Normally just washing basmati rice has been enough to make it cook well, but the generic brand I’ve been buying for years seems to have changed their supplier or something and now what should be the same exact rice doesn’t cook right anymore and turns out disgusting. How do I compensate for this? Do I just wash it even more thoroughly? Do I wash it, let it soak in clean water for a while, and then wash it again?
I’m kind of at a loss for how to fix it because I’ve never encountered such starchy, shitty quality basmati rice before.
If washing isn’t reducing the stickiness, there might be something up with the rice grains themselves (too much of the outer layer removed during processing, long-term storage a dry environment causing cracks, etc.) Lowering the water to rice ratio a bit or steaming really gently after parboiling (like the technique used in this recipe for Iranian chelow) could be enough compensate for the issue, but if all else fails you can always make khichdi or some other kind of porridge.
(like the technique used in this recipe for Iranian chelow)
Thanks, I will have to try making that sometime. If nothing else for right now the stuff about how to prepare the rice ahead of time might help.
Have you tried reducing the amount of water you cook the rice in?
Not yet, no. I’ve stuck with the same ratio that I’ve been using, which is also what the bag says. It doesn’t seem to just still be wet when it should have already absorbed all the water though, but that it doesn’t seem completely cooked at that point, but then cooking it a little longer seems to overcook it. Or maybe that’s just from all the excess starch, because it reminds me of the awful rice I grew up eating that would always be horribly starchy and bland and overcooked.
You’re generally supposed to soak rice for a few hours, rinse and drain the water, then cook it in fresh water. This gets excess starch out. The only time I wouldn’t say to do that is if you’re cooking sushi rice because you want the starch to make it stick together well.
Soak for a few hours or if you need it fast, repeatedly soak, rinse with a hand rubbing the grains together good, and drain in quick succession until the water runs clear. It might take 5-10 rinse cycles.
Add a little salt to the water when you cook it.
repeatedly soak, rinse with a hand rubbing the grains together good, and drain in quick succession until the water runs clear
This has been my standard approach, but before the rice changed it consistently only took two cycles of that. I’ll try just doing more rinse cycles and see if that fixes the problems or if there’s more wrong with it than just how starchy it is.
