This year I’ve tried out a variety of different Indian regional rices that get almost no exposure abroad (because: basmati). Some of these are expensive and often hard to find outside their immediate growing regions.
Kolam - our go-to at home, short grain, delicate, aromatic (there are many sub-types, which I didn’t know about, so we experimented among them too).
Ambemohar - regional favorite in Maharashtra, extremely aromatic (ambemohar means mango blossom), small grained, slightly sticky. Lovely.
Parimal - medium grain, starchy, sweet, our house rice for khichdi and risotto.
Gobindobhog - from Bengal, small grain, very aromatic, if I could source them easily I would switch to this or Ambemohar as my everyday rice.
Seeraga (Jeeraga) samba or Jeerasar rice - another small-grain, aromatic variety, apparently this is the traditional rice for South Indian biryanis.
