For me, the microwave/absorption method works every time. 1 mug basmati rice washed in a large sieve under hot water, with bowl underneath to catch water. Turn on hot tap, keep swilling rice by hand until water comes over top of rice, turn off tap, empty bowl and repeat once. Allow to drain and dry. Put 1/3 ice-cream scoop of ghee into a Pyrex
[R] casserole dish with lid. Heat at 100% for 5 minutes. Add spices to taste (star anise, torn Indian bay, broken cassia bark, crushed green cardamom, kala jeera, one clove, ...) and cook for a further 5 minutes at 100%. Add rice, add a clove of garlic finely sliced or some fried-and-dried garlic, salt to taste, then cover with boiling water to an excess depth of 1/3". Cook for 12 minutes at 100%, then remove, check, and adjust if necessary. If colouring is desired, add a few widely separated drops of green, yellow and red food colourings, then either place in a warm oven at circa 80
oC for 20 minutes or put back in the microwave at 10% and cook for a further 20 minutes. Remove, fluff, remove large fragments of bay, cassia, etc., then serve.

** Phil.