(no subject)

[turps]

I wasn't online yesterday so didn't get to wish duoshinigami a happy birthday, which sucks, because she's made of awesome. I hope it was a good one, sweetheart.

I have mail! Thank you so much _bettina_, turloughishere, and Lancecat, and truekat I loved them all. *mwah* My cards went out at the weekend, so hopefully they'll be arriving soon.

All you people that cook, I need advice. I know I joke about not cooking, but I'm cooking most evenings now, getting away from the processed stuff as much as possible. I'm doing okay, but I can't seem to make rice correctly. It always gets soggy and solid and horrible. So, any tips about how to make nice rice?

Still cooking related, I was cooking eggy bread yesterday and the hot fat splashed all down my thumb, leaving blisters. I've just pulled the top off one when I was looking outside, showing I'm a klutz in the extreme.

What was I looking at? The fact that the council came first thing this morning to fix the path outside my house. They used a mini digger to take the top off, then went, putting cones up to stop people getting past. Which nicely blocks our way to where we park our car. I mean, we can walk around the other way but obviously people will always take the short way if possible. I'll have to tell James when he phones as no doubt he'd fall down if he tried to get past that way.

Also, I bought strawberries yesterday and when I went to eat them they'd gone furry. That's just wrong!

Yesterday was the first rugby training session of the season. It seems most of the home games are in the first half of the season this year, which hopefully will lead to autumn sunshine at the club. On the other hand, it also means going away in the worst of the winter weather next year. Plus Corey needed new rugby boots which was another chunk of money gone. Then in the afternoon we went to see Run Fatboy Run, which was quite amusing and filled a few hours nicely.

Some pimping things now. First, mickeym is a goddess and wrote an amazing trickc story which is hot as all heck. You should go check it out. Second, do you all know of the comm fic_requests? Well you should. It's a popslash community where you request a ficlet and hopefully someone will come along and write that for you. You don't have to write to request, but there is a long list of requests that need filling if anyone wants to exercise their writing muscles. It's fun over there. They're ficlets so there's no pressure, and there's sure to be a prompt that you find interesting. I may have committed lampfic today.

Last thing! There's a new Sureshot song and I like it. In fact I think it may be my favourite so far. Just, why do we need the rap? Why?! Rap is only fun when it's done by pretty boys dressed in shaggy crayola coats, sparkly pants and having woe about having no money after just being paid. Also, the name of the song reminds me of a sneeze.

Withoutcha Thanks to tanni1978 who I snagged it from.

Comments

[topaz119.livejournal.com]

First off, if you want fluffy rice, go for long-grain rice. Short- and medium-grain cook up stickier (which has its purpose, just not here.) Then, do 2 parts water for every 1 part rice. This works for volume measurements, like we do here in the states--I'm not exactly sure how it would translate to weights. So, do 2 cups of water for 1 cup of uncooked rice. Put the water in a nice heavy-bottomed pot or saucepan and add a bit of butter & salt. Bring it to a boil and add the rice all at once. Stir it quickly, then put the heat down to low and cover it and let it cook w/o stirring until all the water's gone. Fluff it a bit and serve. =)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

That's a good tip about the kind of rice. The kind I usually get is short grain, so I'll switch that up next time.

You know, cups seem much easier to me. No weighing things out, so I'll use the measurements you gave and see what happens. Without stirring it. It seems my constant worry about burning which leads to much stirring, hasn't helped at all.

Thank you!

[ephemera.livejournal.com]

do you have a microwave? Because if so, I have a foolproof method of delightful simplicity. although I'd have to do it to check the ratios and time, because I do it entirely by eye these days.

The stovetop method is a la Delia Smith - IIRC, 1 measure of rice, two of water, bring to the boil, turn the heat down to simmer, put a lid on, cook till dry (30 mins?)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I do have a microwave. Thankfully or we would have starved years before *g*

It seems I've been failing by stirring the rice. I worried that it would set on if I just left it.

Thank you!

[turloughishere.livejournal.com]

I can't believe how fast you got my card, I posted it Friday!

I'm afraid I don't have any advice on the rice, I've grown so tired of rice lately that I've completely shifted over to using bulgurwheat instead. It got a bit more texture and taste and it's just as swift and easy to prepare. (10 minutes slow simmering and then rest for 5 minutes.)

Your poor thumb! Be careful with those blisters so they don't get infected, that's no fun at all.

You should bring those strawberries back to the shop. They're not supposed to turn bad that quickly!

Shaggy crayola coats are Love :-)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Your cards always seem to reach me in days. You must have a super fast postal service.

Does bulgur wheat taste a little like couscous? Because we all like that.

My thumb seems to be okay. It's got antiseptic on, how it just needs new skin *g*

I was so annoyed about the strawberries, problem was I got them at Sunderland which is 20mins drive from where I live, so couldn't get back :(

[turloughishere.livejournal.com]

Yeah, couscous is made from processed wheat (I guess you could call it a type of pasta actually) and bulgur wheat is the crushed grains so they have a bit more chewiness to them and a bit more taste, but basically they're the same.

It sucks about the strawberries! (And it's so typical!)

[chrismm.livejournal.com]

I like this recipe, too, if you can get your guys to eat brown rice (also, one of these days I'm going to try it with white rice, just to see if it works). So easy, and if you start it first, so it's cooking while you're doing everything else, doesn't even take that long:

http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,1977,FOOD_9936_30663,00.html

Also, ow, your poor thumb!!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

That rice recipe looks delicious, and easy which is always a plus.

