Miscellaneous Forum

These days I generally use Uncle Ben's ready rice. Long grain and Wild rice is the one I like most. When I think of cooking a good rice dish, I make Arroz con Pollo. Is that the type of recipe you are looking for?

I just bought a rice cooker, a microwave one at that, and it produces fantastic rice! A new favourite is to add some dessicated coconut, peas and coriander before cooking and, well, we could eat this everyday!

When it comes to rice Sue I use only brown rice which contain B vitamins whereas the plain white is nothing but starch. Basmati brown rice is my preferred choice. Regular Rice: -with measurement of 2 cups water to 1 cup of rice, I do a quick one cold- water rinse and add the following: 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of pure tumeric powder and 1 bay leaf. When rice starts to boil I slice two ripe tomatoes julienne style and add it in. Let it boil down til liquid is almost gone then cover it and turn fire all the way down for it to continue cooking for another 5 mins. or til done. Rice Duck Casserole: - Save left over rice (or make fresh rice and refrigerate it overnight). In large bowl,crumble hardened cooked rice and mix in cut-up pieces of roasted duck (ready to eat roasted duck is readily available from Chinese restaurants or in Chinatown), thin slices of celery, peas (optional), cubed cooked carrots (optional), 1 bayleaf, 3-4 cloves (optional), 1 large onion diced, 1 clove of garlic. Season it with fresh ground pepper and 1-2 teaspoon of dark soy sauce and 1 tablespoon of olive oil and a 1 tablespoon of rice cooking wine (white wine can be a substitute). Combine all and mix well. Put everything in a casserole and spread it evenly. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top and bake it at 350 for a good 15-20 mins. or til the top with the bread crumbs has turned brown and crusty. (Note: if not duck, cooked ham can well substitute for this dish) Enjoy Sue. VT Cookbook? Do we get a commission somehow? :))

If I haven't got saffron, I add a touch of cumin or turmeric. To lift the insipid colour of it, just add a handful of wild rice. I don't like the look of it as a whole serving,(black) but a handful in with the white is lovely, adds texture too.

I wash rice then lightly fry in a good virgin olive oil that has previously lightly fried a finely diced onion. When the rice is totally coated I then add saffron and water to well cover then simmer until the rice is cooked and has absorbed the water. Pretty yummy. Carole.

Hi Sue! Great question. We Europeans are mostly guilty for "crimes against rice", I find... especially we Germans who can barely manage to boil a bag of Uncle Ben's... I used to be guilty if this culinary ignorance as well. I'm thinking Brits are probably more used to cooking rice because of all the Asians that live in the UK. We Germans are a nation of pasta and potato lovers :-) Anyway, the method you describe of boiling and draining is what I used to do... until I discovered the "real way": steaming. wash your rice a few times to get ride of the starch, then add 2 cups of water for each cup of rice you are cooking, cold into a pan. Bring to the boil. As soon as it's boiling vigorously, put the lid on and switch off the hob. Wait for 10 minutes... you should end up with perfectly fluffy rice that needs no draining. Both my husband and I love Jasmin Rice mixed with some Wild Rice. Basmati is also a favourite. Recently I bought a bag of brown rice which I'll be cooking this weekend. And a few weeks ago in Sri Lanka, we tried RED rice for the first time ever... it was wonderfully nutty! To make my rice fragrant, I sometimes add a bashed-up Lemongrass stick... or a small piece of fresh ginger... some saffron (or poor man's saffron" Turmeric ;-) or when it's cooked I fold in some freshly chopped coriander or basil... yummy.

I also cook Risottos quite often, and I find that if you use Arborio or even better: Carnaroli rice, stir slowly and well, you can make a healthier risotto because so much starch and creamy goodness is released by the grains, I don't even have to add butter or loads of Parmesan when my risotto is cooked. Much friendlier on the hips :-)

Hmm, you're not going to like this folks and we return to the concept of crimes against rice. What do I do with rice? The morning after the night before, I take the remains of the previous nights lamb dhansak ntakeaway, complete with semi-concealed ghee, pour it over the completely dehydrated rice I have forgotten to cover before retiring and eat the whole issue stone cold. If there is a rock-hard roti or two to accompany it so much the better and obviously all washed down with the remains of whatever I haven't already drunk (cider or red wine for preference). The whole thing is picked up somewhat by a couple of small, raw, volcanic chillies and, if there is any in the fridge, some hot mango or lime pickle (the proper Asian stuff from my local corner shop for preference). I suspect this is not exactly what you were looking for but it is a small insight into the mindset and culinary habits of the confirmed bachelor. Like pizza, I genuinely prefer curry cold the next day and I refuse to have a microwave. Apologies if I put anyone off their meal here.

