too small can also lead to unevenly looked rice (partly because a smaller pot = less water, which we discussing in point 2).
5. Truthfully, I've experienced this too several times when I've cooked with low quality basmati rice. I highly advise switching to one of the brands I've recommended and seeing how you fare.

My rice is sticky and clumpy

This is most likely an issue with not washing and soaking the basmati rice properly. A lot of issues can be solved by this simple solution! When washing, ensure the rice runs as clear as possible before you soak it, and ensure you completely drain the rice of the soaked water before cooking it.

Also, make sure you're fluffing the rice up really well after the steaming is completed. Don't let the rice sit with the lid on after it's done - immediately take the lid off, fluff the rice, ensuring you get riiiiiiight to the bottom too. Even if you don't intend to serve the rice immediately, this is very important to ensure your rice doesn't turn to clumps.

My rice grains break

1. Only use a flat slotted spoon or a rice paddle to stir and handle the rice. Avoid clunky utensils, especially wooden spoons.
2. Be very, veeeeeeery gentle when handling the rice. It isn't a curry, so avoid aggressive stirring both when you wash it, and whilst you cook it. As I tell my son, 'gentle hands, please'.
3. Use a folding motion when stirring as you cook.

What if I've soaked my rice for too long?

❄️ Storing, freezing + reheating basmati rice

Allow rice to cool down completely before placing it in the fridge of freezer,

Refrigerating

Store cooked basmati rice in the fridge. It's important it is stored in an airtight container, otherwise the rice grain will become dry and chewy. Store for up to up to 6 days.

The best way to reheat from refrigerated is either:

(i) in a wide dish in the oven, covered in foil with a bit of water mixed in for 20 minutes, or
(ii) in the microwave, covered with a damp kitchen towel for 1-2 minutes.

Freezing

I'm not a huge fan of freezing rice - it loses its beautiful, fluffy texture when defrosted. But alas, sometimes needs must.

Ideally, you want to freeze the rice airtight in a thin layer, as opposed to in a huge block. It'll make defrosting it both quicker, as well as reducing the texture-damage.

To defrost, place it in the fridge overnight and consume within 24 hours.

Do not re-freeze rice that has already been defrosted.

💡 Tips for beginners:

Before I part, here are a few tips to help you along the way to basmati rice bliss:

• Use Sella basmati rice - this is a variety of basmati rice which has been parboiled, and is much easier to keep fluffy and individual. It's actually incredibly hard to mess up Sella basmati, which makes it a great choice for beginners. Zebra Sella Basmati Rice is a greak pick.
• Don't skimp on quality - as a beginner, sometimes you'll make mistakes - it's inevitable. The great thing about good quality rice is that it can be very forgiving of those mistakes. Let's say you don't quick wash it as well as you should, or you don't give it the right amount of steaming-time - good quality rice can handle those misses and still give you good results. With poorer quality rice, I find you can't get away with cutting corners.
• Work in small batches - don't make 5 cups of rice for your first go! Start with small portions and gain confidence there before aiming big.
• For fragrance - adding a small stick of cinnamon and a few cloves really enhances the aroma!