Basmati rice is a light, delicate variety of rice that originates in the foothills of the Himalayas. It's unique among rice varieties because each grain expands by more than twice its dry length during cooking, growing longer but not thicker, unlike other types of rice, whose width also bulks up when they're cooked.

Basmati rice is high in carbohydrates and micronutrients such as thiamine, folate and selenium, and the brown variety has more fibre, magnesium, vitamin E, zinc, potassium and phosphorus than its white counterpart.