Thinking here from the point of view of someone who taught a college-aged friend that assembling sandwiches wasn't really cooking.
This is rice. Sticky (short grained) rice smooshes and is good for risotto or sushi. Long grain rice doesn't clump and will have basmati or jasmine on the label and be more expensive, but very tasty. Specific cuisines call for specific types. End of month calls for whatever is available.
Rice is dry storage until cooked, then needs refrigeration. If bought in bulk, separate into insect-proof containers, because bugs like rice, too, and losing one container of five is better than losing one five-pound container. Temperature isn't as important as humidity.
Ways to cook rice: option a. 1 cup rice + 4 cups water, boil until toothsome, then drain the water. option b. 1 cup rice + 2 cups water, bring to boil, cover, and turn off heat, let sit so that it steams. When the water is absorbed, the rice is cooked. Fluff with a fork. option c. buy a rice cooker. Ask other poeple. I've no clue, but some folks love them. option d. oven-baked, good for large groups option e. ??
things to do with cooked rice. option a - stuff with rice: mixed frozen veg or canned tuna or last night's leftover chili, heated separately then combined or, if not too cold, mixed in to heat through. option b- stuff beside rice: Throw a little butter or salt, if you want, on your rice and use as a separate veg. next to your grilled chop or sausage in tomato or chunks of grilled portobello. option c - stuff on rice: rice as foundation, including under chicken cooked in sauce or potato curry or tofu stirfry or slivered beef in teriyaki or ... option d - stone soup (always and forever) option e - heated, with milk and a bit of brown sugar for breakfast or then cooled, threatened with a cardamom pod and called rice pudding, om nom nom.
Bonus household use: in climates humid enough (Hello Texas Gulf Coast) to clump salt or brown sugar, a dozen grains of cheap white rice in your salt shaker on the table will help kept it usable. A thin cloth bag filled (not too full!) with rice and, if you've got it, a scent agent like lavender, tossed in the microwave for less than a minute, makes a lovely heating pad. Watch for bugs or empty it, though. (Have you seen the insects of the Texas Gulf Coast?)
And then something along similar lines for potato and dried beans.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2011-12-16 06:06 pm (UTC)Thinking here from the point of view of someone who taught a college-aged friend that assembling sandwiches wasn't really cooking.
This is rice. Sticky (short grained) rice smooshes and is good for risotto or sushi. Long grain rice doesn't clump and will have basmati or jasmine on the label and be more expensive, but very tasty. Specific cuisines call for specific types. End of month calls for whatever is available.
Rice is dry storage until cooked, then needs refrigeration. If bought in bulk, separate into insect-proof containers, because bugs like rice, too, and losing one container of five is better than losing one five-pound container. Temperature isn't as important as humidity.
Ways to cook rice:
option a. 1 cup rice + 4 cups water, boil until toothsome, then drain the water.
option b. 1 cup rice + 2 cups water, bring to boil, cover, and turn off heat, let sit so that it steams. When the water is absorbed, the rice is cooked. Fluff with a fork.
option c. buy a rice cooker. Ask other poeple. I've no clue, but some folks love them.
option d. oven-baked, good for large groups
option e. ??
things to do with cooked rice.
option a - stuff with rice: mixed frozen veg or canned tuna or last night's leftover chili, heated separately then combined or, if not too cold, mixed in to heat through.
option b- stuff beside rice: Throw a little butter or salt, if you want, on your rice and use as a separate veg. next to your grilled chop or sausage in tomato or chunks of grilled portobello.
option c - stuff on rice: rice as foundation, including under chicken cooked in sauce or potato curry or tofu stirfry or slivered beef in teriyaki or ...
option d - stone soup (always and forever)
option e - heated, with milk and a bit of brown sugar for breakfast or then cooled, threatened with a cardamom pod and called rice pudding, om nom nom.
Bonus household use: in climates humid enough (Hello Texas Gulf Coast) to clump salt or brown sugar, a dozen grains of cheap white rice in your salt shaker on the table will help kept it usable. A thin cloth bag filled (not too full!) with rice and, if you've got it, a scent agent like lavender, tossed in the microwave for less than a minute, makes a lovely heating pad. Watch for bugs or empty it, though. (Have you seen the insects of the Texas Gulf Coast?)
And then something along similar lines for potato and dried beans.