Basic Rice

Rice has been a staple foods of the Chinese for thousands of years. Archeological evidence shows that rice was a valued food dating back as early as 2500 BC, the late Neolithic period in the Yangtze basin. In fact, rice has fed thousands of people for longer periods than any other grain. As if to stress the reverence in which the Chinese culture holds for this grain, rice, to them, symbolizes life itself.

Today, in many parts of China rice is a fixture at every meal. And not just boiled rice, either - it is used in everything from noodles to desserts to poultry stuffing. Congee, a type of rice gruel mixed with vegetables, is a popular breakfast dish. And then, of course, rice is a feature of many main entrees.

Hint for you, if you consume a lot of rice. Your local Asian grocery should have them by the bag fulls. Large and small bags, and at a great price as well. So be sure to check there.

Being that rice is such an integral part of Chinese culture and cuisine it seems natural to begin with a basic “recipe”, or approach, to cooking it. So here we go…

At first glance, it seems that no two people make simple rice in the exact same way! Upon closer inspection, all of these methods are quite similar, and do yield good results, but I’ll include them all so that you can pick your favorite method and use that. Being a guy, I simply pick the method that involves the least amount of effort on my part!

If you’d prefer to see a demonstration instead of reading the “how to” here, chef Ming Tsai (http://www.ming.com/) has an awesome video on this topic posted on youtube. Its called Simply Ming: Secrets of how to make perfect rice and it can be found at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVd3FsR8wHE

Basic Rice

Method 1 

Ingredients:
Equal parts rice and water

Directions:
Put the rice in a pot or bowl. Add some cold water and move your fingers through it to clean the individual grains. The milky substance that you’ll see in the water is the starchy residue resulting from the milling process. Drain the water. Repeat this process 2 more times for a total of 3 washings. You’ll notice that with each washing, the water will become less milky with the starch.
Once washed and drained, add an amount of water equal to the amount of rice in the pot. Let this sit for 2 hours.
To begin the cooking process, bring the water to a boil with the pot uncovered. Cook the rice for about 4 minutes, stirring along the way. Chopsticks work great for this. The water will recede and look like its gone. Cover the pot and cook over a low heat for about 8 more minutes. Stir from time to time, and check that the rice isn’t burning at the bottom of the pot.
After the 8 minutes is up, turn off the flame and loosen the rice to make it fluffy. Cover the rice until you’ll be serving it.
Properly cooked Chinese rice should be fluffy and not clumpy.


Method 2

Ingredients:

1 cup of raw rice

1 1/4 cups of cool water

(use a ratio of 1 to 1.25 for this version)

Directions:
As in the previous method, place the rice in a pot. Wash the rice and swish through it with your hands. Drain and repeat 3 more times until the water is no longer very milky. It won’t be totally clear, but it should become less milky with each wash. This will help remove the excess starch and clean the grains.
Put the cool water along with the washed rice in the pot. Turn the heat to high. When the water near the edge of pot starts bubbling, cover the pot and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes.
Turn off heat and keep the pot covered. Let it sit with lid on for 5 minutes to let the rice steam. Fluff with a fork, or with chopsticks and you’re done.

Method 3

Ingredients
12oz of rice, washed until the water runs clear
16 oz water (boiling)

Directions:

Place the rice in a pot and add the boiling water. Bring to the boil again and then cover with a tight-fitting lid and reduce to a low heat. Cook for 15–20 minutes.

Uncover the pot and remove from the heat. Fluff up the rice grains with a fork and serve immediately.

Method 4

Ingredients

Measure 2 parts water to 1 part rice

Directions:

Bring to a boil

Cover, lower the heat and let it simmer for 18 minutes. (don’t peek, as the steam will escape). Let the rice stand for a few minutes, to make it nice and fluffy.