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You are here: Home / Basics Of Indian Cooking / How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

February 18, 2020 22 Comments

There are so many different ways you can cook rice. This mostly depends on the type of rice you are using and what you plan to do with it – serve with curries, make into a mixed rice dish, add to a dessert, roll into a sushi, etc. When making mixed rice recipes, especially like mushroom fried rice or vegetable pulao, it’s important to get the right consistency of cooked rice before you mix it in. This post will hopefully help you achieve that.

In my home, we have always cooked rice in an open pot of boiling water and drained the excess water off once the rice is cooked. This helps in removing the excess starch in rice (the resulting kanji vellam is used to starch clothes) and the grains remain separate, the way we like it.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

My in-laws consume raw rice which is cooked in a pressure cooker or rice cooker, always. The consistency is more sticky and this works well for the kind of rasam and kuzhambu the rice is served with, not to mention pongal and other dishes made with this rice.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao
Seeraga Samba Rice

I use ponni par-boiled rice on a daily basis in Singapore (available in Fairprice in 5kg bags and all stores in Little India) and Basmati or Seeraga Samba rice for Biryani, Pulao, and other one-pot mixed rices.

While I use my rice cooker for the every day rice, I cook rice for biryani, pulao, differently and wanted to share the method with you. I get a lot of comments on my pulao posts asking how the rice grains remain separate after making the dish and the answer is – being able to control how much your rice gets cooked helps you get that consistency in biryani and pulao.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Makes 2.5 cups cooked rice

Ingredients:
1 cup of basmati rice or seeraga samba rice
3 cups of water
1 tsp of salt

How to Cook the Rice:

1. Wash and soak the rice in enough water to cover it for 30 mins.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

2. After 30 mins, drain the water completely, add 3 cups of fresh water (or enough to cover the rice by 2-3 inches) and place on the stove on medium flame.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

3. Add salt and bring to boil.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

4. Once the water is boiling, lower flame and let the rice cook in the open pot for 10-12 mins. You will see the rice getting enlarged and the water level going down.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

5. After 10 mins, check the grains to see if it’s cooked. Generally I pinch a grain or rice between my thumb and forefinger and see if it smushes smoothly. Or, just put some grains of rice in your mouth and bite into them to see if they are hard inside. It’s done when the rice is soft yet not mushy. It’s better to leave it a bit underdone than overdone if you are in doubt.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

6. Switch off flame and immediately drain the rice in a colander. Let it sit on an uneven platform for 30 mins or so. You can fluff it with a fork midway so that the water drains out completely.

How to Cook Rice for Biryani, Fried Rice, Pulao

That’s it! You can use this rice for making biryani, pualo, fried rice, or any mixed rice variety. The grains will remain separate and the flavours will be nicely incorporated once you are done.

Tip: You can add a few drops of oil to the boiling water if you want. I sometimes do this but it’s not really super necessary.

Tip from a reader, Lakshmi: Add a few drops of lemon juice to the cooked rice when it’s hot and mix well. The colour of the rice will be super white.

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By nags Filed Under: Basics Of Indian Cooking, Uncategorized

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Comments

  1. Ameri

    May 5, 2018 at 4:26 am

    My question is that I use the forefinger method to determine how.much water to add to.the rice. But when I cook rice, as the water boils, the rice appears not to be tender thus needing.more water. How can you tell just by looking at the rice if it is .being cooked or not.being cooked (needing abit more water)? Once the water boils and evaporates, is it at that very moment when.you feel a grain of rice if it is being cooked with the right amount of water? Can you post pictures of rice that was being cooked but needed xamore water vs rice that is well cooked once the water evaporates?

    Reply
    • nags

      May 28, 2018 at 1:19 pm

      i’ll try to post those pictures but basically, add more water in the beginning than you think you need. every type of rice is different and needs various levels of water and cooking time, not to mention the heat you apply affect this largely too. it’s hard to put every scenario in here in the form of pictures. For the cook and drain method, check a grain of rice between fingers or by biting into one. If it is soft, then you’re done. If it has a harder centre, give it a few more mins. Needs some trial and error due to the variables, I’m afraid

      Reply
  2. Radha

    December 3, 2016 at 7:46 am

    Can you explain how to cook the jeeraga samba rice and is it same as jeeraga sala rice?

    Other than biriyani what else we can use jeeraga samba rice for like pongal, curd rice?
    What about tamarind rice, lemon rice, mango rice? Maybe no to this because it is sticky?

