Gold Spoon

Gold Spoon is a rice label for the South Indian kitchen, kept to two of the region's most eaten varieties and sold in the large sacks that rice-eating families get through month by month. Both are grains a Telugu or Tamil household would serve at lunch and dinner without a second thought.

We carry Gold Spoon in our sona masoori rice and ponni rice collections, both part of South Indian rice. Sona masoori is a light, slim medium grain from Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, and Thanjavur ponni boiled rice is parboiled, which keeps it firm and separate.

Sona masoori suits Andhra meals with pappu, pulusu and pachadi, Karnataka bisi bele bath, and tamarind and lemon rice for festivals and tiffin boxes. Ponni boiled rice is the Tamil favourite for sambar sadam, rasam rice and kuzhambu, and its firm grain makes it good for meals packed ahead or reheated. Households from both states often keep one of each, using sona masoori for lighter dishes and ponni for the main meal.

Rinse rice a few times before cooking, and cook ponni boiled rice with a little more water than sona masoori. Keep sacks sealed in a cool cupboard and transfer an open sack into a lidded bin, so moths and damp stay out. To compare, browse our seeraga samba rice and the Annaluxmy shelf.