Moffat Mungazi
COOKING rice is a simple task, but did you know that there is a secret trick that many professional chefs and hotels use to make their rice taste incredible? By adding a few extra ingredients, you can elevate your rice to a whole new level of flavour and texture. Let us uncover the secret to making your rice rich, flavourful, and perfectly textured, just like they do in hotels.
The Secret: Enhance the flavour with these simple additions
Instead of just using water, professional chefs often add broth or stock to their rice to infuse it with flavour. Broth adds a depth of flavour to the rice, making it more savoury and rich without needing extra seasoning. Here is how you can do it at home:
Use broth or stock instead of water
Replace the water in your recipe with an equal amount of chicken, beef, or vegetable broth.
If you are concerned about sodium levels, use low-sodium broth or dilute the broth with a bit of water.
Adding aromatics like garlic, onions, or whole spices can also enhance the flavour of your rice. These subtle flavours will make your dish more complex and aromatic. Here is how you can incorporate aromatics into your rice:
Add aromatics
Sauté finely chopped onions, garlic, or shallots in a bit of olive oil or butter before adding the rice and broth.
For extra flavour, you can also add whole spices like bay leaves, cloves, or a cinnamon stick to the pot.
Incorporating fat into your rice can improve its texture, making it more tender and less sticky. It also adds richness and enhances the flavour. Here is how you can incorporate fat into your rice:
Incorporate fat
After sautéing your aromatics, stir in one to two tablespoons of butter, olive oil, or coconut oil before adding the rice and liquid. This coats the rice grains, helping them cook evenly and develop a silky texture.
If you prefer a lighter option, you can simply add a small amount of fat at the end of cooking and fluff it into the rice.
Seasoning is key to ensure that your rice is well-seasoned throughout. Adding salt and other seasonings to the cooking liquid will prevent bland rice and infuse it with flavour. Here is how you can season your rice:
Seasoning is key
Add a pinch of salt to the broth before cooking. Adjust the amount based on your taste and the saltiness of your broth.
You can also add other seasonings like a bay leaf, a splash of soy sauce, or a sprinkle of herbs like thyme or rosemary for an extra layer of flavour.
Garlic rice
Garlic Rice is the easiest, best tasting side dish that you can serve with anything!
It is just like cooking plain rice– except we start with garlic butter, and finish with more butter. ?? You know this is going to be good!
No sauce required
One specific thing about this garlic rice is that it is flavoured enough to eat without smothering with sauce.
Garlic minced with a knife will sauté better but a garlic press/crusher works ok too – garlic is wetter so does not sauté quite as well. Jar garlic paste, however, don’t talk to me about that sour stuff!
Rice types – This recipe will work with the listed rice grains. Not suitable for brown rice (you can add garlic butter to the jasmine rice recipe), wild rice, black rice or faux rice (cauliflower rice, quinoa etc).
Alternative method – Cook brown rice etc per recipe. Sauté the garlic in butter, then tip the cooked rice in and toss in the garlic butter. Flavour infusion not quite as good but still extremely tasty!
Liquid stock will give a better flavour but a good substitute is to use stock powder plus water. Chicken stock and other brands of vegetable is also suitable.
To use stock powder, make this recipe with 3 cups water (750 ml) + stock powder for this amount of water per the jar instructions (usually 1 teaspoon per 1 cup water) + 1/4 tsp salt (NOT 3/4 tsp per recipe, rice too salty).
Rinsing is not the secret to fluffy rice, the correct liquid to rice ratio is (1.5 cups liquid: 1 cup rice). However, you should rinse if you are concerned about rice cleanliness (if you buy in packs at grocery stores, you should not be) or if you just cannot break the habit. But if you do, you MUST reduce the stock by 1/4 cup, to account for the water logged in the rice. If you don’t, your rice will end up overly soft and slightly mushy.
The liquid should have small bubbles / actively rippling when the lid is on and the stove is on low/medium low. If the heat is too low and the water is doing nothing, then the rice is just sitting there, bloating in hot water instead of cooking!
Quick tips
Use a large saucepan or small pot (~24 cm / 10?) – we are making two cups of rice which is six cups cooked. If your cooking vessel is too small, the depth of the rice will be too high which means it will take longer to cook and the rice will cook unevenly (the bottom layer is soggier).
A clear lid saucepan is super useful for rice cooking because you can see what’s going on! ie Ensure water is simmering, can check to ensure the water has been absorbed without lifting the lid.
DO NOT STIR, DO NOT LIFT LID while the rice is cooking! That is the surefire path to mushy, unevenly cooked rice.
DO NOT skip the resting time! This is super important – the rice is actually not fully cooked even once the water is absorbed (try some, you will see). Also, the rice is wet. During the resting time, the rice finishes cooking and the water on the surface of each grain gets absorbed. There is no shortcut for this!
