Topic: How excactly do BIRs make their rice?

[Bobby Bhuna]

Hey guys,

Although my Pillau Rice comes out ok, it's just not the same as the BIR version. What method do they use to cook the rice.

It's always coated in what I think may often be a combination of veg and butter ghee (IMO butter ghee for the flavour, veg ghee to pad it out and keep the taste subtle, as well as saving money).  Are these added during the cooking process, or at the end. I was at my local BIR last night and I think the chef put some ghee in a pan and put the rice in and stirred / tossed it around briefly. Could they be pre cooking rice in their rice cooker with spices, then finishing it in the pan? I might try this.

I'm aware that some common whole spices in the rice are cassia, green cardomom, bay leaf, cumin seed, fennel seed etc. Which are essential and which are not? I always think green cardomom and cassia are the basics.

How do they get their grains so nice and separate? I've tried cooking the rice aldente then drying it off in the oven with colouring but it's not the same. I notice their food dye is always more subtle than with any method I use.

Thanks for your responses.

BB.

[Mikka1]

I've no idea really either. What I do is fry off some cumin seeds and perhaps just a pinch of cinnamon and ground green cardamom for a few seconds in some oil then add dry rice to it and stir. Once the rice is fully coated in oil and spice I add more than enough water and just keep testing it with a fork.

Once I think its done I strain it very quickly and put it in a container with the lid open. Once cool, in the fridge.

This is one thing I've not had any troubles with at all. Treat it like Pasta and you won't go too far wrong. As for what they do? Still no idea.  ;D

[Cory Ander]

I think you'll find they cook it by absorption and dry it in an oven Bobby.

They will undoubtedly then stir fry it for some rice dishes (e.g. pilau, special rice) or otherwise reheat it (if it's not still hot from the oven).  I don't know if they use a microwave for this.  I know I would 

This pilau rice recipe by Pete (Haldi) is from his observations in BIRs: http://www.curry-recipes.co.uk/curry/index.php?topic=396.0

But quite how they get that remarkable smell, flavour and texture though.....

[JerryM]

Bobby,

no expert in this. i switched to naan a long time ago.

when i 1st got the KD1 book i did make pillau using Kris's recipe - i thought it was very good. it does use the oven.

i do make boiled bamati a lot and i'd say rice is probably one of the trickiest things to get right.

[PaulP]

I had been eating supermarket pilau rice for a while (shame on me) and they seem to go for clove/cardammom/cinnamon spice mixtures. This never seemed right to me.

After joining this forum I bought another TA and their pilau rice had fennel seeds and a portion of star anise. For me this was the missing flavour and now I'm experimenting with different amounts of these spices as well as clove/cardammom/cinnamon/bay leaf/ turmeric and the results are pretty good.

Rice is a tricky subject and the oven approach probably yields the best results once you have mastered it. I'm still using the excess boiling water approach and stopping the process after about 8 minutes leaving the hot rice to cook on it's own for a while.

[debihargrave]

my method of making a nice pilau rice:

I wash some basmati rice and let it drain. (2 cups)
 In a saucepan I add about 4 tablespoons of veg oil
fry 5 slightly crushed green cardamons
     5 cloves
     5 black peppercorns
     1/2 teaspoon fennugreek seeds
     1 bay leaf
     small stick of cinamon

when the seeds start to pop, add the rice and stir until rice coated in the oil, add 1-2 teaspoons of salt and a few drops of yellow food colouring.
then add enough boiling water to just cover the rice, stir bring to the boil you may need to add a little bit water to cover the rice.  put a lid on the pan with a teatowel on top and turn the heat off.

I leave this for about an hour,  then all you need to do is fork it.

my little boy says its the best he has ever had, and all our dinner guests say the same

I hope this works for you all

[adriandavidb]

Get a big container of Koh-i-noor basmati rice from Tescos; and follow the micro wave instructions on the back: the trick is to fork it through when cooked and leave it covered-up in the it's cooking conatiner (I use a pyrex bowl and lid)for AT LEAST half and hour to 'fluff'  (no, not THAT kind of fluffing!).  This makes great plain rice.

To do a pilau version fry some spice* in a little oil and/or gee (NOT veg gee - full of nasty hydrogenated trans-fats), sir in the uncooked (even unwashed is ok) fry for a minute, add to the pyrex bowl with the required amount of water and ckk as above.  Great results and easy-peasy!

* pinch turmeric; 4 or 5 cloves; piece cinnamon or casia; pinch fennel seed, and a couple of lightly crushed green cardomom pods.

[jimmy2x]

best way i guess is a rice cooker, but thats 100 quid, if you can steam your rice anyway then that will make top results.

i throw water in a pan then add the spices to the pan including tumeric for the yellow colour, i  remove the whole spices. once near cooked. No-one likes to find they are chewing on a whole clove or cardomon.

guess there is many ways, but there are some basic rules no matter how you do it.

allways wash to get rid of starch, nothing ruins the rice easier than starch.
green cardomon and bay leaves are essential
steam or bake whatever suits.

also i take some rice out when ready and put in a small cup and add the colouring and stir it in, this allways ensures you dont get that horrible colour right through the rice, nothing looks more un-appetising that red streaky rice. You dont need to let it sit drying with the rest of the rice this way, you just stir seperate then add and mix to the rest, works perfect everytime.

[adriandavidb]

allways wash to get rid of starch,

I used to do that, and recently have found it makes not one jot of difference, provided the rice is allowed to steam, off the heat and fluff-up for 1/2 hr after cooking.

Washing the rice IS the convention, but bearing in mind the entire rice grain is MADE of starch anyway, you're going to have a hard job washing it all away!  I find it's possible to rinse it repeatedly 'till your blue in the face, and the water will never run fully clear anyway!