656230 Thu Oct 01 05:16:37 -0700 2009 22 31 Home Cooking 0 5071540 Welcome to the October 2009 Chow Cookbook of the Month featuring: Classic Indian Cooking, by Julie Sahni & Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking Please post your full-length reviews of *Rice* recipes here. Please mention the name of the recipe you are reviewing and the book or author and page number, if possible, as well as any modifications you made to the recipe. This thread will encompass the following chapters- Jaffrey, "Rice" Sahni, rice recipes from "Accompanying Staples" A reminder that the verbatim copying of recipes to the boards is a violation of the copyright of the original author. Posts with copied recipes will be removed. Thu Oct 01 05:16:37 -0700 2009 95577 yamalam 1 5079065 Yellow Rice from Jaffrey book. Jaffrey recommends this rice as accompaniment to a lot of her recipes. We thought it was boring. In this recipe, turmeric, bay leaves, cloves, a cinnamon stick and salt are added in the cooking of soaked basmati. ther rice was pretty, but had much less flavor than her many similar recipes that call for an ititial sautee of the whole spices and possibly rice. Id recommend taking that butter adding at the end and sauteeing the spices to add more flavor to the dish. Sun Oct 04 19:21:12 -0700 2009 5071540 11130 jen kalb 2 5085908 Ditto. I make this dish when I want something other than plain rice and there are too many other things going on to make a pilaf. You can just toss the ingredients in the rice cooker and forget about them. Given the choice, I'll take a pilaf any day. Wed Oct 07 11:38:35 -0700 2009 5079065 58743 alanbarnes 3 5107778 I made this rice last night, and while I agree that it is not as flavorful as rice dishes made with sauteed spices. But it is a beautiful and easy alternative to plain rice. I was especially happy to have the colorful rice to offset what turned out to be a pretty drab looking lamb do piaza (reviewed in the meat thread). Fri Oct 16 08:23:18 -0700 2009 5085908 324814 nomadchowwoman 1 5079547 Spiced Basmati Rice, Pg. 194 Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey Preparing the rice for this dish is interesting: we usually rinse Basmati rice in a strainer in a large bowl of running water changing the water in the bowl till it's clear. Ms Jaffrey's method is to wash in several waters then drain. 5 cups of fresh water is poured over the cleaned rice and the rice soaks for 30 minutes, then left to drain in a strainer for 20 minutes. Oil (corn) is heated in a heavy-bottomed pot and a finely chopped small onion is stir-fried till brown. The rice is added to the pot along with a finely chopped fresh hot green chili, finely chopped garlic, garam masala, and salt. Stir for a few minutes so the rice is coated with the oil. 2 2/3 cups of chicken stock is added and the pot is covered. At this point you can cook the rice on the stove top for 25 minutes or put the pan into a 325F oven for 25 min. This is what I did to free up a burner for the lemony chicken which was next on the agenda. Very nice subtle flavor to the rice which complimented the chicken and Gujerati-style green beans. Mon Oct 05 06:25:58 -0700 2009 5071540 75332 Gio 2 5081849 Gio, how does the rice react when it hits the hot oil? Do you towel dry the rice a bit or is 20 minutes ample time for it to dry? I want to try this recipe, but I don't want a greasy mess all over the stove and countertop, IYKWIM. Mon Oct 05 23:21:05 -0700 2009 5079547 10609 Cheese Boy 3 5082125 HI CB. I didn't towel off the rice, simply left it in the strainer to drain. Just before you add the rice to the hot oil reduce the heat somewhat then after the rice goes in to the pot bring the heat up again and gently coat the rice with the oil. When I make pilaf and risotto the rice is started this way and I've never had an oil "spitting" problem. FWIW: We had quite a lot left over so I'm reheating it tonight with a little broth and serving it with Jaffrey's lamb stew. It should make a very tasty side dish. Tue Oct 06 05:40:39 -0700 2009 5081849 75332 Gio 3 5082396 you should be using a deep pot for the rice, if it has been drained thoroughly the little sizzle you get when it hits the pan should not cause a problem. At least I never have a problem with this. The weight of the layer of rice on top should keep any kernels from jumping out anyway.