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Many people
browsing this website are looking for
the secret to preparing the
"perfect" rice. Just
like in the Styrofoam take-out
containers. Dry and sticky.
What's the secret? Uncle Buck
hates to burst your bubble, but it's
nothing fancy, just a $20.00 rice cooker
or lots of patience.
Rice can't be
hurried; if you want it dry and sticky
all of the water must be completely
evaporated before serving. This is
never going to happen if you are in a
hurry and turn it on "high"
and stir until 1/4 of it is stuck to the
bottom of the pan and the rest is
crunchy. Good rice takes time,
just understand this and start it
first. White rice will take
about 20 minutes, brown about 50, wild
rice an hour or more.
Suggestion:
A rice cooker is probably the best
kitchen "gadget" you can buy
since it effortlessly produces a fresh
"side" dish in about 15
minutes. This gives you enough
time for you to prepare the meat or
vegetable portion. They use little
electricity; are easy to clean and do
not heat up your living space while
cooking, unlike your oven for French
fries in the summer.
Uncle Buck does
not like the dry take-out rice; he likes
something with a bit of flavor.
Here's some ideas; just a beginning,
really...General idea's which you can
modify to suit your needs.
Sometimes a good starting place is what
is left over in the fridge...:
- Give your
water some flavor. If
cooking rice on the stovetop add 1
tablespoon chicken or beef stock to
the water while boiling to add some
flavor and color.
- Tex-Mex or
Greek-style Cook long
grain rice on the stove white, then
mix in some butter, seasoned salt
and garlic/parsley for Greek-Style
rice pilaf. Add chili spice
and no parsley for Tex-Mex
rice. See making
it taste real for more spice
ideas
- Bake your
rice in the oven. Take 2
cups cooked rice, mix 1 egg, 1 cup
milk, salt/pepper, 4 tablespoons
butter; add cheese on the top,
perhaps breadcrumbs, parsley, bake
at 350º until brown.
Nice
- Go wild.
Cook long grain white rice on the
stove and add 1/2 cup Wild
Rice. When cooked stir in some
butter, chopped mushrooms, onions
and a tablespoon of beef broth for a
"hunter-style" rice.
Nice with Buck's Steak
Diane
- Make
it Yellow by adding
Saffron
(most often presented in this manner
with seafood)
- Chicken
Balls Tempura batter,
flour made with rice, is the only
choice when deep-frying many
vegetables and egg rolls, chicken
balls, etc. Suggest frying in
Peanut Oil for authentic taste.
- Risotto
- make this Italian comfort food
staple in your heavy frypan using
Arborio (Italian) rice, butter,
chicken stock; cooking slowly until
each grain is infused; adding last
cups of rice slowly so is not mushy.
Serve in another dish; garnishing
with parsley and parmesan
cheese.
- Fry it
First Fry uncooked rice in
butter or peanut oil until brown;
THEN boil until soft.
- Restaurant-style
fried rice: Cook long
grain rice in the rice cooker; let
cool. Cook on high heat with
seasoned peanut oil; chicken or beef
stock; diced
onions/peppers/chili/diced
pork/chicken/shrimp. Add an
egg for some protein to make a
balanced meal. See
recipe below
- Taste of
India To some hot rice add
an egg yolk, 1/2 teaspoon curry
powder, salt.
- Congee -
Korean slow boiled rice porridge
more here
- Perfumed
Using a rice cooker? Try
basmati or jasmine rice. Nice
and light Persian-style rice.
- Dessert
Have some rice pudding for
dessert. Note:
most children HATE cinnamon
- Have a sake
(which is rice beer, not wine
according to our mixology
professor).
As you may notice
there are a few types of rice mentioned
above. Long grain, Italian. Basmati
or jasmine. You may prefer brown
rice. Just as there are a million
types of potatoes; red (great with
seafood) white (good all-purpose), Yukon
Gold (good for baking), there are many
types of rice and certain recipes will
call for certain types of rice. If
you are frying your rice there are
various oils, often spicy, that you can
use to improve the flavor.
Congee - The Chinese
porridge. If you are adventurous
and have new children in the house Uncle
Buck suggests you explore congee.
This is a Chinese staple dish which
makes an excellent and affordable baby
food. It's a rice
"paste"; like condensed rice
pudding. You boil the rice slowly
until it breaks down completely.
Then you add a bit more milk/moisture
and some flavoring or meat. There
are simply too many types of congee to
describe here; if you are interested in
this type of cuisine (and babies do
love it...gooey sludge...easy to eat;
add some brown sugar...) Uncle Buck
suggests you visit a local Chinese restaurant
for some ideas and to get the texture of
this particular "soup".
There are specialty restaurants
featuring just this dish but it should
be on the menu in most authentic Chinese
restaurants.
Why
is the rice always sticky in Chinese
restaurants? Traditional
Chinese dinners are served communally,
with "lazy-Suzan" style
platters arranged in the middle of the
table with everyone serving
themselves. Each person has a
bowl; not a plate; and they eat with
chopsticks. At this point you are
happy that the rice is sticky; eating
with chopsticks. Do you really want to
have to pick up every grain
individually? I don't think
so. It's so much better when it sticks
together...
| Malnourished???
But she looks so healthy.... |
 |
Uncle Buck
shakes his head sometimes at the
pretty young girls who live on
rice and vegetables. They
seldom eat meat, don't eat beans
and don't like fish. They
take supplements, do lot's of
exercise and otherwise seem
healthy. But where ARE
they getting their protein?
Many are under
the mistaken belief that rice
and vegetables create a
"balanced" meal.
But this recipe is missing a key
ingredient - protein.
Uncle Buck suggests adding a
fried egg to your fried
rice. No chickens would
have been harmed by this
(seriously...). And by
adding an egg you are restoring
some balance to the meal; giving
your body the carbohydrates,
vitamins AND protein it needs;
all in one dish. Don't
like eggs? Add some
unsalted peanuts or sunflower
seeds to your stir-fry to top up
the protien. |
There is a
trick to properly adding an egg to fried
rice. Cooking is all about
timing; and of everything in your
kitchen; eggs cook the fastest. What you
want to do is not overcook the egg, or
cover the rice in egg-white. Heat
your pan on "high", add oil,
onions/peppers/seasoning/meat/cooked and
cooled rice and cook/mix/stirring
frequently. When the rice is
within 2 minutes of being done place the
rice in the pan as shown below:
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Then
quickly mix and scramble your
egg in the middle of the
pan. Once cooked
completely fold in the rice from
the outside and serve
immediately. This way the
egg is not overcooked and the
individual rice grains are not
covered in egg. You now have a
completely balanced meal of
carbohydrates, vegetables AND protein
for pennies a serving. |
Preparing
Chinese food means alot of chopping and
special spices. Once
again; to produce restaurant-quality
meals in your home it is often
as simple as purchasing the same
sauces, often available in
powdered form, that the
restaurants are using. See
making it taste real for more info.
Simple
Soya stir-fry sauce
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 Cup water
4 or more tablespoons of Soya Sauce
2 or 4 tablespoons of sugar
Mix all
ingredients in bowl. Cook
vegetable stir-fry, may include chicken,
shrimp, etc. Add sauce and cook on
high heat until boils. Boil for 1
minute and let cool. If all is well within 2-3 minutes you
should have that nice, Soya glaze that
your favorite Chinese restaurant puts on
their beef and broccoli, or whatever...
Visit Buck's Recipe
HomePage for
more menu ideas
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