Rice

🇧🇹Paro, Bhutan

Bhutanese Red Rice

ཟླུམ་འབྲས།

A short-grain japonica rice with a red bran layer, grown in the terraces of the Paro and Punakha valleys on glacial meltwater.

🇧🇩Sylhet Division, Bangladesh

Birin Rice

বিরইন চাল

Red-and-white sticky rice grown only in the Sylhet region, used for the region's steamed and roasted rice cakes.

🇧🇩Bangladesh

Chinigura Rice

চিনিগুঁড়া চাল

Tiny aromatic rice grown mainly in the Mymensingh region, used for polao, biryani and payesh rather than daily eating.

🇳🇵Nepal

Chiura

चिउरा

Rice is parboiled, flattened, and dried into beaten rice eaten dry or softened beside curries, meat, and achar.

🇸🇱Sierra Leone

Country Rice

Sierra Leonean country rice, often mangrove rice grown in coastal diked fields and parboiled by briefly boiling and sun-drying; the foundation of almost every Sierra Leonean meal.

🇻🇳Hanoi, Vietnam

Cốm (Green Sticky Rice)

Cốm

Cốm is young green glutinous rice pounded flat, wrapped in lotus leaf, and sold in Hanoi during the short autumn harvest.

🇳🇵Karnali, Nepal

Jumli Marshi Rice

Jumli Marshi

A highland Nepalese rice landrace from Jumla, valued for its reddish grain, cold tolerance, aroma, and ability to mature in a short mountain growing season.

🇱🇦Xieng Khouang, Laos

Khao Kai Noi Rice

ເຂົ້າໄກ່ນ້ອຍ

Small-grained upland glutinous rice grown in Xieng Khouang, prized for staying soft for hours after steaming.

🇹🇭Thailand

Khao Klook Kapi

ข้าวคลุกกะปิ

Rice mixed with shrimp paste, topped with sweet pork, shredded green mango, dried shrimp, and chili.

🇱🇦Laos

Khao Lam

ข้าวหลาม

Sticky rice with coconut milk and sugar steamed inside a bamboo tube until caramelized.

🇹🇭Thailand

Khao mak

ข้าวหมาก

Khao mak is glutinous rice fermented with a yeast ball into a sweet, lightly alcoholic dessert.

🇹🇭Isan (Northeastern Thailand), Thailand

Khao Niao

ข้าวเหนียว

Steamed glutinous rice, the staple of northern and northeastern Thailand, eaten by hand.

🇹🇭Thailand

Khao Phat

ข้าวผัด

Thai-style fried rice with egg, garlic, onion, and choice of meat or seafood, garnished with cucumber and lime.

🇬🇼Southern Guinea-Bissau (Quinara / Tombali Palm Oil), Guinea-Bissau

Mangrove Rice

Arroz de Bolanha

Native African rice (Oryza glaberrima) cultivated in tidal mangrove swamps using traditional dike systems; major crop in Tombali and Oio regions; 21 purified local varieties catalogued; a Slow Food and FAO biodiversity project; the backbone of Guinea-Bissau's rice culture.

🇮🇳Punjab, India

Pakistani Basmati

باسمتی چاول

Long-grain aromatic rice grown in the Punjab plains between the Ravi and Chenab, aged before milling to lengthen the grain.

🇰🇭Northwestern Cambodia (Angkor), Cambodia

Phka Rumduol

ផ្ការំដូល

Premium fragrant rice variety from Cambodia, known for its jasmine-like aroma and soft texture when cooked, a competitor to Thai jasmine rice.

🇵🇭Philippines

Pinipig

Pinipig is young glutinous rice pounded flat and toasted until crisp, eaten as a snack or scattered over Filipino desserts for a nutty, fragrant crunch.