BanyanTree Foods Aromatic Short Grain Easy Cook Kaima Biryani Rice 500g (Great Taste 2020 Award Winner)~All Natural, Indian Origin | Unpolished | Vegan | Non-GMO | No Salt or fillers

Wayanadan Kaima rice/jeerakashala/Jeeraga samba rice is used for Biriyanis in Kerala and some areas of south Tamilnadu. This product is very good and gave me the same taste and flavour back home.

I eat a lot of rice, but I really can’t claim to be an expert, however, my wife and I seem to be in general agreement about this Indian aromatic short grain.It is an alternative to Jasmine or Basmati, I would say because of its small grains it has a slightly different nutty texture to the others.A picture is attached to try and show the different look between this rice (bottom) and Basmati (top).It tastes nice and has a slight aromatic flavour, but nowhere near as distinct as Jasmine rice, but it does have that slight stickiness.There are no cooking instructions on the packet but please ignore the first instructions on the product page about cooking it in warm water for 10 minutes. It cooks like Basmati, just add it to boiling water, stir then cook for 10-12 minutes, drain and use.We have tried it with both curries and stir-fries and it worked well.It has a prestigious Great taste 2020 award so more knowledgeable people than me rate this.For me, this is a tasty rice, but I do not think I would pay the premium price often, more on a special occasion or just for a change. However, my wife who is gluten-free and is therefore far more limited in her choice of grains is more taken with it and would have it a little more often as a substitute for Couscous or Bulgar Wheat for instance.

Considering the price of this rice, I was expecting something quite special, sadly my expectations were not realised. This rice is fine as rice goes, but the flavour is rather bland. It is easy and quick to cook (in boiling water, not warm water as the Amazon page states), and the result is okay, with the rice grains being very small compared to other types of rice. However, I can see nothing here to warrant the premium price.

Firstly it is a rather small bag for the price, I was slightly disappointed by that.A good quality short grain rice, my preferred type.Short grain is great because it remain soft when cold which makes it so much more versatile and easy to prepare.Cooks up nicely and is not a complex process to get the rice cooked to perfection.It is full of natural flavour, no need to add any flavour enhancers as it good all on its own.

We have tried out this extra small grain basmati rice as recommended and made a chicken biriyani. The rice expanded in size when boiled for 10 minutes, it was nice and fluffy with separate grains and the flavour was good, but for us it is not worth the high price compared to our normal basmati. I guess we are not rice gourmets.

My photo shows the difference in size between this rice and basmati. I've so far used in in a risotto and it certainly cooks faster than my usual risotto rice. It's fragrant, but you lose this if you cook it with something stronger in flavour. It's probably best used as an accompaniment if you want to taste its own delicate flavour. The mouth feel is rather like couscous as the grains are so small. If you love rice in all its different forms, it's a nice one to try.

This is delicious Kaima rice – a short grain rice from India. It is often used to make biryani or ghee rice. I made a ghee rice with it & it was delicious. It is aromatic & flavorful.

More of a tiny grained rice than a short grain rice as the grains are shaped like long gain rice, but tiny. These cooked up quickly and were good tasting , slightly sweet but not a sweet rice . The grains were separate rather than sticky. Very good flavor and texture. The aroma was subtle but pleasant. This seems like it will work.in a wide variety of recipes and food styles

This is definitely a nice variety of rice. I have never cooked with Kaima biryani rice before but wanted to give this product a try. I made chicken biryani with this rice and they went well together. I have not detected any aromatic properties, which is what I was sort of hoping for after reading the ad. This was just a plain rice but had a pleasant texture. It is actually very similar to the Basmati rice, but the grain is much shorter. It was almost like eating miniature rice, which was kind of unique. The bag did not come with any cooking instructions, so I just used my rice steamer and added 1 part rice to 2 parts water as I normally would with other rice varieties. This worked fine. The final product came out fluffy, not chewy or sticky. Not sure if I would get again, but it was interesting to try.

I really like this rice variety better than my usual white rice. It is smaller and more delicate. It was easy and straightforward to cook in my rice cooker. That said, while I do like it better I probably won’t buy it again because of the price. I just can’t justify it.