- let it sit a bit and then stir. Tue Oct 06 07:35:05 -0700 2009 5081849 11130 jen kalb 4 5084585 Ah, got it. SAME technique [and pot] as when I make risotto. Only diff is, I don't wet the arborio beforehand. : ) Thank you Jen and Gio. I wanna try this recipe asap. You've just gotta love all those aromas! Tue Oct 06 22:48:12 -0700 2009 5082396 10609 Cheese Boy 2 5107789 This is my favorite Indian rice dish (other than biryani), the one I make most often. I make it, following Jaffrey's recipe to a tee, always w/great results. I made it two nights ago to accompany Sahni's Butter Chicken. I don't towel dry the rice either, just drain it. There's a little splatter, but not bad. Fri Oct 16 08:26:55 -0700 2009 5079547 324814 nomadchowwoman 3 5143815 Made the Spiced Basmati Rice (Jaffrey 194) yet again, and am reminded why we keep coming back to it. It complemented so well the other dishes in my final October COTM dinner: lamb w/spinach, Goan-style chicken w/roasted coconut, eggplant in the pickling style, green lentils w/onion and garlic. I ended up with A LOT leftover. Has anyone had any success freezing this? Fri Oct 30 14:24:10 -0700 2009 5107789 324814 nomadchowwoman 2 5133574 Spiced Basmati Rice, Jaffrey, pg. 194 Now I have to tell you all that we are rice cooker people, ie. we usually make rice in the rice cooker, and I personally get very intimidated about cooking rice without our little crutch. And this recipe is a good example why. When we finished the official cooking time, some of the rice was still not cooked, so we cooked it a bit longer after adding a bit more liquid, and then it was a bit mushy. But it still tasted delicious, I really liked the flavouring. We are thinking about throwing the rice and the chicken stock into the rice cooker after all the frying is done the next time we make this recipe. We would just add the amount of stock that seems right for the rice cooker. Do you think this would be cheating? Mon Oct 26 21:21:59 -0700 2009 5079547 89969 moh 3 5133690 I haven't had success with stock in the rice cooker. For me, stove top works best. I use a rice cooker often for the white rice and am also highly addicted to the covenience. For the basmati I buy, I rinse and soak for only 10 minutes. Then I strain the rice and add it to the boiling stock on a 1:2 rice:water ration. I all the pot to boil, cover, lower the heat, and cook for 20 mins. Turn of heat, then lift the lid to let off steam. Then allow the rice to "rest" for 10 mins before stirring, then fluff the rice. If you fluff too early it will break apart. If you don't fluff, it will clump together. Mon Oct 26 23:11:34 -0700 2009 5133574 118120 luckyfatima 4 5134085 I make Basmati - well, all rice - using the steps and ratio that Luckyfatima mentioned except at the 20 minute mark we turn off the heat but keep the cover on the pot. When time to serve, off comes the cover and the rice gets a gentle fluffing up with a fork. Moh: When we made the Jaffrey rice recipe above, we baked it in the oven as I said, took the pot out of the oven when time was up, checked to see if all the liquid had evaporated and cantilevered the lid till time to serve. FWIW: I never recall a plain steamed rice or a pilaf that was only half cooked, as yours seemed to be. Tue Oct 27 07:14:43 -0700 2009 5133690 75332 Gio 5 5136718 Well we will have to try the stove version then. I guess it is just a matter of practice! I was torn as to which technique to try. i do find rice a bit of a tricky ingredient. I find it much more finicky then say couscous. Wed Oct 28 05:17:46 -0700 2009 5134085 89969 moh 4 5134235 luckyfatima: I have had problems cooking basmati in the rice cooker - it tends to go a bit clumpy which is fine for Asian food but not so good for Indian dishes. Would you mind sharing your technique for basmati in the rice cooker. (I am using Tilda, btw.) Tue Oct 27 08:06:28 -0700 2009 5133690 110146 greedygirl 5 5136534 It is same as stove top. I soak for 10 minutes. Add to salted water, close lid. Once the rice is done, I let it rest for 10 mins. I actually remove the pot from the rice cooker for a few minutes while