Royal White Basmati Rice, 10lb

About ten years ago, I was lured by the incredibly low price for a burlap bag of Basmati rice at Costco, figuring that if I didn't like the rice, at least the bag would be useful. My wife tried that rice, and although she'd never used rice often in her cooking, we suddenly were frequent rice eaters. I had, in previous years, first given up broken "minute" rice for Uncle Ben's Converted, then gave that up for long grain rice.Reading online, I found that not all Basmati rice is the same. I no longer drive, and there's just me now, so Costco was out of the question. I didn't want to order 10 pounds, because now there WASN'T a burlap sack involved. However, this rice arrived when I'd just been in the hospital for a week, all my leftovers had gone south, and I had no energy to cook. I scooped a cup of rice into a pot, added two cups water. and brought it to a boil, added just a little bit of my homemade chicken stock, popped the lid on the pot, turned off the burner, and headed back to bed. A half hour later, I ventured out to find an immense batch, far too much for one person, of perfectly cooked warm rice. I filled a huge cereal bowl, adding a bit of butter, saly, and pepper, and carried it back to bed.Oh, my! I couldn't ask for anything better, and although pneumonia'd had me off my feeds the last few days, I ate every grain of that rice and wanted more. I can't imagine ever going back to "time--saving" rices, because they don't save time or effort, and most important, they don't taste nearly this good. There may be better Basmati rices out there, I suppose, but I wish I'd bought the 20-pound package; I'll be using this rice for every potluck meal (and there are a LOT of potlucks in a senior housing complex) because this rice tastes wonderful and costs very little, and I *like* the attention the ladies give a guy who cooks, so this bag will be gone in no time at all.Warning - Basmati Rice and Jasmine Rice are most highly flavorful rices, but Jasmine Rice is *terrible*. It smells like Avon perfume, and while I like some of the ladies who wear it, it turns my stomach. Why can't women learn that guys are turned on by women who smell like Ivorty soap, rather than a french whore who never showers?Add fresh or frozen veggies to this rice, or soup base, or mushrooms, and little bits of meat to the rice for wonderful entrees. I get those 10-pound bags of chicken leg quarters at Walmart for next to nothing, rinse and freeze them individually in ziplock bags, then boil the flinders out of one leg quarter, giving me broth (needs to be diluted a lot) and lots of meat fragments, throwing the skin and bones away. Add that meat to two cups rice and 4 cups liquid (about 25% broth concentrate, 75% water), a 20 oz bag of frozen mixed vegetables, a medium large onion sliced very thin (I like the cheap "Super Slicer Professional Mandoline Slicer" - search on that phrase here at Amazon, because mandolins vary a lot) and when you come back in a few minutes, spoon it into a casserole, adding some salt, pepper, paprika, and butter. Maybe you want to cover it with crumbs or shredded cheese, and brown it under the broiler, but I think it's fantastic even without. I can't tell you if leftovers keep well, though; I've never had any leftovers.If you check out my many reviews, you'll discover many books and products I warn others about, and even when I give five stars, it's usually with some reservations. This is one of those rare products I can endorse without any reservation at all.

I like my rice, especially basmati rice. A little odd for a Norsky but hey, uff da. It was becoming scarce so I was thrilled to find it here. Basmati has a rich nutty flavor, cooks quick and evenly and it is low calorie and very filling. Prices have increased but still very reasonable for a staple. It keeps almost forever, but some mayfly type bugs may hatch out if you don't keep it cool and dry. This bag came with a small puncture, but no harm and no foul. I will enjoy this product and will buy more when I run out.

As a frequent cooker of persian foods, its very important to me to have good basmati always on hand. Royal is reliable. Not too starchy, not brittle and crumbly, and most importantly, not over-absorptive. This works well (be sure to rinse it in cold water 4 or 5 times to get the starch out!) both for the persian style steamed rices as well as fried and then boiled or par-steamed north indian dishes. It even, with some care, will cook a somewhat stickier rice if you want.There are better basmatis, but they are offensively expensive. Its rice after all, so anything more extensive than $3/lb is absurd.You can get Royal at most grocery stores, which means that you will have consistent and reliable access to the same kind of basmati. If you buy from Amazon, don't pay more than $1.50 to 2/lb. In stores you can usually get 10lb bags for $13-18 dollars, or less. Of course lugging it home is a hug pain, which makes buying it with prime great.

When you know, you know. This flavor rice is our family favorite-whether I am making a Curry, a chicken and rice, Korean food, Asian Wraps, Enchiladas with rice and beans, or stuffed peppers. The only complaint I get is “you never make enough rice.”

I bought this because it's impossible to find authentic 817 Elephant brand cleaned and highly aged basmati (beware of imitations). Because of the good reviews of this rice, however, I decided to try it. The "aged" taste is not as pronounced as authentic 817 Elephant , however, it cooks up fine and is pretty good. When cooked properly, according to "Persian" and Asian/Indian methods (see below), this is actually a good rice.UPDATE: After trying what I believed to be an authentic "817 Elephant" brand basmati rice only to find it bland, without the distinctive aroma, and undistinguished, I bought this Royal basmati for the second time.NOTE: In order to cook this rice in the authentic Indian/Persian method so that it doesn't get sticky, gummy or fall apart, there is a three-stage process I always use, taught to me ages ago by a real Persian cook.1. Soak 1 cup rice in highly salted water for at least 2 hours. Overnight is good in the fridge. Drain and rinse well several times.This removes the starches which cause stickiness and breakage.2. In a tall pot, cover the rice with unsalted water and boil no longer than four minutes. Drain and run cold water over the rice several times to stop the cooking process and remove the starches again. Clean and dry your pot.3. In the bottom of your pot, put about 1 T. melted ghee (clarified butter) Using regular butter will cause burning. If you cannot find or make ghee, use canola oil.4. Put the par-boiled rice on top of the ghee, poke about 6 holes straight down into the rice with the handle of a wooden spoon.5. Meanwhile, mix together in a little dish 3 T. water + 1 T. canola oil or melted ghee and pour it over the rice, into the holes, too. DO NOT STIR.6. Here's the important part: Wrap a towel around the underside of the pot's lid and secure the edges of the towel so they don't catch fire. (See photo.) This prevents ANY water condensation from dripping into your rice and assures separate, dry grains.7. Fix lid tightly onto cooking pot and cook rice on medium-low heat 20 minutes. Without lifting the lid, you should be able to hear a faint "sizzle", but not a loud one.When it's cooked, up-end the whole pot onto a plate and fight over the "tadig", the crunchy "bottom of the rice". Each rice grain throughout will be dry and separate. It's a long process but it's worth the effort and can be done in 2 or 3 stages, so you don't have to do it all at once.When I do mine, which is often, I soak the rice one day, then par boil and 20-minute cook the next day.