Early this morning, I cooked rice using our rice cooker. ALL of a sudden, I have this nostalgic feeling of my childhood days. I used to cook rice in an open fire and I used the kaldero , cast *aluminum* pot or looks like a small version of cauldron instead of a rice cooker. It’s a challenge to make fire especially on rainy days when our firewood were still wet…he..he..I can remember how we blew and blew on the embers to keep the fire going. My child will surely miss this experience because all of our kitchen jobs are now made easy because of gadgets and technology. But I’ll make sure that my boy will learn to cook rice .
 |
| This is how exactly I cook our rice before..I kinda missing it:( (photo credit: Don Bigote) |
While waiting for my rice to cook and my motorola batteries to be fully recharged (yes, I own more than one battery for my Motorola cellphone). I always make sure I have a backup battery when it comes to my cell phone. Whether my battery runs out of power, gets damaged, etc. I want to make sure in case of emergency I can make a call), let me introduce to you 3 ways to cook the perfect rice I learned from Nora Maskuri.
1. BOILED RICE (Sufficient to Serve Eight)
1 c. rice ; 3 tsp. Salt; 3 qt. boiling water
Wash the rice carefully and add it to the boiling salted water. Boil rapidly until the water begins to appear milky because of the starch coming out of the rice into the water or until a grain can be easily crushed between the fingers. Drain the cooked rice through a colander, and then pour cold water over the rice in the colander, so as to wash out the loose starch and leave each grain distinct. Reheat the rice by shaking it over the fire, and serve hot with butter, gravy, or cream or milk and sugar.
2. JAPANESE METHOD – Rice prepared by the Japanese method may be used in the same ways as boiled rice. However, unless some use is to be made of the liquid from boiled rice, the Japanese method has the advantage of being a more economical way of cooking this cereal.
JAPANESE METHOD (Sufficient to Serve Eight)
1 c. rice ; 1-1/2 tsp. Salt; 5 c. boiling water
Wash the rice, add it to the boiling salted water, and boil slowly for 15 minutes. Then cover the utensil in which the rice is cooking and place it in the oven for 15 minutes more, in order to evaporate the water more completely and make the grains soft without being mushy. Serve in the same way as boiled rice.
3. STEAMED RICE – To steam rice requires more time than either of the preceding cooking methods, but it causes no loss of food material. Then, too, unless the rice is stirred too much while it is steaming, it will have a better appearance than rice cooked by the other methods. As in the case of boiled rice, steamed rice may be used as the foundation for a variety of dishes and may be served in any meal.
STEAMED RICE (Sufficient to Serve Six)
1 c. rice; 1-1/2 tsp. Salt 2-1/2 c. water
Wash the rice carefully and add it to the boiling salted water. Cook it for 5 minutes and then place it in a double boiler and allow it to cook until it is soft. Keep the cooking utensil covered and do not stir the rice. About 1 hour will be required to cook rice in this way. Serve in the same way as boiled rice.
Happy rice cooking!
