So much this. Rice takes on outside flavours very, very well... it just takes a little to flavour it a lot. I really like using aromatics in rice, like some good Indian spices, or curries, while it's cooking... it really infuses the rice with that flavour.
One of the biggest money savers I've ever had came when my regular Indian restaurant forgot to fish out all the cardamom pods from the rice on one of my orders. That was the missing ingredient in my attempts to duplicate their (vastly superior) rice, and since then I've just ordered an entree and cooked my own rice.
Rice from scratch is water and rice in the proportions specified by the bag. Why we sound a little incredulous. There are some rules of thumb if you aren’t using the increments listed but otherwise cooking ricearoni is basically the same thing it is just pre portioned instead of being in a sack.
I should clarify that while I do think my pea brain can read the instructions and figure it out, it's just that I never have.
1.5 water to 1 of white rice (brown rice 2 cups to 1 of rice), bring to boil, put lid on pot, lower to simmer for 10 minutes (brown rice 25 minutes), turn off heat, let sit for a couple of minutes. Enjoy.
All I know about risotto is that every goddamn time some chef on TV starts cooking risotto in a timed competition event, I yell at them and say, "you moron! Everyone knows you can't cook risotto in the 30 minute entree round! It's a classic trap!" So you could say I'm something of a risotto expert.
See, I never would have guessed that the "never made rice" dude would be bragging about his risotto. Kudos to you, good sir. It's not that you don't make rice, you just don't go slumming.
Since this is temporarily the cooking thread, I guess I can share with you that I've been watching the Jamie Oliver Together series... and thoroughly enjoying it. He's doing some interesting stuff for post-lockdown dinner parties that focus on doing 90% of the work the day before so you can maximize your time with friends while also being the host. Meanwhile, my sister, who has MS, just tested positive for COVID. That's not going well. And my dog just went into heat. That's also fucked up the "go burn all that energy at daycare" routine that I rely on to maintain my sanity.
Risotto is perfect for when you have no idea when dinner is but you have a ton of wine that you want to drink while hanging out in the kitchen cooking. I'm not sure sobriety has anything to do with the problems that Chopped! has.
lol Uncle Roger has a schtick, and that is to shit on people and how they make fried rice. It's pretty funny. But yeah, if you want to learn about real fried rice, Alex is the guy to watch... dude went deep into the process, and realized a lot of it had to do with having an f-18's afterburner for a heat source, and insane wok flipping technique. 10 videos in the playlist. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLURsDaOr8hWXrUVKlMznkZOuvDv82XSB8
Hey, don't pigeon hole the man for just shitting on people for making fried rice. He ROUTINELY shits on Jamie Oliver for any attempt at making Asian food. And rightfully so.
Ive been wanting to do an outdoor wok like he has to get that crazy BTU. Thinking of getting the wokmon for my stove too.
I make several varieties of risotto- mushroom risotto, spinach risotto, sausage risotto and “plain”. My wife and daughter love it. So much that when they’ve ordered risotto at a restaurant they tell me mine is better, and my daughter won’t order it out anymore.