Say goodbye to stodgy rice with this perfect Indian restaurant style basmati rice recipe made using a rice cooker.
If you’ve made Indian restaurant style curry broth, your efforts should be rewarded with perfect fluffy basmati rice to accompany your curries. When it comes to Indian food, basmati is the rice of choice. This mild flavoured rice pairs brilliantly with saucy curries like chicken tikka masala or butter chicken. If you prefer a more fragrant spiced rice to pair with dry curry dishes like lamb bhuna or king prawn jalfrezi, you can try this rice cooker pilau rice recipe.
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Ingredients For Indian Restaurant Style Basmati Rice
As well as a few important steps in preparation and cooking, one of the key elements of perfect basmati rice is, of course, the rice itself. If you’ve followed the rinsing and cooking tips in this recipe and still aren’t delighted, it’s worth switching to a different brand of basmati rice in order to achieve better results. I like Biona Himalayan Basmati Rice.
- Basmati Rice
- Water
How To Make Indian Restaurant Style Basmati Rice In A Rice Cooker
To make perfect, fluffy rice, excess starch first needs to be rinsed from the rice. You can buy a rice rinsing bowl to do this, or simply use a fine mesh sieve over a bowl. With rice rinsed three times (or as needed until water runs clear), it’s ready to be added to a pot, covered with fresh water and cooked to perfection.
Step 1: Wash & Soak Rice
Put 150 grams basmati rice in a fine mesh colander over a bowl and cover with water. Mix gently by hand, drain cloudy water, replace with fresh water and mix gently again. Repeat once or twice more until water runs clear and rice is rinsed of excess starch.
Step 2: Cook Basmati Rice
Transfer the rinsed rice to the inner bowl of a rice cooker. Add water to the ‘1 cup’ mark on the bowl. Set the bowl in your rice cooker and cook on ‘long grain’ mode. Once the rice cooker indicates that the rice is cooked, fluff it up gently with a rice spoon or fork, and leave on ‘keep warm’ mode for 10 minutes. Indian restaurant style basmati rice is now ready to serve.
Step 3: Serve
Fluff up basmati rice with a rice spoon or fork and serve with your favourite Indian restaurant style curry dishes.
Indian Restaurant Style Basmati Rice Recipe Tips
Rinse & Soak: Rinsing the rice of any excess starch and soaking in fresh water briefly results in large grains of fluffy basmati rice, perfect served with Indian curry dishes.
Storage & Reheating: Cool leftover basmati rice quickly, cover and set aside in the fridge for up to 2 days. Reheat cooked basmati rice thoroughly in a microwave or frying pan until piping hot.
I hope you’ll try this perfect basmati rice recipe. If you do, let me know in the comments how it went!
Rice Cooker Basmati Rice (Indian Restaurant Style)
Equipment
- 1 Rice Cooker
Ingredients
- 1 rice cooker cup basmati rice
- fresh water
Instructions
- Put 1 rice cooker cup basmati rice in a colander over a bowl and cover with water. Mix gently by hand, drain cloudy water, replace with fresh water and mix gently again. Repeat once or twice more until water runs clear and rice is rinsed of excess starch.
- Transfer the rinsed rice to the inner bowl of a rice cooker. Add fresh water to the '1 cup' mark on the bowl. Set the bowl in your rice cooker and cook on 'long grain' mode. Once the rice cooker indicates that the rice is cooked, fluff it up gently with a rice spoon or fork, and leave on 'keep warm' mode for 10 minutes. Indian restaurant style basmati rice is now ready to serve.
- Fluff up basmati rice with a rice spoon or fork and serve.
Nutrition
Indian Restaurant Style Basmati Rice Recipe FAQ
Why is my basmati rice stodgy?
Stodgy rice can be the result of excess starch. To avoid this, choose a good quality brand of rice and rinse rice thoroughly in several changes of water until water runs clear before cooking.
Do I need to rinse rice before cooking?
It’s a good idea to rinse excess starch from rice to ensure soft, fluffy individual grains and not stodgy rice. But, some people don’t rinse their rice at all – if you can find a brand that gives good results without rinsing, by all means do what works for you! But as a general rule, excess starch makes inferior rice and so should be rinsed off before cooking.
Do I need a rice cooker?
Whilst it’s possible to make perfect rice in a pot on the stovetop, a rice cooker makes life much easier, and delivers perfect rice every time. As well as producing good results, a standalone rice cooker also leaves hob space free to cook other dishes. If you cook and eat rice regularly, it’s definitely worth investing in a rice cooker.
How do Indian restaurants and takeaways make rice colourful?
With turmeric, or food colouring! In the case of turmeric rice, simply adding a pinch to the water before cooking your rice will suffice. Or, you can make pilau rice, infused with onion and aromatic whole spices.