I absolutely love the rice I get when I eat out at Indian restaurants. Until recently, my rice would never come out like theirs. I have always wanted to know how to make fluffy Indian basmati rice and I finally found some simple instructions that make pretty authentic rice.
We make a lot of Indian food for dinner – most of it is naturally gluten-free and, if I want to make a creamy sauce without dairy, I just substitute coconut milk and it tastes amazing. Gluten-free, dairy-free – the allergic kids are in heaven! And I am not worried about making different meals for different people. As if.
Fluffy Basmati Rice – Two Methods
I have tried two different ways to make fluffy Indian basmati rice at home and both ways have worked …
Either recipe will make fluffy Indian basmati rice that will be perfect under any Indian dish you prepare at home. For both methods, the key is to first rinse your rice!
Method 1:
Rinse and drain two cups of white basmati rice. Boil 10 cups of water with a little bit of salt. When the water is boiling, add the rinsed and drained rice and cook at a rolling boil for 7-8 minutes. Drain. Serve under your favorite saucy Indian dish.
Method 2:
We need a lot of rice in this house – you might only need to make one or two cups. We need to make three! I rinsed 3 cups of rice repeatedly until the water ran clear. I then filled the pot again with water and let it sit for 20 minutes while I prepped dinner ingredients.
After the rice sits for 20 minutes, drain again, and then fill with water again until it is covered by about 1 to 1 1/2 inches of water. Pour some oil and salt over the top. I added 2 curry leaves. Stir. Bring to a boil.
Let it boil until the rice tastes 80% to 90% done and then wrap your pot cover with a towel, reduce heat to low, cover your rice and let it finish cooking / steaming for another 5 to 10 minutes or so. Remove from heat. Let it sit and then fluff with a fork.
Both methods work but it’s hard to give you exact times! Use my times as estimates and if it seems like it needs some more water or more cooking time, go for it.
Favorite Indian Dishes
Indian Eggplant and Tomato Casserole
I found one of your rice recipes. I want to give it a try. We are searching for a new rice cooker. Which one do you like? The recipe stated you make a lot of rice so I am hoping you will have a great answer. Thank you! I tried to search your blog but didn’t find it listed.
Thanks, Mary!