Parboiled Rice vs Idli Rice

Idli Rice is just a subset of Parboiled Rice

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Ok, now back to regular programming! Our topic today is Idli Rice vs Parboiled Rice.

Here’s the latest video I posted on this topic on my Instagram channel!

Here’s my summary:

Parboiled Rice

The process of parboiling can be done on any rice. You can parboil ponni, sona masuri, basmati…you name it, any rice! All it involves is soaking the whole grain, right after harvest, and then boiling it to remove the husk and bran.

This is an ancient process done initially to make it easier to dehusk the grain, without too much manual threshing. But over time, people realized it had so many benefits that they just carried on doing it. Nutrition was a big benefit - the B-vitamins seeped into the grain from the husk. The parboiled grain held up better against weevils and bugs. And there were many more benefits, we will discuss at a later time…

Idli Rice

Idli Rice is a subset of parboiled rice. There are specific rice varieties chosen like ADT 37, CR 1009, etc as idli rice. There are whiter in color (despite the parboiling), fatter in dimension (enables more water swelling) and contains more amylopectin content (that the lactic acid bacteria loves to eat).

Summary

1. All idli rice are parboiled rice, but all parboiled rice need not be idli rice.

2. Idli rice gives you whiter and fluffier idlis compared to using any willy-nilly parboiled rice.

3. Having said that, if you just have parboiled rice in your home, and hate to be crowding your pantry with yet another grain variety, parboiled will work just fine. In fact, a parboiled rice variety called IR 20, even though it is not declared as an idli rice, some folks swear by its effectiveness in making fluffy idlis.