Hello Vanilla Ice fans! (and the rest of you lot)
You've probably guessed from the title and the greeting that this post is all about rice. Now, you're probably thinking, 'Rice? Monkeys can make rice!', but believe you me, I've had some absolutely terrible rice over the years (I'm Indian, not Chinese! Rice should only be lumpy if you're eating with chopsticks!) and since we are starting from the basics, I figured, why not? (Plus I came up with these really nifty instruction lyrics that you can rap to to the Ice Ice Baby music). If you've been living under a rock all these years or are too young to have heard this masterpiece, you can find it here.
The instruction lyrics for you to practice your rapping skills on are:
(Rice rice baby.. Rice rice baby)
Alright stop! Making rice in my kitchen,
To eat with my dal and my pork and my chicken.
(Wash it!)
Put 'em in a bowl,
Rinse thrice with water, make sure it's cold.
(Cooking)
Add twice the water,
Splash some salt and ghee in, watch it get hotter.
(Boiling)
Slow the gas down,
Move half the lid off, so the bubbles go down!
(Wait)
For 20 minutes or so,
The rice is all fluffy and it's ready to go.
(Chow down)
Get it while it's hot,
Put your dal and curry on, right on top.
(Rice rice baby.. Rice rice baby)
Word to your mother!
(Rice rice baby.. Rice rice baby)
Alright stop! Making rice in my kitchen,
To eat with my dal and my pork and my chicken.
(Wash it!)
Put 'em in a bowl,
Rinse thrice with water, make sure it's cold.
(Cooking)
Add twice the water,
Splash some salt and ghee in, watch it get hotter.
(Boiling)
Slow the gas down,
Move half the lid off, so the bubbles go down!
(Wait)
For 20 minutes or so,
The rice is all fluffy and it's ready to go.
(Chow down)
Get it while it's hot,
Put your dal and curry on, right on top.
(Rice rice baby.. Rice rice baby)
Word to your mother!
(Rice rice baby.. Rice rice baby)
So that's how you make your regular rice in a patila on the gas.
For microwave cooking, same thing, no lid.. 25 minutes.
For jeera rice, heat up a big blob of ghee in a a pan, toss in the jeera until it ceases to snap, crackle and pop. Add it to the rice then proceed to cook normally.
For yellow rice (as with chole), add haldi along with the ghee and salt.
For herb butter rice (as an accompaniment to continental food), swap the ghee with a big chunk of butter, throw in a sprig of rosemary, some thyme, some chopped dill leaves, coriander, chopped chillies and oregano.
If you're making rice in a pressure cooker.. don't. More often than not, it comes out gloopy.
Pulaos and biryani soon!
Tip: Use basmati rice. You can use other varieties if you want but I personally prefer basmati.
And remember, overeating is a myth. A full tummy is a happy tummy!
Lyrics are perfect.
ReplyDeleteI rapped the whole thing out.
Including calling my mother - yelling WORD! and hanging up.
Back to rice, I always am wary of the rice burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan and so, start disturbing the rice to ensure nothings burning.
Will that cause trouble?
Hahahaha.. I'm sure your mum is wondering what's wrong with you! But knowing you, she's probably just going, 'Meh!' :D
ReplyDeleteAs for the rice, moving it shouldn't really cause any trouble but what you can do to avoid it sticking is make sure you add exactly twice as much water as the rice. Keep the gas on high until the water boils and down on low for the rest of the time. Then, when it looks cooked, if you're worried, stick a butter knife or a spoon inside to see if there is any water left. Also, a thicker bottomed patila would work. The ghee (or similar grease) that you add also helps it not stick.