The Perfect Rice

Rice is a staple food, mostly on all Asian countries. Others may think that we Asians eat too much rice, yes! They are right, especially us, Filipinos, we love rice! Even our McDonald's serves rice, just to cater to the needs of the rice-loving community.

Plain as it is, rice is served everywhere in the Philippines. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, rice is always a part of the menu and would always be the best-seller. Have you ever visited a fast-food restaurant and say "I'd like to have extra gravy on top of the mashed potatoes", if you have, most likely you are not one of us. Most of the time you would likely hear " I'd like to have extra rice, aside from that mashed potato that came with the meal".  That's just us, we maybe judged as unhealthy eaters, but, that is what we are. Rice is a must!

In the Philippines, rice is always served at its simplest form which is steamed. The good old plain white rice. I like my rice fluffy, soft yet firm to the bite and not all mushy or watery. You just need a rice cooker to do this job nowadays, but cooking rice in a clay pot or the caldero (steel rice pot) requires skills, skills that a 7-year old girl can master if she comes from a poor family. To be honest, I mastered the skill when I was 6 for it was a rule in our household that you should need to know how to cook rice once you are already on the first grade at school. Ain't that rule tough! Now, my eldest son is 9 years old and he doesn't know how to cook rice yet (even with the rice cooker at hand!), but he sure does know how to eat his fair share of it.

THE PERFECT RICE
serves 4 or more (but perhaps less)

2 cups             Rice
2 1/2 cups       Water
1 small pc        Banana Leaf  (if using clay pot)

Now, this ratio is based on cooking using a clay pot/palayok or a steel pot/caldero on the stove top.

First of all, line your pot with the banana leaf. You may cut it to fit just the base or cover up to 2 inches of the sides of your pot. Then, on a separate basin, wash your rice at least two times. Why twice? It is actually not a must to follow, but I believe it all depends on which rice you are preparing. If after two washes and your water is still cloudy, it means that the rice you purchased is "la-un" (our local term for old-maid), you may continue to wash the rice to get rid of the extra starch to prevent it from turning out to be mushy and sticky.

Transfer the washed rice to the lined pot and add water.  Cover and cook at medium high heat, there should be no exact timing to this but once the water is boiling (the cover should make a sound or start to shake) turn your heat to the lowest and let it simmer until you get that fluffy beautiful rice. You may open the cover only once or twice during the process, just to make sure nothing can cause the firemen to visit your house. But, otherwise if you open the pot often, the steam would come out and your rice may dry out earlier as it should. The whole process can Be approximated at about 15 minutes, but it all depends on what type of rice you are using as well.

Always serve rice hot.

Tips: You can boil some eggs on top of your rice while it is cooking, just wash it carefully though, you don't want those extra flavors on your rice!