Rice is a staple dish across Asia. It comes in various forms and colours and can be prepared in many ways.It is a central item when serving Asian food. So here's a few tips for preparing / serving it. I prefer Basmati, but you can go for Long Grain, Jasmine or any other suitable variety.
Washing
Rice should be washed before cooking. As is demonstrated when washing, rice gives off a starchy white coating. The net result of washing is better cooked rice. To wash, simply pour the rice into a pot and add water. Then scrunch the rice with your hands. You will see the white, starchy stuff turn the water opaque. Scrunch for a minute or two, then drain off and add a new dose of water. Repeat the previous steps, scrunching, draining and refilling until the water starts to turn clear.
Cooking
There's many ways of cooking rice. Boil-in-the bag, steamers, rice cookers - they're all out there. Here's my suggestion:
- Wash rice (see above)
- Pour rice into pot
- Pour water into pot so that there is roughly 1/3 an inch of water above the rice
- Bring the water & rice to the boil, let it boil until the water has reduced off
- Stir once, put the lid on the pot and bring the heat way down to as low as possible
- The rice will finish off after a few minutes and will be ready to serve
Presentation
There are many ways to serve and/or cook rice. Plain is fine, but here are a few suggestions:
- Add a dash of turmeric (at step 3 above) for yellow rice
- Add 2 or 3 cardomom pods & cloves (at step 3 above) for flavour
- Fry with egg, soy sauce & shallots to make fried rice
- Add coconut milk (at step 3 above) to make coconut rice
