Non-Japanese Haigamai (half-milled) rice

[Dianabanana]

Haigamai rice is rice that has had the bran removed but the germ left intact. I've only ever had it in Koshihikari rice, and am wondering if anyone has ever seen other rices, especially basmati or jasmine, produced in this manner.

[Dianabanana]

Okay, I've made a little progress on this quest. Searching "half-polished" rather than "half-milled" yields Lima brand half-polished basmati, but it is not available in the U.S. I wonder if there is some other search term I'm missing?

[helenjp]

Try "semi-polished" or "rice with germ". I believe that some types of Indian Red Rice are usually sold semi-polished (including parboiled types, but I've never seen those).

[Dianabanana]

Thank you, Helen. That turned up Red Coral Cargo Rice, which is normally sold semi-polished, and which I would love to try. Unfortunately, it seems that it's not currently sold in the U.S. I see a theme developing here!

[helenjp]

Purcell Mountain Farms have both red and rose matta rice listed...but both "out of stock". So you may still get lucky! I've never heard of Cargo rice - you are certainly finding some interesting rice varieties along your way.

[Jenni]

There are a number of South Indian rices which are a pinkish colour and have some streaks of red on the outside. These are semi polished. Some are parboiled, and some are raw. Parboiled rice is boiled in the husk before processing. It is more nutritious, as parboiling drives the goodness from the bran into the core of the rice and makes parboiled rice more similar nutrition wise to brown rice. These rices very tasty and nutritious, and actually this kind of rice is my daily rice.

For a while I found rosematta rice, which is a beautiful semi-polished rice from Kerala, difficult to find, and I heard that it was not being exported. But when I went shopping yesterday there was plenty so I guess it is being exported again.

Edited March 6, 2011 by Jenni (log)

[Dianabanana]

Jenni, you're in England, right? Would you be able to give me some brand names?

[Jenni]

The brand of rice I buy is Kumarans. They do a number of South Indian rices, including boiled and raw red rices. I cannot remember whether the rosematta rice I saw yesterday was Kumarans, but it might have been. Otherwise it could have been Bristol Sweetmart (the place I shop at) own brand as they do package up a lot of rice and dal themselves.

[Dianabanana]

Thanks, Helen. I've got an e-mail in to Purcell Mountain Farms.

Jenni, or anyone--can I cook the rose matta rice in my fuzzy logic rice cooker? I know it takes longer to cook than white rice, so would I put it on the brown rice setting? I've read some conflicting things online--seems that the traditional way is boiling it, but is that actually preferable to the rice cooker?

[Jenni]

^^^

Sadly I won't be much help here as I do not use a rice cooker. However, I can tell you that the normal way of cooking these rices is boiling them in water like pasta, not steam cooking them like basmati.