[Sca-cooks] Recipe help- OOP

[Phil Troy / G. Tacitus Adamantius]

Also sprach Phlip:
>Margali had said that she thought that this would make the standard,
>seperate grain type of rice that Americans seem to prefer (I don't, I LIKE
>sticky rice) with a crust.

Bearing in mind that many Americans' concept of rice as a pile of 
separate grains is based on parboiled/processed rice such as Uncle 
Ben's, which I understand is a very old process, BTW, I'd think 
this'd be more like an actual pilau/pilaf (actually those two terms 
are slightly different, if only in the linguistic contexts from which 
they arise).

I'm inclined to agree that some specialty rices -- specifically those 
that require pre-soaking, boiling, then steaming -- are a lot of 
trouble to prepare for a return that _is_ a good dish, just not 
necessarily sufficiently better to warrant the extra effort on a 
regular basis. This is why I rarely bother with anything but 
Carolina/Texas type long grain rice, although I seem to usually end 
up with a 20-lb bag of jasmine rice magically tucked in to my 
prodigious grocery load before the Lunar New Year.

>My method (1 c rice, two c water, half a stick of butter, throw in a pan on
>low heat until cooked, then let it cook a bit longer, so the rice in the
>bottom fries a bit, making a crust) is lots easier, and I honestly didn't
>see much difference, other than the rice following the ME recipe was even
>more glutinous than usual, and by the time it was ready to eat, I was
>thoroughly tired of rice- and I like rice well enough, that whewn Rob buys
>it for me, he gets it in the 50 lb bags (I, primarily, do about one per
>year).

Interesting... I found myself discussing rice with my lady wife last 
night, over dinner, which, since I've been experimenting with an old 
[yes, aluminum, harumph!] Presto pressure cooker, consisted in large 
part of a quick-and-dirty lamb stew of a somewhat Irish derivation. 
Ceandra, being who she is, immediately announced that that would be 
so good over rice... ;-). But then when one is dealing with a culture 
for whom the four food groups appear to be rice, soup, vegetables and 
Everything Else, I guess this should come as no surprise.

>However, in the interests of fairness, I'm going to post the recipe, and see
>if those of you familiar with this kind of dog-n-pony show might tell me
>what might be wrong, from Margali's expectations. The only difference I made
>from the recipe was that we only have Jasmine rice- might that be a
>difference that makes a difference?

That could make a huge difference, and almost certainly made at least 
some difference. Not only will different varieties of rice be 
different when cooked in the same way, another factor is the 
age/storage method/dryness of the rice. I'm not sure of the lay of 
the land, as it would apply to the eating of jasmine rice in CT, but 
it's conceivable that if market turnover for that product is not 
high, you could have some old rice which will cook rather differently 
from freshewr stuff. And getting it in a 50-lb bag could be likely to 
be more a sign that it is old than that it is new, all other things 
being equal. However, one thing I can say with some certainty is that 
Jasmine rice is more like ordinary long-grain rice in shape and 
texture (but not flavor) than like basmati, which is pretty much a 
completely different animal. Cooking jasmine as for basmati will 
definitely produce Wild Card results.

>  >From "New Food of Life" by Najmieh Batmanglij- basicly, Iranian/Persian
>cooking.
>
>Saffron Steamed Plain Basmati Rice
>
>3 c long grain basmati rice
>8 c water
>2 T salt
>2 T plain yogurt
>1 t ground saffron dissolved in 4 T hot water
>3/4 c butter or olive oil or
>       ghee (I made and used ghee)
>
>1. Pick over rice.
>
>2.Wash rice in lukewarm water 5 times.
>
>3. Soak in 8 c water for 2-24 hours (I went 2 1/2, since I wanted dinner
>tonight, not tomorrow.)
>
>4. Bring to brisk boil for 6-10 minutes ( Was closer to 5 minutes, because
>it was starting to stick). Drain and rince.
>
>5. In a bowl, mix 2 spatulas of rice, 2 T yogurt, 1/2 c ghee and 1/2 c hot
>water, and a few drops of saffron water.
>
>6. Spread the yogurt-rice mixture over the bottom of the pot. This will help
>to create a tender golden crust (tah dig) when rice is cooked.
>
>7. Carefully heap the rice on the yogurt/rice at the bottom of the pan,
>gradually shaping it into a pyramid. Poke a couple holes in (the pile) with
>a wooden spoon.
>
>8. Cover and cook rice 10-15 minutes over medium heat to form crust.
>
>9. Dissolve the remaining ghee in 1 c hot water and pour over the rice
>pyramid. Put a clean dish towel or a couple of paper towels over the pot and
>cover firmly with lid to prevent steam from escaping. Cook 40-50 minutes
>longer over low heat.
>
>10. Remove the pot from the heat. Allow to cool on a damp surface for 5
>minutes without uncovering- this helps to free the crust from the bottom of
>the pot (Wanna bet?) Then put 2 T of rice in a dish, mix with remaining
>saffron water, and set aside for garnish.
>
>11. Gently taking one spatula full of rice at a time, place it on a serving
>platter, without disturbing the crust (Trust me, nothing short of explosives
>will disturb THAT crust). Mound the rice into a cone. Sprinkle the saffron
>rice garnish over the top[.
>
>12. Detach the layer of crust from the bottom using a spatula (A jackhammer
>wouldn't loosen that!!!).
>
>Any thoughts, folks? Not only did the rice wind up EXTREMELY glutinous, but
>detaching the crust from the bottom of the pan was definitely more trouble
>than it was worth.

The Chinese solution to this problem tends to be to remove the soft 
rice from the pot and cover it, or even just to eat it as the main 
rice dish while the crust shows up later in the meal, either as 
deep-fried pieces of the crust in soup or a casserole, or just 
reboiled in water to puff it up slightly and detach it from the pan. 
Removing the soft rice from the pan and setting the pot of crust 
aside to cool, slightly dry, and shrink a bit all will make it easier 
to remove from the pan in a single, cohesive sheet. I'm not sure that 
adding yogurt would make a difference or not, as far as that goes; 
I've never tried it.

>In addition to wondering if the basmati rice would make a big difference,
>I'm also wondering if the pot was right. Instructions said to use a
>non-stick pot, and that's what I did. Maybe it wasn't heavy enough?

Ha. You used a non-stick pot that stuck anyway? Yes, maybe it wasn't 
heavy enough. Where non-stick utensils are concerned, my feeling is 
if you have to ask, it's probably not heavy enough ;-).

Hey, it could even be something dumb like the pH or mineral content 
of your local tap water.

Adamantius
-- 






"S'ils n'ont pas de pain, vous fait-on dire, qu'ils  mangent de la 
brioche!" / "If there's no bread, you have to say, eat brioche."
	-- attributed to an unnamed noblewoman by Jean-Jacques 
Rousseau, "Confessions", pub 1782

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