Manzoorul Hassan wrote:
> We usually use Basmati to make Plain / Steamed rice or Polau (aka
> Pilaf). For Plain Rice no seasoning or spice (not even Salt). For
Polau
> the "siple" recipe that we follow is:
>
> * melt some butter or ghee
> * add some ginger (fresh is prefered, but powder can be
substituted)
> * add cardamon & cinnamon
> * add the washed & drained rice to the butter and ginger
> * constantly stir the rice to make sure every individual rice grain
> has a chance to be coated with the butter / ghee on mid to mid-hi
heat
> * after ~10 minutes, add liquid and salt
> * stir very gently once or twice, but no more
> * wait for a boil
> * immediately turn heat to med to med-low
> * cover for about 25 - 35 min
>
> The liquid would be approximately 1.5 times the amount of rice. So,
for
> 2 cups of rice there would be ~3 cups of liquid. The liquid is mostly
> water with very little whole milk. For 3 cups of liquid there would
be
> about a quarter of a cup of milk.
>
> We almost never ever soak the rice in water. In tends to break the
> rice. Many of our friends use the cooker, but we haven't tried it
yet.
>
> - manzoor

While I'm toasting the rice in fat I heat the liquid to the boil in a
saucer covered Pyrex measure, in the nuker... then it's all ready to
bring back to a boil in like under two minutes. By your method by the
time you bring the cold water to a boil with the rice in it you are in
effect indeed soaking your rice. I add veggies (onion, celery, garlic,
carrot, etc.) to my pilaf so I decrease liquid accordingly... practice
gives one a sense for how much. I don't add meat to pilaf, the meat
would become tough. You cook your rice about three times longer than I
do, it's no wonder soaked rice would break up, I think even unsoaked
the rice would turn to paste after cooking a half hour. I think you
work very hard to cook rice, and yours doesn't sound very inspiring
either, perhaps for you your procedure is more a ritualistic religious
experience than something culinarily practical.

Sheldon