What's the best way to cook Basmati rice to pair with a curry dish? Madhur Jaffrey, the multi-James Beard Award–winning author who first taught Americans how to cook Indian food with her 1973 cookbook "An Invitation to Indian Cooking" and her cooking television series that followed, offered her expert tips during an episode of "Salon Talks."
Jaffrey's first secret to rice is to understand the texture you're aiming for- fully cooked strands that are soft, not al-dente like risotto, and secondly, get yourself an Instant Pot. Perfecting rice for Asian dishes, according to Jaffrey, is also how much water you use and when you add it to the pot.
While Jaffrey digs in the Instant Pot for its speed, she's not a fan of the instructions included with the kitchen appliance.
"The actual booklet that comes with the Instant Pot is for rice that has a hard core and for Asians that doesn't work, for me it doesn't work with anybody. I don't like that kind of rice, so I had to work out a way of cooking rice that's fully cooked, but is firm and the grains are separate and the Instant Pot does not achieve that the way it is."
Instead, Jaffrey soaks the rice first, adds less water than advised, "then I put it into the pot, hit the rice function, and go to bed."
In Jaffrey's newest cookbook "Madhur Jaffrey's Instantly Indian Cookbook: Modern and Classic Recipes for the Instant Pot", the queen of Indian cooking gives her tips of mastering chicken, goat and fish in the Instant Pot, and shares simple recipes for her Indian cuisine favorites.
Watch the video above to find the specific way Jaffrey removes cooked rice from the Instant Pot and plates it, and check out the full episode to learn how to shop for Indian spices and chilies the Madhur Jaffrey way.
Jaffrey's first secret to rice is to understand the texture you're aiming for- fully cooked strands that are soft, not al-dente like risotto, and secondly, get yourself an Instant Pot. Perfecting rice for Asian dishes, according to Jaffrey, is also how much water you use and when you add it to the pot.
While Jaffrey digs in the Instant Pot for its speed, she's not a fan of the instructions included with the kitchen appliance.
"The actual booklet that comes with the Instant Pot is for rice that has a hard core and for Asians that doesn't work, for me it doesn't work with anybody. I don't like that kind of rice, so I had to work out a way of cooking rice that's fully cooked, but is firm and the grains are separate and the Instant Pot does not achieve that the way it is."
Instead, Jaffrey soaks the rice first, adds less water than advised, "then I put it into the pot, hit the rice function, and go to bed."
In Jaffrey's newest cookbook "Madhur Jaffrey's Instantly Indian Cookbook: Modern and Classic Recipes for the Instant Pot", the queen of Indian cooking gives her tips of mastering chicken, goat and fish in the Instant Pot, and shares simple recipes for her Indian cuisine favorites.
Watch the video above to find the specific way Jaffrey removes cooked rice from the Instant Pot and plates it, and check out the full episode to learn how to shop for Indian spices and chilies the Madhur Jaffrey way.
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