I may have mentioned this before, but one of my favourite kitchen gadgets is my 25-year-old rice cooker. It has two settings, cook and warm. This is my kind of machine, for I am a self-confessed Luddite.
You don’t, of course, need a rice cooker to make a very satisfying rice dish. Rice is easy and affordable, all you need is to give it a chance. We used to be potato people, and that is not a slight. As a nation, we have embraced pasta, but I still look in the window of our local Chinese and spot chips on virtually every table. Call me elitist for judging, but I don’t care. If you have rice, you don’t need chips, and the ubiquitous lunchtime school order of a three-in-one is a curse for our children. I know all about struggling with weight and this is the worst possible start.
Rice graciously absorbs whatever is introduced to it and that is its beauty. It is the ultimate blank canvas. As well as being a staple food for more than half the earth’s population, it evokes a sense of mystery, conjuring up exotic far-flung places, spice, discovery and ancient traditions. Rice makes the potato seem like a newly arrived upstart by comparison.
I’m making three different pilafs today, all using basmati rice. The method is to use just enough liquid so by the time the rice is cooked, the liquid has been absorbed, thus maximising flavour. I start the rice on the hob and continue to cook it in the oven for an all-round even heat. In the rice cooker, sauté the initial ingredients as if in a pot, then continue on as normal.
Always rinse rice under cold water to eliminate excess starch, resulting in fluffy, even grains packed full of the flavours you immerse them in. More often than not, I put a relish or a dressing with a pilaf, they usually need a bit of lubrication in one form or another. The first two are stand-alone dishes but the caramelised onion rice would be utterly content beside some roast lamb or chicken, in which case some mint or coriander yoghurt would be the perfect partner.
Recipe: Duck and coconut rice with pineapple and chilli
Recipe: Coronation chicken rice with lime and coriander cream
Recipe: Caramelised onion rice with cinnamon and pine nuts
