Description - Basmati Rice is a non-glutinous rice that has been cultivated at the foot of the Himalayan mountain ranges for centuries. The rivers Yamuna and Ganga feed the fields. The rice is long-grain and scented and when literally translated from Hindi it means ‘queen of scents’ or ‘pearl of scents’. It is the world’s best rice one can use for cooking although, for variety one uses jasmine and parboiled rice. For centuries it has been exported to the Arab countries and many of their traditional rice dishes are cooked with long grained Basmati rice. It is an aromatic long grain slender rice from India and Pakistan, is fragrant and has a nutty flavor.
Cooking Hints: – Boil it in water for perfumed rice dish or just add ghee to the water to enhance its nutty aroma and double your rice dinning experience. Add some whole spices, nuts, dried fruits, vegetables and beans (or meats) to the rice and make a rice dish into a main meal.
Best Uses

• Pilafs

• Biryani

• Side dishes

• Plain boiled white rice

• Not very good for puddings, burgers or any dish where the rice is not displayed whole. For such dishes parboiled rice or short grained rice is preferred.

Basmati rice has been cultivated in India and Pakistan for hundreds of years. The Himalayan foothills are said to produce the best basmati. The Super Basmati, a premium variety from Pakistan and Dehra Dun from India, are the most prized of the basmati varieties. Patna rice is a close cousin of basmati rice grown around Patna in Bihar. The best types of basmati rice are aged for several years before they are milled and sold. The idea behind aging the rice lies in the fact that rice cooks better with lesser amount of moisture content.

The grains of basmati rice are much longer than they are wide, and they grow even longer as they cook. They stay firm and separate, not sticky, after cooking. Basmati rice is available both as a white rice and a brown rice. Both of these cook in about 20 minutes. Due to the high amount of starch clinging to the rice grains, many cooks wash this rice before cooking it. Soaking it for half an hour to two hours before cooking makes the grains less likely to break in cooking.

In 2000, the US corporation RiceTec (a subsidiary of RiceTec AG of Liechtenstein) attempted to patent three lines created as hybrids of basmati rice and semi-dwarf long-grain rice. The Indian government intervened and the attempt was thwarted. Meanwhile, the European Commission has agreed to protect basmati rice under its regulations pertaining to geographical indications.

A number of varieties of Basmati rice exist. Traditional ones include Basmati-370, Basmati-385 and Basmati-Ranabirpura, while hybrid basmati varieties include Pusa Basamti 1 (also called 'Todal', because the flower has awns). Fragrant rices that are derived from basmati stock but are not considered true basmati varieties include PB2 (also called sugandh-2), PB3 and RH-10.

Traditional basmati plants are tall and slender and are prone to lodging in high winds. They have a relatively low yield, but produce high-quality grains and command high prices in both Indian and international markets.

The Rice Research Institute at Kala Shah Kaku (Pakistan) has been instrumental in developing various varieites of Basmati rice, including the popular variety of Super Basmati. Dr. Majeed is the scientist who developed this variety of Basmati rice in 1996.

Scientists at Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Pusa, New Delhi took the traditional basmati and genetically modified it to produce a hybrid which had most of the good features of traditional basmati (grain elongation, fragrance, alkali content) and the plant was a semi-dwarf type. This basmati was called Pusa Basmati-1. PB1 crop yield is higher than the traditional varieties (up to twice as much).