Accidentally Perfect, The 'Glorified 'Briyani' Rice Recipe

Since I have been prepping overnight, one-dish or slow cooked meals for our weekday dinners, I had to rack my brains to provide meals with balanced nutrition and variety nonetheless. 

One such solution is making briyanis and pulaos, or rather what I prefer to call glorified rice. This is because I just use the regular fragrant rice instead of basmati, but with the correct sautee and spices it can have the aroma and extra vegetables in it as a briyani would have.

This morning I was rather gung-ho about making my glorified rice. However being the blur sleepy-head, I can barely recall being much awake in the wee hours of the morning that I cooked. I did the sautee, added washed rice, water and some milk. And then I accidentally turned it off, thinking I was turning the kettle off.

I came down almost 2 hours later (that is how long it took to get ready and wake the kids up from their Monday morning slumber, yes Monday blues) to see the lights on the rice cooker indicator totally turned off.

The first thing that came to my mind was, my rice cooker gave up on me. Then I noticed the socket, and realised it was my own doing that turned it off. Disappointed, I quickly opened to check the condition of the rice. 

To my delightful surprise, my glorified rice had cooked to fluffiness perfection! Each grain perfectly separated and cook as basmati rice would be. Of course the top layer of rice was a little hard, so I just gave it a quick stir and left it on 'warm' settings for 10 minutes. 

I remember making one pot dishes with rice, which always had a slightly browned and hard base. I bet this would never have this problem. In fact with the correct seasoning, this would also emulate fried rice without the stirring!

The highlight of my day, accidentally perfect rice! Now I know the trick to fluffy rice, and whenever I am not pressed for time, I would prefer to cook rice this way, it even saves electricity!

By the way, if you are wondering how to cook this briyani aka glorified rice the normal way, here is the recipe:

You Need:

3 cups of fragrant rice
Evaporated Milk
Water
2 cups of diced vegetables, I used onion, carrot, zucchini, corn and green peas,
some cumin seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
2 tsp ghee

Method:1) Turn the rice cooker on with an empty pot
2) Put the ghee, and once its hot enough, sautee the cumin till fragrant.
3) Add the vegetables, cumin/coriander powder and let it sizzle a bit.

4) Put in the wash rice. Add water and milk to the sufficient level as how u would cook rice regularly. I used about 2 tbsp of milk only. Cover and let it cook.
5) Serve it fluffed with curry or any similar gravy.

You can use basmati rice by all means, just put sufficient water as basmati rice requires more water to cook. I don't like the dry texture, and fragrant rice scores better with the kids due to the aroma.

Happy trying!