No more Sona Masoori Rice from India????

Ladies,

My grocer said that even wheat and wheat product exports are banned. And so that means, all the chakki fresh atta brands like Sujata, Aashirwad, Anna poorna, Pillsbury etc... we will not get. I think i read that following the ban on rice, the ban on wheat was also implemented.

Vandhana

So - what is the best substitute here for atta? Any ideas - I think we have rice covered by using Jasmine or other long grained rice.

I went to the Indian store this evening and the price of 20 lb rice bag ranges from 15$ to 18$ depending in the brand. I was told that Golden Temple brand of wheat flour comes from Canada, so there will be no issue with it.

Vandhana - Can you please specify what proportion of Long grain rice and urad dal works fine for idli's and dosa's.

Nivedi, when I use long grain for the idli--
it is 3 cups of long grain and 1 cup of urad dhal.
steam 11/2 cups raw rice without water (that is take 1-2tsp of water and mix it with raw rice) and then soak it for 1 hour only. soak the other 11/2 cups the previous night and soak 1 cup urad dhal and keep in the fridge for an hour and grind the urad dhal first for nearly 25-30min adding water little by little and then grind both the rice together, add salt and mix well with hand and keep it fermented for 24 hours and do the idli like before.
If you think the batter is watery, add little bit of sooji, mix it and do the idli.

sriniketan

Hi Nivedi,

I follow Sri's proportion also 3 rice to 1 urad. Only i dry roast the 3 cups of rice and then soak it overnight or 6 to 8 hours. Same grind it separately and ferment.

Hathi brand and laxmi wheat flours were also available before the Indian brands made their appearance here. I think these are also not imprted from India but not sure.

Hey i saw whole wheat flour available in the local American grocery store. Need to buy that and try out too.

vandhana

Vandhana, the whole wheat flour in the American store does not give soft chapathis but becomes hard 'kattai' chapathi after a while.

sriniketan

Originally Posted by Vandhana

Dear Sundari,

US does cultivate rice. What we get here is the Long grain variety, similar to basmati but not with the familiar basmati aroma. It is quite good, but then we Indians love the Sona Masoori and Ponni varieties since we feel the texture is better. Believe me, the Sona masoori and POnni and have started to come to US only around 7 to 8 yrs back. Before that it was all Enriched long grain rice and the jasmine rice ( which is imported from thailand). Of course if we go to the chinese stores, we get about 10 plus varities of sticky rice, glutinious rice etc etc.....

That being said, ladies, please do try the enriched Long grain rice. As AC had said Costco or Sams club carries it at very reasonable prices.
And yes idlis and dosas come out nice with that too.



Vandhana

dear vandhana,
have heard there is no boiled rice there in US then how do u make idli and dosa there, u fry the rice and then soak it do u, my aunt who lives there used to say..sunkan

hi all,

One suggestion...when you buy in large quanity just drop a few red chillies, neem leaves if available to preserve the rice/atta..

But you will still get the rice from pakistan right.....

hello,
yes, the other day my husband returned from the indian spice shop here in montegobay and told me that they have no more sona masoori rice. i thought maybe we just have to wait forthe next shipment to reach jamaica.
thats sad to know that there will be no more sona rice.

regards
shardu

Hi,

Yes,as our IL members mentioend,We get Long grain rice,Jasmine Rice,Basmati Rice in Costco,samsclub,Winco foods,Asian food markets,Uwajimaya etc.Iam not sure if we are going to get wheat flour etc as someone mentioned in this IL.So if u cannot find aatta in any indian stores, we get whole wheat flour in winco foods.But Winco is only in Northwest!

cheers,
vaishu