Basmati rice - simple, yet not

“In India they say well-cooked grains of rice should be like brothers, close but not stuck together”. Madhur Jaffrey

I buy my rice in bulk - well comparative bulk - 5kg bags. Not 20kg or even more which you can get in Asian food shops. We eat a lot of rice but not that much. In fact we probably eat more rice and pasta than potatoes these days, which is very sad for me because I adore potatoes. My husband, alas, does not have the same love. And when I was young I do not think we ever had rice as the carbohydrate component of a meal. It was always potatoes. Then we discovered pasta, and eventually we discovered Indian (and Chinese) restaurants where they served rice though we never cooked these things at home. The only rice we had at home was in rice pudding. I don't think I really started cooking rice as a main course staple until I came to Australia when I had to learn to cook curry. I could be wrong but I don't think so. My cooking, before I came to Australia was very Eurocentric.

I also, I am sort of ashamed to say, cook my rice in a rice cooker these days. But ever since we went to a cooking demonstration in, I think Borneo, or it may have been Bali, where they used a rice cooker, my gadget centred husband has thought that it's the best way. Prior to that I just used to cook it in a lot of water, strain it, rinse it with hot water and put it in the oven to dry off. Today I think my steam oven probably does the best job but I don't use it as much as I should. I also do not soak the rice before I cook it which I have now found, as I 'researched' for this post, makes all the difference. I could certainly do that even if I do use the rice cooker.

And incidentally, in all the articles that I found on how to cook the perfect rice not one of them mentioned a rice cooker - or a steam oven. General opinion seemed to be that Madhur Jaffrey had the perfect way, though Yotam Ottolenghi got a few nods too. His method is similar but not quite the same. Mind you a refinement of the Madhur Jaffrey recipe which she may have later or earlier espoused was to rest the rice in the pan on a tea towel for 5 minutes at the end of the cooking time (without removing the lid). And, as always, Felicity Cloake gives a really good overview of the different methods.

"one of the great things about cooking: No matter how long you do it, you’re always learning something new." Russ Parsons - Los Angeles Times

Very true. I actually think I have tried the soaking thing before but not for a very long time, so maybe I should give it another go. And Yotam Ottolenghi's method was sufficiently different to be worth a try.

But my main purpose in looking at basmati rice, was not really the cooking of it. You will find heaps of hints on that. And as always - the simplest thing - cooking rice - has a thousand different variations. No I had bought my new 5kg bag of rice the other day - it was a half price bargain - and as I unpacked the rice yesterday I found myself wondering (a) about why it always seemed to come from Pakistan and (b) why it was nearly always in an elaborate cloth or simulated cloth bag. This one had a zip at the top, a machined row of stitching to cut through and a sealed plastic bag inside. It was complicated like much of modern packaging but in a homely, old-fashioned way.

So first of all why Pakistan? Because when I looked at Wikipedia it seemed to be saying that India was the world's greatest producer of basmati rice, and close second to Pakistan in exporting. Not to Australia apparently. Now I haven't done an exhaustive check but I'm pretty sure virtually all of the basmati rice we get here is from Pakistan, not India. Which is a little bit curious because I would have thought that Australia had better relations with India than Pakistan due to its dubious relationships with terrorists. And no Australia cannot grow basmati rice - the climate is not suitable. Lots of people think we shouldn't be growing rice at all - but that's another post sometime. And even in India and Pakistan production is confined to the Punjab and neighbouring regions of both countries. Mind you I did see that the Chinese seem to be moving in - no surprises there. America has tried - well an American registered company actually owned by the Prince of Liechenstein - so that's where they get their money! They tried to take out some kind of patent but Pakistan protested and they had to withdraw. It's one of those appellation controlée sort of things. Nepal also has it's own particular brand of basmati rice, but it is banned from export. But I don't have an answer as to why our basmati rice doesn't seem to come from India.

I also have no answer as to why the cloth bag, and so am just putting that down to tradition and marketing. Makes it look more authentic? You can buy it in an ordinary plastic bag too of course.

The last thing and really the most important is why is basmati rice different. What gives it its unique taste - because it does have a unique taste and smell. Well here you need to go to Wikipedia - and be bamboozled by science. It starts out fairly simple if a bit pedantic:

"Basmati rice has a typical pandan-like (Pandanus amaryllifolius leaf) flavour caused by the aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline. Basmati grains contain about 0.09 ppm of this aromatic chemical compound naturally, a level that is about 12 times more than non-basmati rice varieties, giving basmati its distinctive spicy fragrance and flavour. This natural aroma is also found in cheese, fruits and other cereals. It is a flavoring agent approved in the United States and Europe, and is used in bakery products for aroma". Wikipedia

But then I foolishly thought I would look up the chemical it talks about and got this:

"2AP is a substituted pyrroline and a cyclic imine as well as a ketone."

There was no further explanation. Well - I don't understand any of the words there apart from the linking words like and and as and is. So I gave up. It just goes to show that every form of human endeavour has its own jargon and some of them are totally incomprehensible to 'outsiders'. You might understand it. I don't. Anyway - it's what gives basmati its distinctive flavour. Like pandanus they say, though I must admit I had my head that it was bergamot. But I might be confusing it with Earl Grey tea. Isn't language wonderful? I'm sure every one of those difficult words has a perfectly rational and interesting origin and I'm sure that every other jargon word is the same. Language, like food, is a truly fascinating thing. I sometimes think I should have studied socio-linguistics. Though I don't think I'm really up to learning its jargon. I know there is one.

A few years ago SBS did a survey of basmati rice with respect to undesirable chemicals within it and found that some of it had unacceptable levels of insecticides and fertilisers. So I am assuming - maybe wrongly - that these things are now checked and what I'm eating is safe. Well I've been eating basmati rice for years now and I'm still here. But if it worries you - look into it. And yes, when I use long-grain rice I do always use basmati - occasionally jasmine - also much more highly perfumed, but perhaps not as light and elegant.

I forgot the other two reasons that Basmati rice is different. The shape is one - Madhur Jaffrey describes it as being like a sword. Long and elegant. And the other is the lightness. If you cook it correctly the grains should be "so light they seem to float off the plate". And basmati means what it is - fragrant.