How to cook rice

[starside]

1. Does anyone know how Pilau rice is made, espcially the multi-coloured kind you get in indian restaurants?

2. Can you keep cooked rice in the fridge once it has cooled down? Can you freeze it? Can you re-heat it?

3. A handy tip I have just learnt for cooking rice:

Fill pan with boiling water from kettle. continue to bil full heat. Once done, rinse the rice with two kettle loads of boiling water. perfect rice every time.

4. All I need to figure out now is Birds custard.

PjC

[kushtibari]

1. For two folk I measure out a full mug of basmati rice
2. Give it a rinse.
3. Get a heavy pan with a decent lid and heat a decent bit of oil in it (I use groundnut).
4. Got lazy in my old age so use ready bought spice - 'Schwarz pilau rice'.
5. Fry a couple of teaspoons of spice in the oil and add some chopped mushrooms and seasoning. I usually add a couple of cloves of garlic still in their skins at this point as well.
6. Add the rice and scoosh it around getting an even coating of oil on the rice grains.
7. Add about a mug and a third of water to the mix. It should begin bubbling straight away but if isn't turn the heat up til it does.
8. As soon as it is put the lid on the pan and turn down very low.
9. After 12-13 minutes turn the heat off and leave the lid on.
10. Give it another 12-13 minutes and you should be ready to go.
11. Don't lift the lid at any stage of the cooking process.

I usually remove the garlic cloves and flatten with a fork and return the garlic puree to the rice and mix it in. You can't have too much garlic.

Anything left over goes in the fridge for a couple of days at most and is fine. I tend to reheat in the microwave and maybe put in a dod o' butter.

[iMc]

thanks for the guide, didnt realise you had to turn the heat of and let rice 'brew' for a while.

[kushtibari]

It keeps cooking in the steam. I usually put something on top as well to stop the pan lid lifting. If you heat it too long it'll go mushy and you're looking at keeping it nice and firm.

[noah]

nice method there kushtibari i do similar myself (nicked mine from madhur jaffrey) never tried the oil and mushrooms tho, might give that a go tomorrow

i also give it a soak for 20 mins if i have the time. but if im really lazy and in a hurry, a pyrex dish and wash the rice, add 2 parts rice to 3 parts water and whack it in the microwave on full for 10-12 mins, works remarkably well!!

oh and dont leave it in the fridge too long unless you want to grow some quality staph. aureus bacteria on there

[Kumagoro]

If you eat rice often get yourself a rice cooker.

[noah]

yeah would be nice, but its just another thing to clutter up my tiny kitchen!

[iMc]

a rice cooker! didnt know there were such things!

[Kumagoro]

They are well worth having if you cook rice a lot, no more burnt rice turn it on and forget about it.

[Honoop]

Dont have a clue about pilau rice, but Im pretty sure that the colours are from saffron etc,. - I may be wrong.

As for keeping rice in the fridge/freezer - yes you can. However refridgerated rice does tend to dry out a little so could be advisable to put a little water with it when you re-heat it.

Dead right about rinsing the rice, tho tbh I dont always bother.

Tip I learnt from Nick was to cook rice in a bit of stock. Now whenever Im doing a curry I always cook my rice with a Vegetable Oxo cube chucked in - adds a bit more flavour to the whole thing.

Custard is easy, just dont let the pan get too hot..... cook it slowly and keep stirring then it doesnt stick or burn.

[alexander]

It is so simple, having travelled to China all you need to do is:

1) Fill water above rice by around 3cm
2) Boil until water boils over
3) Switch Off
3) Leave for atleast 15 minutes and eat when ever you want it (you can leave it for around 2 hours with no problems but make sure you have the lid on)

What you are left with is perfect, fairly sticky rice which is the nicest you can have :-)

All you do to reheat rice is put the old rice into a pan. fill it with around 1cm of water (on the bottom) and boil up till all the water has evapourated, perfect


If you burn the rice (you shouldn't by my method) then put it onto a cold surface straight away (ie. water) and then it will become crisp and you won't need to scrape it off

[Kumagoro]

Some rice types even of the same kind seem to chill better than others. So if you are keeping it then try lots of different ones.

[Clingy]

I have had a rice cooker for over a year now and use it 2 or 3 times a week. Superb thing apart from the fact that all the instructions are in Korean! Bought it from Chinatown in London.

I am told by those in the know to buy the cheapest one you can find. Ignore the steamers that also cook rice.

[pre]

Don't get me wrong, I own a rice cooker myself and get plenty of use out of it, but I've always preferred a non-fluffy rice with curries.

[Kumagoro]

why dont you just change the settings on the rice cooker....

[Tifosi]

rice cooker all the way, although mine tends to be somewhat sticky, unlike curryhouse rice. It's trial and error with the water just a little too much and the results aren't nice! it's a science