it rests to prevent it from over cooking or the bottom burning because the heating part at the bottom stays hot. Then after it has rested, I fluff it and return the pot part into the rice cooker until serving time or else serve immediately. Mine doesn't come out clumpy. It is very fluffy and nice. However, the rice will never have that firm each grain separate type texture from the rice cooker. That is fine by me for daily rice, though. Wed Oct 28 00:17:12 -0700 2009 5134235 118120 luckyfatima 6 5136605 I'm obviously expecting too much then - I was hoping to get that firm each grain separate thing from the rice cooker but looks like that's impossible. I'll stop stressing about my rice cooker rice now! Wed Oct 28 02:37:09 -0700 2009 5136534 110146 greedygirl 1 5091190 Indian Fried Rice (Ghee Chawal) Sahni, page 363 Real comfort food! We liked this a lot, and it's a good way to use leftover basmati. Coarsely chopped onions and cauliflower are browned in oil, lightly steamed, then mixed with leftover basmati, cumin, coriander powder, and fresh cilantro/coriander. It goes together quickly -- the steaming took even less time than Sahni suggested. Other veg would taste good as well, and would add some colour. Peas and cauliflower might be a good combo. Mind the salt, especially if you cook your basmati with salt, as I do. Caution: Food safety experts are telling us not to reheat cooked rice more than one time because of possible heat-defying spores. Since this dish includes leftover rice, it really shouldn't be kept as a leftover and reheated again. But I'm young, and had my flu jab, and live on the edge, so I ate the leftovers for breakfast. So enjoyable, especially with cucumber raita and chilli pickle. It's a great way to start the day! I'm sure I'll be cooking this often. Fri Oct 09 10:05:55 -0700 2009 5071540 221993 Channa 2 5133666 I hadn't heard this reheating rice business before, so I had to follow up on that. It turns out that the problem isn't really the reheating, but the original cooling. If rice is cooked then allowed to cool slowly, it's possible for spores of a certain bacteria to proliferate and form toxins that cause typical food poisoning symptoms. Once formed, the toxins won't be neutralized by reheating, hence the advice against reheating. But the real way to deal with it is to cool your rice quickly in the first place, thus avoiding the problem entirely. Mon Oct 26 22:40:25 -0700 2009 5091190 19542 Karen_Schaffer 3 5134461 To prevent problems, the UK Food Standards Agency issued guidelines that cooked rice be cooled as quickly as possible (ideally within one hour), and kept it in the fridge for no more than one day until reheating. If reheated, it must be very hot all the way through. It should NOT be reheated more than once. www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/ricechinese.pdf Tue Oct 27 09:21:26 -0700 2009 5133666 221993 Channa 1 5119263 Rice and Peas, Pg. 196 Indian Cooking, Madhur Jaffrey With the exception of a teaspoon of cumin seeds this dish is exactly like the Italian Risi e Bisi, a Venetian dish. The cumin seeds are added to hot oil at the start and fried for a few seconds then a chopped onion is put into the pot and cooked till "flecked with brown spots." Next 1 1/4 cups shelled or frozen peas, 2 cups washed and drained rice and a bit of salt are added, stirred to coat with the oil, sauteed for about 3 minutes then 2 2/3 cups water is poured into the pot and brought to boil. Cover the pot, turn the heat way down and cook for 25 minutes. Turn off heat and let the rice sit for 5 minutes... stir gently when ready to serve. We used Jasmine rice for this since we've been using Basmati all month long. Really nothing to get excited about but it was tasty and went well with chicken roasted with carrots and onions. Wed Oct 21 05:48:31 -0700 2009 5071540 75332 Gio 2 5135680 This is a standard in our house, especially with spicy chicken. Nothing to get excited about, true. But it's a reliable rice preparation that goes well with any number of other, more exciting, dishes. And being so simple and noncomplex, this suits both those who like Indian flavours and those who aren't quite on board. Yet. Tue Oct 27 16:04:42 -0700 2009 5119263 85422 clepro