Thank you!

[silveryscrape.livejournal.com]

Two to one water to rice, butter or oil and salt, boil the water/oil/salt and toss in the rice, lower the heat, and cover... I've found that if you wrap the lid of the pot in a damp towel, it creates a nice, tight seal to keep in moisture while the rice steams.

Or you could be lazy like me and use par-boiled rice, 1:1 in the microwave, set the lid on the container upside down, 5 mins... sometime I use 1/2 orange juice half water, or add mustard, or soy sauce. V. easy.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I've never added butter or oil to the rice. That probably isn't helping. I never cover the pan either. I'm obviously a rice disaster area.

Thank you for the tips!

[bayouskye.livejournal.com]

If there's one thing I can make, and make well after being married for almost 10 years, it's rice. And all the thanks goes to my born-n-breed Louisiana bayou husband.

What you need:

one pot with lid
2 cups of water for every 1 cup of rice
a little pat of salted butter.

How you cook it:

pot on stove
water in pot
butter in water

let the water come to a roiling boil
add the rice
put the lid on the pot
set the heat to a low simmer

set your timer for 20 minutes

LEAVE THE POT ALONE!!!!!

DO NOT lift the lid or stir the pot during the cooking time!!!!!!

turn off the heat and let the pot sit for another 5 or so minutes

As long as you have the temperature on low simmer and you set your timer, there's no chance of the rice buring/sticking to the pot.

Perfect rice everytime. Also, if you're making a dish that tells you to cook the rice in soup, don't. Make the rice first, then add the soup and follow the rest of the directions for the dish your making. There's not enough liquid in the soup(even if you add water) for the rice to cook properly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hope that helps!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

You are fantastic! Thank you!

From reading comments it seems I've been killing my rice by stirring it all the time. I worry so much about it burning on that I always poke at it. But I'll give your way a shot.

Thanks for the instructions :)

[musicdiamond.livejournal.com]

I have no idea how to cook stovetop rice, but a worthwhile investment to consider is a pressure cooker. I eat lots of rice with my meals and it's such a hassle free way to prepare it. It takes longer than stovetop, but all you have to do is put rice + water in to the cooker, press a button, and leave it alone for 30 minutes. At the end of that, the rice will be cooked perfectly to order.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

It's only recently that I started cooking properly, so think a pressure cooker would be a good investment.

Thanks for the tip.

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

Re: rice. Washing it beforehand helps. Just put it in the pan and swish it around with some cold water until the water is cloudy, drain, and cook as directed. Also, sometimes rice will come out sticky, but if you leave it to sit for a few minutes it goes normal. I find basmati rice more prone to stickiness than long or short grain.

And a squeeze of lime juice in the water while your rice is cooking will keep it nice and white. That is such a top tip, I couldn't believe how well it worked. *g*

[littledrop.livejournal.com]

Also, don't stir the rice while it's cooking. Never do that. I put salt in the water, but only a little, and only because it makes the water boil faster (I'm impatient).

You can always rinse with boiling water after you've drained it, too. Just use the kettle. I save that one for the real rice disasters. *g*

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Everyone has said about not stirring the rice. I think that could have been my main problem as I was always poking at it.

Next time I'll leave it alone, and hover anxiously *g*

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I'll wash it first next time I cook rice, and add the lime juice. I love little tips like that, because I'd never think of them.

Thank you!

[http://users.livejournal.com/_bettina_/]

Yay, you got it! :-)

[turps33.livejournal.com]

I did. Thank you!

[nopseud]

This is a slight variation on other people's recipes, and so long as you keep an eye on the rice leads to it being perfect.

First of all, yes, use long-grain rice. Basmati is a bit more expensive but really worth it.

Measure by volume 2:1 water:rice, and put it in a pan.
Boil, with the lid off, until the water *just* disappears from the surface of the rice -- the top of the rice will look like it's covered in little craters.
Turn the heat RIGHT OFF, put on the lid, and leave for about ten minutes.

That's Ken Hom's method for perfect rice.


As a bonus, here's a really easy sausage and rice recipe. (It's sort of quick faux-Jambalaya.)

- Get some fresh 'banger' type sausages, preferable spicy ones.
- Slice the sausages up into pieces about an inch long.
- Slice up
- an onion
- some mushrooms
- a red pepper
- a couple of cloves of garlic.
- Fry the sausages in a little bit of olive oil until they're nicely browned all over.
- Add the onions and garlic, and fry for a couple of minutes.
- Add the red pepper and mushrooms, and fry for another couple of minutes.
- Add a tin of tomatoes, a blob of tomato paste, and a 100ml or so of stock (you can miss out the stock, no worries, but the sauce still needs to be quite sloppy at the end).
- If you didn't have spicy sausages, add chili powder to taste. (Or add some anyway, if you like spicy stuff.)
- Cover the sausages and let them simmer gently in the sauce, while you make the rice as above.
- When the rice is cooked, mix it thoroughly with the sauce, and serve.

It's nice with a bit of chopped fresh corriander or flat-leaf parsley added at the end just as you mix the rice and sausage sauce together.

[turps33.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

I actually used all the rice tips last night and made perfect rice that was delicious. Shame that apparently that ratio isn't one cup = one person. I now have enough rice to last a few days *g*

The recipe looks delicious too. As soon as I get some sausages I'm going to try it out.