Chinese Rice

To the Chinese, rice is a symbol of life. When you are a dinner guest, it is considered bad manners not to consume every grain of rice in your bowl.
The Chinese generally use long grained rice for various rice preparations. You need to be very careful with the way the rice is cooked because that is what determines the end product..



The Chinese also use another variety of rice called sticky rice which has a very high starch content. This rice is not boiled in water, like the ordinary rice but has to be steamed to get the perfect texture.
This symbol represents the Chinese/Japanese character for a rice grain. Clockwise from the top English, French, Hindi, Spanish/Portuguese, Tagalog and Greek.

The Chinese have developed the simple technique of rice making into an art. Each grain of the cooked rice is seperate and it is this method of cooking the rice that yields the perfect fried rice.

Preparation time; 5 minutes
Cooking time; 15 minutes
Makes 4 Cups

To prepare rice, you'll need.

1 cup Basmati rice or any other white rice
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp Salt

Directions:

First wash the rice thoroughly and soak in 3 cups of water for 30 minutes. Drain and keep aside.

Boil 6 to 8 cups of water, add salt and a tbsp of oil.

Add the rice to the boiling water. Cook till the rice is 85% cooked.

Pour into a colander and let the water drain out. Pour some cold water on the rice to arrest further cooking.

Let all the water from the rice drain out ensuring that the rice does not contain any moisture.

Add the remaining 1 tbsp of oil and toss the rice in it.

Spread the cooked rice on a flat surface till it is cool.

Use as required