What is your oppinion on Basmati rice?!

Basmati is just a type of long grain rice. I gather there are some ridiculous number of rice varieties (tens on thousands) and I'd imagine that basmati is actually a term used to refer to a reasonable number of these which have similar properties. It has no particular quirks although you might want to cook it for a couple of minutes longer than your regular rice, depending upon what that is.

It's a nice firm grained rice which can be cooked in just the same way as any other long grained rice, including the ubiquitous "American long grain" rice which turns up everywhere. I prefer its texture to most other rices unless I'm making something like risotto for which I use Caranoli which produces a good creamy sauce.

The ratio of cooking it is slightly different from "white" rice. Also, the taste to me is considerably different from some of the other rices we eat, so be prepared for that. I bought a HUGE bag of it some time back because it was supposed to be so wonderful, but I was not overly impressed with it (actually I am not a fan of it).

Happy Eating.

Yes you can use it the same as regular rice but it has a slightly nutty flavor, It is really good with curry.

The grains of basmati rice are much longer than they are wide, and they grow even longer as they cook. They stay firm and separate, not sticky, after cooking. Basmati rice is available both as a white rice and a brown rice. Both of these cook in about 20 minutes. Due to the high amount of starch clinging to the rice grains, many cooks wash this rice before cooking it. Soaking it for half an hour to two hours before cooking makes the grains less likely to break during cooking.

Basmati rice is great. Especially if you cook it right. I've found that this recipe does me pretty well.
It's based on a recipie from a Madhur Jaffrey cookbook. Her version is much more precise.
Serves 8, takes ~40 minues
I ngredients 900g Basmati Rice Garlic (3 or 4 cloves, to taste) Whole Cloves (8 or so) Whole Cardamons (4 or so) Cinnamon (A good-sized stick, broken up) Bay Leaves (2 or 3) Turmeric (a good shake) Oil (some) Water (1300ml) Instructions Wash the rice thoroughly. I mean it. Put it in a sieve, pour lots and lots of cold water through it, and leave it to drain while you deal with the rest of the meal. The better you do this, the better the rice will come out.
Heat the oil in a saucepan, on a medium heat. Add the garlic (chopped), and the spices and bay leaves, and fry them for about a minute.
Add the rice, and fry the rice for about two minutes. Mix it well, to try to coat all of the rice with the oil (this should be yellow from the turmeric).
Turn down the heat to a minimum, cover the saucpan, and leave to cook for about half an hour or so. Stir occasionally.

http://www.pick.ucam.org/~ptc24/rice.htm…

Basmati rice is an excellent rice to accompany most Indian cuisine, it is very pungent and aromatic, much like jasmine rice is to Thai cuisine. It complements most curry dishes very well, but unfortunately dries out quite quickly left over. As such it's better to cook a small amount fresh each meal rather than to try to microwave leftovers.

Enjoy!

The cooking time and proportion of water to rice is the same (2 cups water to one cup rice).

The grains are individual, unlike a lot of Chinese or Japanese rices. It's a "long grain" rice. This wiki article has some good info if you want to get into the details: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basmati

There is a more fragrant flavor - stronger than the Jasimine rice that you'll get in Thai restaurants.

It's really quite lovely. (I really like it for a lot of western-style "Chicken and Rice" recipes.)

If you want to learn more, you can go for it with some Indian recipes too. Here are some resources:

http://www.indiaforvisitors.com/food/rec… - for some good general recipes

http://www.webindia123.com/cookery/rice/… - any of the recipes on this page would be great with your basmati. Biriyanis and Pullaos (or pulavs, as this site says it) are some work - they're both "good things cooked in rice" but they're worth it.

You may be heading to the nearest spice store if you try any of the Indian recipes. And don't worry, it's not all blazingly hot.

BASMATI IS THE ONLY RICE I BUY... WAS MARRIED TO AN INDIAN TOOK ME YEARS TO LEARN HOW TO PROPERLY COOK RICE... ALWAYS WASH IT A COUPLE OF TIMES TO GET THE WHITE STARCH OFF ... COOK IN LOTS OF WATER WHEN WATER GETS ALL FOAMY ON TOP YOU KNOW IT'S NEARLY READY... PUT A FORK IN AND TASTE ONE OR TWO GRAINS ... WHEN SOFT POUR INTO STRAINER AND THEN PUT BACK IN POT TURN HEAT OFF AND PUT THE LID ON AND LET IT JUST MEDITATE FOR A MINUTE OR SO BEFORE SERVING... DO NOT STIR RICE TOO MUCH WHILE COOKING... BASMATI IS A VERY FORGIVING RICE AND ONCE YOU GET USED TO IT YOU WILL NOT BUY ANY OTHER EXCEPT IF YOU ARE MAKING A RICE PUDDING THEN YOU USE SHORT GRAIN AND DON'T WASH IT... GOOD LUCK..
P.S. THERE'S A SAYING = THE RICE YOU EAT TODAY IS THE ENERGY YOU NEED FOR TOMORROW

LOTS OF TEARS LOTS OF TRIAL AND ERROR

Basmati rice is same as normal one....

Learn how to make Veg Pulav with basmati rice
http://theindianfood.net/?p=241

http://theindianfood.net/

I love it. I would suggest using it for Indian or Middle Eastern dishes.
The flavor doesn't go to well with other foods. Trust the people who eat it every day.

I like this type of rice better than gluey american style cooked rice

I don't care for it. It seems too perfumed. I like short grain Japanese.