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Madhur Jaffery, a famous Indian cookery writer, gives come superb advice for cooking rice, paraphrased below:
Spiced basmati rice
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425ml basmati rice
50g onion
1/2 fresh green chilli
1/2 tsp garlic
1/2 tsp garam marsala
1 tsp salt
570 ml chicken stock (if rice soaked, 750ml if not)
1. Rinse the rice until the water runs clear.
2. Soak the rice for 30 minutes and drain thoroughly for 20 minutes (this can be optional if you forget about it)
3. Heat some oil in a pan and add some finely chopped onion, fry until lightly browned.
4. Add rice, some finely chopped green chilli, garlic, salt and garam marsala.
5. Stir gently until all grains are coated with oil.
6. Pour in some stock (veg or chicken) and bring to boil.
7. Cover tightly, use tin foil to make it really tight. Turn heat to *very* low (as low as it goes) and cook for 22 minutes.
8. DON'T PEAK!
This makes perfect rice without fail and its a very versatile way to cook it too. You can change the spices, leave out the onion or just cook it simple with water and salt. My favorites are with some cardamon pods, fryed for a few seconds first (baghaar) or some roughly chopped onions fryed in lots of butter instead of oil.
If you use stock make sure you either use real chicken stock or a decent veg stock like the Swiss Marigolds. All the other stuff just ruins good rice.
Oh, and basmati or better!
David
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