Instant Pot Ponni Rice Without Soaking

Instant pot ponni rice is perfectly cooked fluffy white rice which can be enjoyed in few minutes time. Ponni rice cooked in instant pot do not need soaking in advance prior to cooking. The ponni rice I used is ponni raw rice which is a popular South Indian white rice in raw form (ponni brand of rice comes as raw rice or par boiled rice). The rice cooked is perfect, fluffy and you can enjoy it with any side dishes or curry as you like. When I try the ponni boiled rice in instant pot, I will update the recipe accordingly.

You can also make other popular rices like brown basmati rice, white basmati rice, brown sona masoori rice etc in the instant pot very easily.

What Is Ponni Rice?

Ponni rice is a popular white rice used for cooking which is popular in South India, especially in Tamil Nadu region. Ponni rice is very fluffy, soft and delicious and its perfect for rice bowls, thali (Indian style luch or dinner served with rice and curries) etc.

There are two different varieties of ponni rice which are very popular – ponni raw rice and ponni boiled (par boiled) rice.

Par boiled rice usually required more cooking time but its considered more healthy as well.

The ponni par boiled rice is short grain rice but the ponni raw rice fairly long grain rice and you can even use them to cook pulao/pilaf rice.

See this sweet corn pulao recipe using leftover cooked ponni raw rice.

In this instant pot ponni rice recipe, I used ponni raw rice but as I mentioned earlier, if I try ponni boiled rice ever, I will update the recipe accordingly.

So here is how you can prepare ponni raw rice in the instant pot following this easy, perfect recipe for instant pot ponni rice.

I have more rice recipes in the instant pot, which you may like to see!

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How To Make Instant Pot Ponni Rice (Ponni Raw Rice)

We use just 2 ingredients to cook the perfect ponni rice in the instant pot. They are as follows:

ponni raw rice

water

You may also add additional ingredients like one tablespoon of oil (or butter) or one teaspoon of lemon juice to make the texture and flavor of the rice even better.

Steps To Cook Ponni Raw Rice In Instant Pot (The Process)

Rinse the rice very well, transfer the rinsed rice to the inner pot of instant pot (discard the water used for rinsing the rice).

Add enough water (as the amount mentioned in recipe card, here 4 cups of water for 2 cups of ponni rice) and mix well, make sure there is water at the bottom of the pot.

Close the instant pot with lid in sealing position, press the ‘rice’ button and cook for 10 minutes (if its not set for 10 minutes adjust the time to 10 minutes). In many models, you can’t adjust the time for rice button and if it’s automatically set for 12 minutes, you can use that too.

Once the cooking is done and the pot beeps, press the ‘keep warm/cancel’ button and wait for a natural pressure release of 10 to 12 minutes (if the rice button was set for 12 minutes cooking, you may just go for 10 minutes natural pressure release).

After a natural pressure release of 10 to 12 minutes, carefully do a manual release by turning the lid to venting position slowly, releasing the pressure manually very carefully and gradually.

Once the pressure is all released,  carefully open the instant pot and fluff the rice with a fork or use a spoon or spatula and gently mix the rice.

Sides To Go With Cooked Ponni Rice

To enjoy a simple and delicious meal with cooked ponni rice, you may serve the rice with any South Indian style gravy and dry side dish or you can also go for North Indian style sides whichever you like.

Here you can see some ideas for sides you can choose for the cooked ponni rice.

I will recommend one gravy and at least one dry side dish to go with it. Also you can add chutneys, pickles, papads (or papadam which is Indian style lentil crackers usually served with rice) etc.

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Where To Buy Ponni Rice

Ponni rice (both raw rice and boiled rice) are both usually available in Indian grocery stores among the rice section or among the South Indian products.

Or you can buy ponni raw rice online too.

So here is the detailed recipe for preparing ponni rice in instant pot.