Thursday 17 June 2010

The Rice Vice

( Nice rice)
I like rice. I particularly like Basmati Rice with Indian Food. I love Jasmine rice with Thai food. I adore Arborio rice in risotto. I even like brown rice when mixed with lentils, which makes me feel very earth-mothery and virtuous. But I cannot make it. I manage to cock up ( every time) this most democratic of starches. It either comes out all mushy and watery or burned and bland. No fluffy rice for me. And most certainly no delicious left-overs which can be consumed cold with milk and sugar the next morning. And so yesterday I paid R23.95 for ready made (microwave for 7 minutes) Long Grain Whole Rice from Woolies. Well worth it, I thought at the time. But still I felt deeply ashamed, this morning. What sort of aspirant Domestic Goddess am I? One who cannot even boil rice?
And does the fact that I made the most fabulous groenboontjiebredie (green bean stew) to accompany said lavish laziness count in my favour?
Do I buy a rice steamer? Or is that just another gadgety gizmo to clutter my already overcrowded cupboards?
And is there such a thing as Boil-in-the-Bag-Rice, such as the stuff I bought and made in France 19 years ago when I was an au pair and l'enfant terrible demanded it?
And why, bloody why, does everyone else make bloody boiling rice sound so bloody easy?


4 comments:

  1. I get it right mostly, but I almost burned down our kitchen the other day when I made jasmine rice in the microwave. I followed the instructions on the package to the letter, next thing I saw there were thick clouds of smoke storming out of the kitchen and the plastic bowl I'd put the rice in was pretty much destroyed.

    My problem is eggs - just cannot make a decent egg, so that task falls to TheHusband who makes a mean omelet.

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  2. Marisa! So now I know to avoid the microwave.
    And as for eggs... I vote for piping hot creamy scrambled accompanied by cold chenin blanc.... No use trying to master the art of boiling or frying.
    Am however very impressed by the idea of an Omelet-Making Husband...

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  3. Re: Nice Rice.
    Basmati rice is so easy...1 part rice to parts water, shtick it in the microwave for 15 minutes and forget about it. When it comes out drain it in a colander, then add 2 tablespoons of dessicated coconut and 2 tablespoons of coconut milk, 1 tsp sugar and some salt. Its delicious!

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  4. Ok, this sounds great, almost desert-like. Am loving it already. Will try it tomorrow. But just to make very sure... 1 part rice to ? parts water.
    Thanks for the post!

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