What to use instead of basmati rice
It depends entirely on what it's doing in the dish. Here's the job, what else does it, and what to skip.
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Separate dry grains layered into a biryani or pilaf
The grain is high in amylose and elongates rather than swelling sideways, so the cooked grains stay individual and do not glue to each other under a lid.
American long-grain white riceRan out
1:1 by volume, 1 1/2 cups water per cup, rinsed until the water runs clear, 10 min rest off the heat
Stays separate but does not double in length, so the dish looks shorter and denser. None of the popcorn-and-pandan aroma.
Jasmine riceRan out
1:1 by volume, 1 1/4 cups water per cup
Softer and slightly clingy, so a biryani comes out cohesive rather than fluffy. Strongly floral in a way that fights garam masala.
Coarse bulgurRan out
1:1 by volume, 1 1/2 cups boiling water per cup, covered 15 min off the heat
Nutty and chewy with no long grains at all. Holds up better than rice in a stuffing and absorbs more of the sauce.
QuinoaRan out
1:1 by volume, 1 3/4 cups water per cup, 15 min then 10 min covered off the heat
Loose and pebbly with a green, slightly bitter edge. Rinse it hard or the saponins come through.
What doesn't work: Arborio, sushi rice or any short grain. The amylopectin that makes risotto creamy is the same thing that glues a biryani into a solid block, and no amount of rinsing takes enough of it off.
Parboiled base that crisps into a tahdig
Grains boiled to half-done still have starch at the surface that dries and caramelises against the hot pan into a sheet rather than a scatter of loose rice.
Long-grain white riceRan out
Boil 5 to 6 min in heavily salted water, drain, layer, 45 min on low
Crust forms and lifts out whole. Paler, less shattery, and it goes from golden to burnt faster because the grains are shorter.
A layer of thin flatbread on the bottomRan out
1 to 2 pieces of lavash or thin pita, buttered, laid under the rice
A far more reliable crust than rice alone and it does not stick. Bread crunch rather than rice crunch.
Thin potato slices on the bottomRan out
1 medium potato in 1/4 in slices, in butter or oil, under the rice
The classic alternative. Sweeter, softer inside, and it lifts out in pieces rather than a single disc.
What doesn't work: Instant or minute rice. It has been cooked and dried already, so there is no ungelatinised starch left to set into a crust, and forty minutes on the heat turns the bottom to paste and the top to mush.
Grain that thickens a milk pudding
Starch leaches out into the milk over a long slow simmer and thickens it, while the grain itself softens to almost nothing.
Arborio or other short-grain riceRan out
1:1 by volume, about 15 min less cooking
Thickens faster and much more, so add another 1/2 cup milk. Creamier and heavier, no basmati perfume in the milk.
Broken basmatiRan out
1:1 by volume
Same aroma, thickens quicker because there is more cut surface. Cheaper and the traditional choice for kheer in a lot of kitchens.
Toasted vermicelliRan out
1 cup broken vermicelli per 1/2 cup rice, added in the last 12 min
Makes a seviyan rather than a kheer. Thinner body, toasty flavour, and it goes soft fast so watch it.
What doesn't work: Parboiled or converted rice in a kheer. It has been steamed in the husk to lock the starch inside the grain, so after an hour on the stove the milk is still thin and you have separate firm grains sitting in it.