Fergy, all the more reason for you to come and play at the VT hotel. You will be supplied with delicious food from our cooks. Thank you everyone, I have printed this off and put it in the folder. New readers, if anyone else has any more recipes, please let me know. Last night I forgot my purse when I went shopping for potatos, so we had coq au vin and plain rice for dinner, an interesting combination. I sometimes add a stock cube to the water when I cook plain rice. At a friend's house, they have buckets of home made chicken stock, so I use that instead.

In Spain alone there are 100 ways to prepare rice.::)

Suet, Can I contribute some Malaysian Rice recipes.. I will write the recipes after I get back from dinner. See you later. Mimi

This is good news. I can look up recipes but you lovely VT people can tell me if which are the tastiest!

Just preparing the rice: (except for Uncle Ben's) I measure it, rinse it three times, (until the water is clear) put it in a pan and add almost double the water. Example: 1 cup rice to 1 and 3/4 cups water/broth. (I don't add salt if I plan to use a side dish that has sauce to mix with the rice.) I put the rice in water/liquid on a high flame and set the timer for twenty minutes. When the water in the pan begins to boil, I reduce the flame to medium until the timer goes off. For Uncle Ben's I put a bit of butter in the pan and heat it. To this I add broken bits of vermicelli and rice. Sauté this until some of the vermicelli and rice kernels turn brown. Then I add the water and cook as above. The only thing so far not mentioned as an addition to the actual cooking/flavoring of the rice is that I sometimes add a clove of star anise to the water. Arroz con Pollo: Rinse long grain rice three times in cold water. Set aside to dry. When it's drier add a bit of saffron, Just enough to color the rice. Brown chicken thighs, on all sides, in a bit of oil. Take chicken out of the pan and in that pan (a Dutch-oven type) sauté, onion, tomatoes and bell pepper (each diced) adding salt, pepper, oregano, cumin and a small can of tomato paste. To this mixture add the chicken and a can of beer. Cover and cook about thirty minutes. Then drain the beer & juices into a measuring cup. To this juice, add enough water to almost double the amount of rice being used and return it to the chicken mixture. Add rice to chicken mixture and cook about twenty minutes longer.

Simmer rice in a large quantity of water to which about 1 teaspoon of Vegemite has been added - no salt needed with all the 'vege' mixed in. Another os plain boiled rice with heaps of shredded Vietnamese Mint (sometimes called hot mint - got a bush of it growing near the back door and tastes a bit like coriander) added when cooked and drained.

Truly a Malaysian dish, everybody loved having nasi lemak any time of the day... with simple anchovy sambal, fried chicken,fried egg, hard boiled egg and so many more dishes.. Here the recipe ... Nasi Lemak (Coconut Rice) 2 cups of rice (wash and drain) 1cup of coconut milk 4cups of water 3 pandan leaves (screwpine leaves) 1pc of cinnamon stick 2pc staranise 5pc cloves few pieces of ginger 1 tsp of salt Put all the ingredients together in a pot, and cook over medium heat (Can also cook in rice cooker) Occasionally stir the rice to avoid the rice sticking to the bottom..When almost cooked, lower the heat to slow... cover the pot with a big pc of banana leaf (optional) and the pot lid..This will give the rice an aromatic smell.. Off the heat and let the rice to cook properly... Sambal ikan bilis (anchovy) 100gm of ikan bilis - wash and deep fried 3 big onion - sliced big 2 big onion - blend 2 tbsp of belacan - blend 5 tbsp of chilli paste 2 tbsp of tamarind juice, mix with 1 cup of water and strain the juice.. 1 tsp of salt 4 tsp of sugar 2 tbsp of chilli sauce cooking oil In a kuali (frying pan), add cooking oil and stir fry the sliced onion till soft, then add the chiili paste, blended onions and belacan...keep stirring.. then add the asam jawa juice, the salt and sugar to taste...add the chilli sauce. The sambal should be thick and properly cooked... Add 1/3 of the fried ikan bilis into the sambal... the rest to garnish with the nasi lemak.

We prefer Ebly....;-0

We prefer Ebly....;-0

Forget the rice Mimi, that sambal sounds absolutely heavenly.

Thank you, Fergy..

Luckily I now live close enough to Louisiana to get all the fixins for crawfish ettouffe right at my grocery. That and red beans and rice are my two favorite rice meals.

Ok Sue. Here's my version of fried rice. It's a family varourite and so easy to prepare. Cook rice in the rice cooker. As said before, it never fails. Chop up into small pieces - Onion, bacon, carrot, celery and capscium. Cook small amt of peas in the micro. Do a couple of hard boiled eggs and chop. Now you are ready to fry. Fry chopped ingredients and add whatever seasonings smell good at the time. I also like to add a small bit of curry powder and powdered chicken stock. Then add the cooked rice, peas and egg and mix over low heat. Last ingredient is soy sauce and plenty of it. Helps to keep everything moist and tastes devine. Bon appetit :o)