Strong Opinions About Rice

Everyone has opinions about rice. Most people just don’t say them out loud. Here are mine.

Basmati is overrated for daily eating. It’s a celebration rice, a biryani rice, a “guests are coming” rice. For Tuesday lunch, you want something sturdier. Nadu rice, or samba if you’re lucky. Something that holds up to a proper curry without dissolving into diplomatic neutrality.

The best rice I ever had was at a roadside place in Dambulla. The rice was red, the dhal was perfect, and the pol sambol had been made that morning by someone who understood that coconut and chili exist in a sacred ratio. The meal cost less than a cup of coffee in Colombo Fort.

The water ratio problem

Everyone’s grandmother has a different water ratio. Everyone’s grandmother is correct. This is the fundamental paradox of rice. There is no universal truth, only local truths passed down through kitchens.

My mother measures water by putting her finger in the pot. The water should come up to her first knuckle above the rice. This method is unreproducible by anyone with different-sized fingers, and yet it produces perfect rice every time.

I’ve tried measuring cups. I’ve tried rice cookers with digital displays. I’ve tried the “scientific” 1:1.5 ratio from cooking websites written by people who clearly do not eat rice every day.

My mother’s finger method remains undefeated.

A theory

Rice is the only food where the absence of flavor is the point. Good rice doesn’t taste like much. It tastes like potential. It’s the canvas, not the painting. The mistake people make — especially people who don’t grow up eating rice daily — is trying to make the rice interesting. Add saffron. Add coconut milk. Add butter.

No. Make the curry interesting. Let the rice be rice.