When it comes to good side dishes, rice is up there with some of the best.

Whether paired with curries, spicy stews or served as a side salad - it always goes down a treat. Perhaps because it's filling, quick to cook and can absorb a lot of tempting flavours.

But, when it comes to the staple, this is where things can get tricky. It can often become waterlogged and mushy, but there's a way this can be totally avoided.

At least according to online cook Sadia Sami, who recently shared the foolproof way to make "perfect" rice every time on . According to her, the secret lies is completing a simple task before you get going.

It's considered an essential step to ensure your rice stays nice and fluffy. Here's all you need to know about the simple trick.

Demonstrating what to do, Sadia said: "You're first going to wash your rice at least three times, and then you're going to let your rice soak for at least 30 minutes before cooking. Boil some water in a large pot, add some salt and your drained, soaked Basmati rice.

"Think of it like boiling pasta - as soon as your water starts to boil like this, time it for five minutes. Then you're going to drain your rice.

"Put it back in the pot and let it steam on a low heat. After 10 minutes, you should have perfect rice just like this."

In the clip, Sadia confirms she uses one cup of long Basmati rice and soaks it in three times the amount of luke warm water. She then fills a saucepan 3/4 of the way with water to boil the rice.

The video has been viewed over 37,000 times since it was shared, and people were quick to comment too. They had all sorts of ideas about the method.

One said: "This worked. The rice came out perfect." Another added: "I tried it and it worked very well - thank you."

A third also replied: "Put it in a rice cooker - it's very easy."

Why you should wash your rice

For those who don't know, experts say you should wash rice before cooking it to remove excess starch from the grains. By doing this, it will help the grains to cook separately, and stop the texture becoming gummy.

It also works to wash off any dirt, debris or other particles that may be present on rice grains. As well as this, taking the time to wash it could also work to reduce the amount of microplastics on the rice.