If you like cooking, you will enjoy the best dishes with Jasmine Rice since it is a long, exquisite and delicately perfumed grain. And when cooked it also has a soft and sticky texture. Originally from Thailand, it can be used in a large variety of foods, thanks to its mild taste.

You should know that many recipes forget that Jasmine Rice is softer than most rice varieties, so it needs less water than standard white rice because it’s fluffy rather than gummy. You just have to use 1 1/4 cups of water for each cup of jasmine rice, instead of the usual 1 1/2 cups of water for 1 cup of white rice.

You can prepare Thai or Vietnamese dishes, rice salad, and fried rice. Although Jasmine Rice is frequently associated with Asian foods, it will suit perfectly with Indian food if you don't have Basmati rice. In short, you can use Jasmine to cook any dish you want to serve with rice.

How to prepare Jasmine rice properly

As stated before, Jasmine rice is softer than most white rice. That's the big difference with the other types! You can consult: how to cook jasmine rice to know everything about this extraordinary rice variety.

Is it necessary to rinse Jasmine Rice?

If you use the recommended proportion of 1 1/4 cups of water for every cup of jasmine rice, your rice will be fluffy even without rinsing. But if you rinse, you must reduce the water by 2 tablespoons to factor in the extra water that remains in the rice (i.e. 1 1/4 cups water minus 2 tablespoons).

Only rinse if you buy your rice directly from a rice farm, to take out any remaining debris from the processing. However, if you buy commercial packaged rice available in stores, don’t worry about rinsing, since it's already clean and contains less starch too. In other words, rinsing rice is just not worth the time and water spent.

Best Meals with Jasmine Rice

There are several meals that you can prepare with Jasmine Rice. It will just depend upon your creativity. Here are some of them:

Thai basil chicken and rice

You need to have on hand: garlic, Thai red chilis, onion, dark soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and Thai basil. Sauces and spices are important for this meal. Once you have all the ingredients, preparation is straightforward.

Vegetable rice

If you have jasmine rice, vegetable stock, and some frozen mixed vegetables, you are ready to make this easy dinner. Complete this meal by adding proteins, like chicken or chickpeas which can cook in less than 15 minutes on the stovetop.

Shrimp and rice

It is an advantage when you can include all the ingredients into the same dish and cook it all together, like in this recipe. Season everything with cumin, garlic, onion, and pepper to certify that each bite is tasteful and has plenty of nutrients.

Chinese rice soup

In cold weather, a good hot bowl of soup is an excellent option, and Jasmine Rice makes any soup heartier. It is combined in the broth with white fish, choy sum, which is a leafy green vegetable, onion, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and soy sauce.

Turmeric Jasmine Rice with leftover chicken

This meal is based on spices that are essential to make fresh any remaining food and especially turmeric, cumin, garlic, and red bell pepper which also have anti-inflammatory properties. The purpose of this meal is to eat the spare chicken in a tempting way.

In sum, as you can see Jasmine Rice is a great choice not only for Asian dishes but also for any meal to be served with rice. It also offers many health benefits, so it can be said that this rice variety is a must in your nutrition plans.