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An Ode to Plain Rice



I grew up in Punjab. Which means only one thing rice-wise - we eat basmati. We don't eat a lot of it since Punjab is largely a wheat eating state but when we do - be it with curry or the lentil porridge (khichdi) or the rice pudding (kheer), the choice of rice is always the long grained, fragrant basmati. Now basmati is a great rice for things like biryani but it's not a cure all and over the years, I've found several new favourites to match the recipe I have in mind. After trying everything from black rice to the nutty wild rice, here is my pick of the top 5 varieties to always have in stock.

1. For Plain Rice: The kind of rice you eat with a curry. You need the grains to be soft and short, and it doesn't hurt for rice to be smushy. This is one category with multiple contenders but my favourite at the moment is the Bengali Govindobhog rice. I first discovered it at Lavaash in Delhi and it took a fair bit of hunting but Govindobhog is now available in my local hypercity as well as online. To cook govindobhog or pretty much any plain rice, you wash and soak it in plenty of water for an hour, then cook it in 2x the volume of water to rice until the water is all absorbed and the rice is cooked through. At this point, you add a tsp of ghee and that's when govindobhog goes from ordinary to brilliantly flavourful.

2. For Biryani: Nothing does the job better than the aforementioned basmati rice. Look for varieties that have been aged at least a year. Like fine wine, basmati gets better as it gets older.

3. For Khichdi: I've found that the frangrant indrayani rice, native to my adopted home state of Maharashtra, gives the most bang for the buck when making this lentil porridge. It also does a passable job in rice puddings but I've got you a better option for that.

4. For rice puddings: Yes, arborio rice is mainly meant for risottos and then frying those risottos as arancinis. But try cooking it in milk for a decadent rice pudding. Add some chopped chocolate at the end and you have a spectacular dessert at hand.

5. For fancy dinners: Nothing beats the short, sticky sushi rice. Roll yourself a sushi to impress your guests or if it's your lazy day, make yourself a grain bowl with sushi rice.

I just peeked into my fridge and apart from these five, I also seem to have stocky red rice and a purple variety. But wild colored rices are a story for another time.
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