How to properly cook basmati rice in a rice cooker

Question

I do have a kind of problem with cooking basmati rice in my rice cooker. I am following the cooker instructions - for two cups (the cooker one, not the measurement unit) I use 200 ml of water. As far as rice goes, I am washing it multiple times - about 5 times every time, until the water is more or less clean and even let it soak for a few hours sometimes. But there are two problems :

1. Sometimes there is some kind of white foam coming from the rice which will somehow alter the cooking and eventually ruin the rice. There's a lot of foam and the rice has got a really bad taste afterwards and some weird texture.
2. Even when the foam is not present the rice is burned on the bottom of the cooker - I know I shouldn't trust ads, but the cooker was said not to be sticky one :(

Any help will be appreciated, thanks

Answer 1

Basmati rice will not cook well in rice cookers made in China. I've had success with Basmati rice in a Black and Decker rice cooker but solely if I soak for 35+ minutes and add a tbsp of olive oil and a 1/4 tsp of salt to it. But the Walmart rice cooker I used to have which was made in China had the foam issue you describe. I believe the foam is due to rice starch and water and air mixing and the "dum" method required for achieving proper cooked Basmati rice is impossible to do when the rice cooker does not trap steam fully.

I would suggest purchasing Jasmine or other short grain rices instead of using Basmati with the type of rice cooker you seem to have.

Answer 2

Have you tried changing the rice-to-water ratio? Two parts water to 1 part rice is the norm.

Answer 3

Try to soak the rice for 5 - 10 minutes and then wash the rice well. At least wash the rice three times nicely rubbing them to remove the foaming starch. cook with just a bit less water than you would normally cook the rice in the rice cooker, as the rice is been soaking. Turn off the rice cooker as soon as the rice is cooked and remove the rice container from the cooker(to avoid the heat plate ). Open the lid and fluff it up with a fork. This is what I try. Hope this helps.

Answer 4

200ml is too little water, assuming your rice measuring cups are ~180ml (as is common. you are using two so ~360ml fill of rice). 300-400ml (including any rinse water left in!) would be a sensible range to try. A good ratio for 2 rice cooker cups of basmati is somewhere between 0.9-1.2 w:r by volume.