Rice

There are many distinctive kinds of rice (the seeds of Oryza sativa) grown and sold in the Subcontinent: Botanists say there may be as many as twenty thousand different varieties, most of them grown and eaten locally. Rice is a staple in southern India and Sri Lanka, in Nepal, Bengal, and Bangladesh, and in parts of Pakistan and Bhutan. Plain rice is mostly cooked in plenty of boiling water, then drained, rather as pasta is cooked. Flavored rice dishes such as pulao and biryani are made by simmering the rice in flavored broth.