You get it in Spain, Morocco, Italy and Greece, and throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia. . All these culinary regions have their own take on Savoury Rice reflecting their flavours and traditions – but one technique will guarantee you perfect fluffy Rice every time – whatever cuisine you celebrate!
Beautiful Chicken Fried Rice, featuring Yellow Curry, Slivered Red Bell peppers,
Onions and Green Peas. A classic! And it all starts with Perfect Steamed Rice…
Whether it’s Plain White Chinese Dinner Rice, Fried Rice, Spanish Rice or Yellow Savoury Rice, they all start with the same kind of Rice and the same basic cooking technique…
First the Rice…
For any of the popular rice dishes where you ideally want fluffy, separate grains, use Long Grain Rice. For Asian dishes, always use Jasmine rice. It’s Long Grain Rice specially scented to give spicy dishes an extra layer of flavour!
You may choose to rice your rice before cooking to reduce the surface starch. But, if you cook it right, it will come out light, fluffy and separate-grained just the same.
Next, the Liquid…
You can just use plain water. But that just plain boring! I prefer Fruit Juice, Wine, Meat or Veggie Broth or a mixture of any or all of those. Let your taste be your guide! You can season your liquid at the outset or wait until the end of cooking to see what the enhanced rice needs in the way of Salt and/or Pepper. Have ready twice the volume or a little more (depending on how chewy you like tour rice) of your chosen liquid, heated to simmering, before you start cooking.
Now, the technique…
Place your Rice and any veggies or other flavouring ingredients in the bottom of a fairly large saucepan or braising pan with a couple of knobs (tbsps.) of butter. Heat until the butter just starts tom froth and stir until the veg has softened and any fat contributors (i.e.- Bacon) have started to render down. Add one measure of rice and stir until the Rice is fully but lightly coated with butter and toast for a couple of minutes. You can also toast spices in the mix at this stage and garlic if you are going Asian!
Now add the simmering liquid (2 to 2.5 cups for 1 cup dry Rice), stir well to get all the rice swimming in the liquid. Bring to a boil and cover. Set aside off the heat for 20-30 min. The heat in the liquid and the pot itself will finish the cooking. Do NOT remove the lid to peek! The riced must steam undisturbed in all the vapour from the liquid to cook properly!
At the 20 min mark take the lid off briefly and trial-fluff the centre of the pot with a fork. If there is no liquid left in the bottom of the pan, the Rice is done. Fluff the whole pan, cover and forget until serving time. Otherwise, give it another few minutes and check again. You just want to be sure all the liquid has been absorbed before your final fluff!
Are you lucky enough to have a ‘Keep Warm’ setting on your oven? Or a ‘Warm Spot’ burner on your stove top? Perfect for resting the rice…
Now you can get creative…
From here, you can Fry your rice, Bake it as in some Spanish dishes, use it with Spicy sauce, meat and veg mixtures from Asia or even make rice yummies such as Italian Arancini (Rice Balls). Or just enjoy it by itself as a side dish!
One you have your basic rice technique down pat, the world’s cuisine is yours to embrace!
~ Maggie J.