Rice

Cooking with Rice

Rice is rice, that's what she said.  Once upon a time, I went for grocery shopping in a supermarket.  I could not find the specific brand of long grain rice, so I asked the shop assistant about it, and that was the answer.  I said no, there are varieties of rice, not every rice is the same.  She said: ooh, then she smiled politely.  What I am trying to say here is that you can have so many different types of rice and their uses.

Uncooked Jasmine Rice

Javanese people only cook white rice daily meals. We love the short/middle grain or long grain, which is semi glutinous.  It is excellent for steamed rice, the base of other rice dishes.

Today I cooked rice with distinctive flavours, it is not a Javanese dish; however I choose the rice that is similar to rice that I usually cook for Javanese dishes.  So I got Jasmine rice for cooking tomato rice which is ordinary steamed rice with tomato and herbs flavours. 

Tomato Rice

These are what you need,  to cook tomato rice:
1`cup long grain rice
2 cups of water
1 tablespoon oil
1fresh red tomato, chopped
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
Method
In a heavy-based pot, sauté the chopped tomato with the oil, until softened

Add in the tomato paste, stir, add in the bay leaf and a cup of water

Bring it to simmer, and cook for 2 minutes, stir it some time.

Add the rice, salt and stir in the rest of the water.

Keep on cooking uncover, until bubbly and the liquid is almost absorbed.
Give a big stir this time, cover the pot, reduce the heat to very low, keep on cooking for 9 minutes.
When it is cooked fluff the rice, put the lid on again until serving time.
To serve
Serve the rice with meat, chicken or fish dishes.
Tomato rice is delicious and straightforward, you can have any garnish that you fancy.

Tomato Rice Served With Fish

I can enjoy tomato rice as it is or just served it with chutney, sweet and straightforward.  But you do need the salad and protein to go with the rice, to make the meal complete.

Variation for steamed rice, turmeric rice, saffron rice, lemongrass rice, fragrant rice with pandan etc.

Happy Cooking and Have Fun!



Until Next Post
Susy