    Reply
    • nags

      December 3, 2016 at 8:12 am

      hi, i am not familiar with jeeraga sala rice but yes jeeraga samba can be cooked in the same way

      Reply
  3. Ruchira

    April 18, 2013 at 4:00 am

    I do it both ways (draining or not draining method), however for biryani rice, apart from salt, I always add whole spices while boiling the rice.. That way the rice gets wonderful garam masala aroma mixed with basmati fragrance. If I drain the rice, I add few tsp of ghee so the grain does not stick, and if not draining then I lightly dry roast the soaked rice in ghee before adding water.

    cheers~

    Reply
  4. Anonymous

    April 5, 2013 at 4:15 am

    Hello nags, Thanks for such a wonderful website… a true treausre. I found this discussion very interesting and informative. If I may add my two cents, I use the electric rice cooker and use basmati rice with 1 1/2 cups water to 1 cup, and add ghee or butter when rice is getting cooked. There is no need to drain or keeping an eye on the rice. It will automatically cook into separate soft grains, let it sit for while before mixing with the other ingredients…

    Cheers!!
    Manju

    Reply
  5. Anonymous

    January 12, 2013 at 2:33 pm

    hi nagalakshmi,
    been going through your suggestions for cooking rice perfectly for pulavs and fried rice. this has been the bane of my life till recently. I heard an anchor on a local tv channel suggest using 1.5 times water for cooking basmati rice for fried rice and it has worked perfectly well for me. I keep the pot covered partially through out the cooking process.
    the other option is to cook with 3 times water in microwave for 15 min. the results again are excellent.
    regards

    lalitha

    Reply
  6. GK Arusuvai

    January 10, 2013 at 5:31 am

    Useful info. Tks for sharing

    Reply
  7. Vijitha

    January 10, 2013 at 12:41 am

    Useful post Nags. I don't add salt to my rice. I cook my regular ponni rice in pressure cooker filled with water and I place a vessel (with rice+ water) and cook for 4-5 whistles. With basmati I cook in a pan with a fitting lid.

    Reply
  8. divya

    January 9, 2013 at 6:28 pm

    useful post..

    Reply
  9. Rama Sekharan

    January 9, 2013 at 12:20 pm

    I never drain the water from the rice the reasoning behind being that all the nourishment from the rice goes with it. Try it my way. I wash the rice (either Basmati or sona masoori rice) after soaking for 30 mts.or so) Drain that water out & add 2 cups of water & a tsp of oil bring it to a boil . After a few minutes of boiling cover the pot ,turn the heat down on the stove to only low.(level2). In about 12-15 mts. you will have beautiful well cooked rice. No need for any draining. Try.

    Rama Sekharan

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      January 9, 2013 at 2:47 pm

      Thank you for the tip Rama. I was under the impression that what we are draining away is excess starch which is not that great for health anyway. Need to do more research on this 🙂 Certain rice that's used in Kerala is recommended to be consumed only cooked and drained this way though, that's why I have never felt draining water away after cooking rice is a bad thing.

      Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      January 9, 2013 at 3:13 pm

      That's right Archana, we use the drained rice in some for too – either to starch saris and cotton shirts or drink on a warm day with a pinch of salt per glass.

      Also, the soaking is only for basmati and seeraga samba. I don't soak everyday ponni or raw rice.

      Reply
    • Archana

      January 9, 2013 at 3:10 pm

      If I may put my 2 bits. This method of draining rice is followed in Goa also and the water is used to make 'paaz" a soup kind of, sorry a kanji. The Goan use boiled rice especially the red kind of rice which has too much starch. But the drained water is put to use.
      Rest I follow Rama Sekharan's method only I use my knuckles to measure the water level and I do not soak the rice.

      Reply
    • Parvathy Chandrasekaran

      January 9, 2013 at 7:41 pm

      Its Better to drain-off excess starch from rice. both basmathi and seeraga samba doesn't contain excess starch.. so draining is not necessary for these rice. moreover this process tend to lose the flavor of the rice.
      but it is necessary for par-boiled rice, sona massori rice. because these contain so much of starch which will increase ur sugar level..
      http://www.livestrong.com/article/273335-rice-glycemic-index/

      Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      January 11, 2013 at 5:25 am

      Thank you sharing tips on how to cook rice, Parvathy

      Reply
    • Archana

      January 16, 2013 at 8:09 am

      Thanks ladies

      Reply
  10. Uma

    January 9, 2013 at 10:51 am

    thanks for the tips! hopefully now when I cook Biryani, the grains would look separate.

    Reply
  11. Sireesha Puppala

    January 9, 2013 at 9:19 am

    If you a spoon of oil or ghee in the hot water the rice will be cooked with beautiful separated grains..which Wud be perfect for fried rice or biryan

    Reply
  12. aromaticencounters

    January 9, 2013 at 7:16 am

    Thanks Nags,

    I longed to cook basmati this way, I tried once n had poured hot water over me. So never dared it again. This way of draining off water in colander is easy.

    Rashmi

    Reply
  13. Lakshmi Jothi

    January 9, 2013 at 5:22 am

    Hi Nags, I have tried adding a little lemon juice while cooking basmathi rice to give it that radiant white color. Works well!

    Reply
    • Nagalakshmi V

      January 9, 2013 at 5:55 am

      Thanks for the great tip Lakshmi. I have added it to the post 🙂

      Reply

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I am Nags, the face behind Edible Garden, a food and recipes website for the busy (and sometimes lazy!) cook since 2007. My recipes are meant to be quick yet healthy and delicious - Nothing fancy, nothing too difficult. Follow Me On Instagram for real-time food and life updates.

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