Jasmine Rice

The aroma compound 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline is present in jasmine rice at concentrations several times higher than in ordinary long grain, and it is the single measurable difference a lab would point to. It degrades over months in storage, which is why freshly harvested jasmine rice smells stronger and why Thai households buy it by crop year.

Basmati is aged deliberately to improve it. Jasmine is not, and treating the two the same way is how good rice gets wasted.

Jasmine rice is higher on the glycemic index than basmati, largely because it contains less amylose, the starch fraction that resists rapid digestion. That lower amylose is also exactly what makes it cook soft and slightly clingy rather than dry and separate, so the texture people choose it for and the glycemic response are the same property seen from two sides.

Eaten as part of a meal with protein, fat, vegetables and chilli, as it almost always is in Thai cooking, that number matters considerably less than it does for rice eaten alone.

Like all rice, it takes up arsenic from soil and water. Rinsing before cooking and using a generous water ratio reduces it, and varying the grains you eat across the week is the simplest protection.

The variety that became Thai Hom Mali was selected in the 1950s from local landraces grown in the northeast, and the name Hom Mali is legally protected in Thailand, with export grades controlled and certified. Rice from the northeastern provinces, where the soil is poor and the season short, is the most prized.

Thailand exports several million tonnes of rice a year, and jasmine is the grade the country sells its name on.

Rice sits at the centre of Thai language and life in a way that is easy to miss in translation. The everyday phrase for eating a meal, kin khao, means to eat rice, and the other dishes on the table are understood as things that accompany it rather than the other way round.

Not all of Thailand eats it. In the northeast and across Laos, the staple is glutinous rice, steamed and eaten by hand in small pressed balls, which is a different grain and a different meal entirely.

Jasmine rice is the default plate under Thai curries, where its slight stickiness is doing real work: it holds sauce instead of letting it run to the edge of the plate. Serve green curry or panang curry over basmati and the meal comes apart.

The softness that makes it wrong for pilaf is exactly what makes it right for anything with a sauce.

It carries across mainland Southeast Asia: khao tom and congee for breakfast or for illness, nasi uduk cooked in coconut milk in Indonesia, and the rice under Vietnamese braises like thit kho tau.

Day-old jasmine rice, dried out uncovered in the fridge, is the correct starting point for fried rice. Fresh jasmine rice is too moist and turns to paste in the wok.

Where it does not belong: biryani, pilaf, and anything that wants separate, dry, elongated grains. That is basmati territory, and the two are not interchangeable despite sitting side by side in the shop.

Rinse it. Two or three changes of water, swirling with your hand, until the water runs close to clear. This removes loose surface starch and is the difference between separate grains and a clump.

Use less water than the bag says. A ratio of 1 part rice to 1.25 parts water by volume suits most jasmine rice, against the 1.5 that basmati wants. New-crop rice holds more moisture already and needs even less.

Bring it to a boil uncovered, then drop to the lowest heat, cover and leave it alone for 12 minutes. Lifting the lid vents the steam that is doing the cooking.

Rest it off the heat for 10 minutes, still covered, before fluffing with a fork. This is the step people skip and the reason rice comes out wet on the bottom.

For fried rice, cook it a day ahead and refrigerate uncovered. Store the dry grain sealed away from heat, and use it within a year while the aroma lasts.