Hand pounded Sona Masuri Rice

Back in my grandparents' house the rice that was cooked regularly was always hand pounded rice. The color was not pearly white like the polished rice but slightly off-white in color but not exactly brown.

So what is the difference between brown rice and hand pounded rice? Brown rice retains all of the bran and germ while only the husk is removed from either the raw or par boiled rice. Hand pounded rice on the other hand uses a stone pounder in a mortar to remove the husk and some of the bran to give a minimally polished rice. White rice is processed to remove all of the husk, and bran depleting the rice of fiber making it full of starch.

I chanced upon hand pounded raw sona masuri rice in my local Indian grocery rice. I bought it to give it a try and have been buying it ever since. Purely for nutrition purposes brown rice might be better compared to hand pounded rice. Finding brown sona masuri rice or ponni rice is not easy. I actually prefer the hand pounded rice over brown rice.

Cook it the same way you would rice. It does not turn to mush that easily and can be used for whatever recipe you would use white rice.

Cooking hand pounded rice

1. Wash the rice in several changes of water till it runs clear.
2. Soak the rice for about 20-30 minutes.
3. In a pressure cooker, add the rice along with the required amount of rice and cook for 2-3 whistles.
4. I use 2 - 2 1/2 cups of water for 1 cup of rice. The longer you soak the rice, the lesser water you should for cooking.
5. You can cook the rice on stove top as well.
   

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