How to : stove cooked rice ( nasi bryani )

This was an incident that happened many years ago when we went to the Lake District. After a long day of driving,  all my traveling companions wanted was to have  rice for dinner which  they brought from London. They were done with sandwiches for the entire day.

But, in the sparsely furnished manor, we were caught without modern conveniences like a rice cooker. How then could we cook a  pot of rice?

My friend's mother was clueless without a rice cooker and suddenly there were 5 very tired , hungry and  grouchy people.  I was in a pickle, caught between a stove and a cast iron pot. Thankfully I was listening when mum taught me how to cook rice from scratch some 20 years ago and I reluctantly put my reputation as a cook to the test. ( Ps. Actually mum had to drill the routine into my thick headed 7 year old head many times before it registered ).  That evening, in a chilly stone manor in Kendal, the group of us had one of the best meal of our holiday. 

The moral of the story ? Always listen to your mum.

Portion here for 4 persons :

Ingredients :

2 T nasi bryani spice, SHAH brand

1 cinnamon stick

1 handful of cashew nuts

1 pinch of saffron

1 handful of raisins

1 cup of long grain rice ( basmati )

Enough water to cover rice plus an inch above the surface of the uncooked grains

Rinse rice in the pot.

Combine all the ingredients mentioned. ( disregard if you are just cooking plain rice )

Bring contents to a boil, uncovered.

Now cover the pot, reduce the heat to medium and cook for another 10 minutes.

Turn off heat and leave the rice covered for another 10 minutes.